Institutional customers is a term used in the financial services industry to differentiate retail customers and corporate customers from other financial institutions such as banks, insurance companies and investment management companies.
In several jurisdictions financial institutions may be able to enter transactions under a more lax regulatory environment than the other customer categories.
As per Legal Meteorology (Packaged Commodity) Rules "Institutional Consumer" means who hires or avails of the facilities or services in connection with transport , hotel , hospital or other organisation which buy Packaged Commodities directly from the manufacturer or from an importer or from a wholesale dealer for use by that institution, and the package shall have declaration 'not for retail sale'.