The Conference of Catholic Bishops of India (CCBI) is the national episcopal conference of the bishops of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in India, functioning in accordance with canon 447.

There are 132 Latin Catholic dioceses in the country, and 190 active and retired bishops are the members of the CCBI.

The Conference of Catholic Bishops of India enables the Latin Catholic bishops of the country to exchange ideas and information, deliberate on the Church's broad concerns and take care of the pastoral needs of the faithful.

One of the main purposes of the CCBI according to its statutes is "to promote that greater good which the Church offers humankind especially through forms and programmes of the apostolate which are adequately adapted to the circumstances of time and place.

Pope John Paul II, after his visit to India in 1986, wrote an apostolic letter to the Indian bishops on 28 May 1987.

An important text of which reads thus: "The bishops of each of the three rites have the right to establish their own episcopal bodies in accordance with their own ecclesiastical legislation.

The CBCI which is an assembly of the bishops of India of the three rites is to continue for matters of common concern and of national and supra-ritual character.

In compliance with the pope's directive, the CBCI in its general meeting in April 1988 decided that all the three ritual churches could have their own episcopal bodies.

Therefore, according to canons 447–459, the CCBI is the central church body of the bishops in India and its purpose is to deliberate on matters of concern for the whole Latin church and encourage activities in accordance with the needs of the times.

The bishops' conference, in addition to plenary assemblies, has an executive committee to handle ordinary matters, the commissions and the secretariat.

At its Third Plenary Assembly in Goa (1991) a full team of office bearers was elected and an executive committee consisting of the office bearers, all the metropolitans of the Latin ecclesiastical provinces and the chairpersons of CCBI commissions was constituted.

At the lapse of five years in 1999 and in the light of the Apostolos Suos, the statutes were revised and the Holy See permanently approved them on 3 December 2000 (Prot.

The Conference of Catholic Bishops of India was registered under the Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860.

It meets at least once a year mainly to see that the decisions, resolutions and recommendations of the Conference are duly implemented.

It is composed of: The Bishops of the Latin Catholic Church in India are the members of the Plenary Assembly of the conference.

Extraordinary Plenary Assemblies are held according to the need decided by at least a two-thirds of the members of the executive committee.

At the Plenary Assembly the conference reviews the situation and assesses the progress of the Church in India, and in the light of its own purposes it decides on plans that may be needed and actions that may be envisaged.

The reports of the twelve commissions, regional bishops' councils are submitted every two years in the Plenary Assembly.

Later in the year 2003 the Deputy Secretary General shifted his office from Delhi to the Bangalore, Secretariat.

The land and property belongs to the Allahabad diocese and the Allahabad diocese handed over the property to the CCBI to promote evangelization in the Church in India especially in the north and northeast India.

Filipe Neri Ferrão, Archbishop of Goa and Daman Member: Most Rev.

(1) Agra Archdiocese, (2) Ajmer, (3) Allahabad, (4) Bareilly, (5) Jaipur, (6) Jhansi, (7) Lucknow, (8) Meerut, (9) Udaipur, (10) Varanasi.

(1) Calcutta Archdiocese, (2) Asansol, (3) Bagdogra, (4) Baruipur, (5) Darjeeling, (6) Jalpaiguri, (7) Krishnagar, (8) Raiganj.

(1) Ranchi Archdiocese, (2) Daltonganj, (3) Dumka, (4) Gumla, (5) Jamshedpur, (6) Khunti, (7) Port-Blair, (8) Simdega, (9) Hazaribag.

(1) Bangalore Archdiocese, (2) Bellary, (3) Belgaum, (4) Chikmagalur, (5) Gulbarga, (6) Karwar, (7) Mangalore, (8) Mysore, (9) Shimoga, (10) Udupi.

(1) Verapoly Archdiocese, (2) Calicut, (3) Cochin, (4) Kannur, (5) Kottapuram, (6) Sultanpet, (7) Vijayapuram.

(1) Bhopal Archdiocese, (2) Gwalior, (3) Indore, (4) Jabalpur, (5) Jhabua, (6) Khandwa Chairman: Most Rev.

(1) Guwahati Archdiocese, (2) Bongaigaon, (3) Dibrugarh, (4) Diphu, (5) Itanagar, (6) Miao, (7) Tezpur.

(1) Madurai Archdiocese, (2) Dindigul, (3) Kottar, (4) Kuzhithurai, (5) Palayamkottai, (6) Sivagangai, (7) Tiruchirappalli, (8) Tuticorin.

The Telugu Catholic Bishops' Council (TCBC) comprises all the Bishops of the ecclesiastical provinces of Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam (1) Hyderabad Archdiocese, (2) Cuddapah, (3) Khammam, (4) Kurnool, (5) Nalgonda, (6) Warangal.