This facility is a pioneer microbial culture collection facility in India which offers services to educational, research institutes and industries. It holds about 3700 microbial strains of bacteria (1800), yeast (550), fungi (1300) and algae (15). The major goal of this facility is preservation of the microbial strains by a variety of methods. Its objective is to make available authentic cultures to R&D institutes and industries and to develop capacity building in culture collection. It also acts as repository of patent strains. Apart from isolation and preservation of microbial strains, the facility has competencies in strain improvement and microbial as well as biocatalytic processes for value added products.