The facility acts as a national depository, supplying authentic microbial cultures and providing related services to research institutions, universities, industries and the scientific community in general.
The MCC is affiliated to the National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS).
The MCC has a status of International Depositary Authority (IDA), certified in April 2011 by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Switzerland, as well as by the World Federation for Culture Collections (WFCC).
The deposit of microorganisms is recognized under the Budapest Treaty to fulfill the requirement of patent procedure in 55 member countries.
[clarification needed] The MCC scientists are actively involved in the research programmes relating to microbial diversity, metagenomics, ecology and taxonomy, using both classical and molecular approaches.