mcc chamber of commerce &...

MCC CHAMBER OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY(Formerly Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce)

(Established in 1901)

REPORT OF THE COMMITTEEFOR THE YEAR 2015-16

15B, Hemanta Basu Sarani, Kolkata 700001Tel: (033) 2248 1502/6329/3123, 2262 5070(5 lines)

FAX: (033) 2248 8657, Email: [email protected],Website: www.mcciorg.com

MCC CHAMBER OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY(Formerly Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce)

15B, Hemanta Basu SaraniKolkata 700001

Dated : 28, 07, 2016

ToALL MEMBERS,

Dear Members,

The Committee has great pleasure in presenting to you the report of activities for the year ending on 31 March 2016 in terms of Articles 34 (C) of the Constitution. The Audited Statement of Accounts and Balance Sheet for the year are also enclosed.

Yours faithfully,

Manish GoenkaPresident

Hemant BangurSenior Vice President

Ramesh AgarwalVice President

Surendra KeyalHonorary Secretary

Rajaram ChowdharyTreasurer

CONTENTS

Page No.

1. Committee for the year 2015-16……………………………………..…. 01

2. 114th Annual General Meeting………………………………….…..…... 04

3. Interactive Sessions/Symposia/Workshops………………………….... 15

4. Other Important Events…………………………………………….…..... 64

5. Press Communique……………………………………………….……… 68

6. Representations/Memoranda………………………………………….… 74

7. Working of the Standing Committees……………………………….….. 77

8. MCCI Ladies Forum (MLF)……………………………………….……... 78

9. Memorandum of Understanding…………………………………………. 81

10. Other Activities of the Chamber ………………………………….…….. 84

11. Advisory Council/MCC Foundation/Standing Committees…………... 85

12. Affiliations……...………………………………………………………...... 98

13. Representatives of the Chamber on Public Bodies…………….…….. 99

14. Meetings held during the year………..…………………………….…… 100

15. Past Presidents……..……………………………………………….…… 105

MCC Chamber of Commerce & Industry

Annual Report 2015-2016 1

MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEEFOR THE YEAR 2015-16

President : Shri Manish Goenka Senior Vice President : Shri Hemant Bangur Vice President : Shri Ramesh Agarwal Honorary Secretary : Shri Surendra Keyal Treasurer : Shri Rajaram Chowdhary

Hony. Member

Shri H. L. Somany

Trustees Shri A. R. Sonthalia Shri B. K. Jhajharia Shri R. S. Agarwal Shri Shrawan Kumar Todi

Past Presidents Shri B. K. Swaika Shri S. S. Sanganeria Shri M. C. Shah Shri Amitav Kothari Shri Arun Kumar Churiwal Shri Suresh Jhunjhunwala Shri S. S. Bagaria Shri Birendra Agarwal Shri Ajay Kajaria Shri Ravi Todi Shri Sushil Kumar Dhandhania Shri Sunil Kanoria Shri K. B. Agarwala Shri Aditya V. Agarwal Shri Santosh Saraf Shri Atul Churiwal Shri Anupam Shah Shri S. S. Beriwala Shri Sudesh Sonthalia Shri Manish Goenka Shri Deepak Jalan Shri Sanjay Agarwal

Shri Arun K Saraf

2 Annual Report 2015-2016


Members of the Committee

Shri Abhishek Agarwal Shri Arun Kumar Agarwal Shri Bharat Agarwal Shri Bijay Gujarwasia Agarwal Shri Brij Bhushan Agarwal Shri Deepak Kumar Agarwal Shri Mahesh Kumar Agarwal Shri Mahendra Kumar Agarwal Shri Manish Agarwal Shri Niranjan Kumar Agarwal Shri Padam Kumar Agarwal Shri Pradeep Kumar Agarwal Shri Prateek Agarwal Shri Rakesh Agarwal Shri Ramesh Kumar Agarwal Shri Sandeep Agarwal Shri Shyam Agarwal Shri Arvind Agrawal Shri G.P. Agrawal Shri Abhishek Bagaria Shri Surya Prakash Bagla Shri Manish Kumar Baid Shri Pulkit Baid Shri Santosh Bajaj Shri Manav Bansal Shri Sajan Kumar Bansal Shri Tushar Basu Shri Manoj Kumar Beria Shri Lalit Beriwala Shri Vishnu Kumar Bhandari Shri Sanjay Bhalotia Shri Arun Kumar Bhuwalka Shri Srinjoy Bose Shri Norat Mal Bothra Shri H. P. Budhia Shri Pulak Chamaria Shri Ravindra Chamaria Shri Gyanesh Chaudhury Shri Sudeep Chitlangia Shri Sanjay Choudhury Shri Arun Kumar Dalmia Shri Surendra Kumar Dalmia Shri Arpit Dhandhania Shri Kaluram Dariwal Shri Alok Garodia Shri Devendra Goel Shri Prahlad Roy Goenka Shri R. S. Goenka Shri Shiv Ratan Goenka Shri Amit Goyal Shri Kailash Chand Goyal Shri Suresh Gupta Shri Vivek Gupta Shri Chandra Kumar Jain Shri Ravi Jain Shri Sanjay Jain Shri Srikant Jain Shri Aditya Jajodia Shri Ajay Jalan Shri Pawan Kumar Jalan Shri Munish Jhajharia Shri Vishal Jhanjharia Shri Arun Kumar Jagatramka Shri Srivatsa Kajaria



Shri Nirmal Kaushik Shri Bimal Kumar Kejriwal Shri Sharad Kumar Khaitan Shri Rajendra Khandelwal Shri Manaswy Kothari Shri Rishabh Kothari Shri Banwari Lal Mittal Shri Rajesh Mittal Shri Krisha Modi Shri Ravi Modi Shri Prakash Kumar More Shri Mahesh Pansari Shri Nilesh Parekh Shri Ashok Pareek Shri Pawan Kumar Patodia Shri Sanjib Kumar Patwari Shri Lavesh Pddar Shri Mayank Pddar Shri Rajesh Poddar Shri Rakesh Poddar Shri Subir Poddar Shri Sushil Poddar Shri Sanjay Rasiwasia Shri Santosh K Roongtaa Shri Rahul Saraf Shri Samir Saraff Shri Amit Saraogi Shri Neetish Sarda Shri Sandeep Seksaria Shri Alkesh Sharma Shri Taranjit Singh Shri Pradeep Kumar Singhania Shri Akhil Sonthalia Shri Jyoti Vardhan Sonthalia Shri Kiran Kumar Sonthalia Shri Sanjay Sureka Shri Rajeev Swaika Shri Pawan Tibrewalla Shri Ashok Kumar Todi Shri Pradip Kumar Todi

Shri Sharad Varma

Secretariat Director General : *Shri R.K. Sen Dy. Director General : Shri M.C. Das Asst. Director General : Shri S.Roy Asst. Director General : Smt. Muroti Chatterjee Deputy Secretary : Shri Rajiv Mukerji Assistant Secretary : Smt. Tuli Sengupta Roy Assistant Secretary : Smt. Sukanya Basu Assistant Secretary : Smt. Haimanti Banerjee

*Since deceased on 17 December, 2015



114th ANNUAL SESSION The 114th Annual Session of the Chamber

held on Saturday, 07 November 2015 at The Lalit Great Eastern, Kolkata was inaugurated by Shri Kalraj Mishra, Hon’ble Minister for MSMEs, Government of India. Dr. Amit Mitra, Hon’ble Minister of Finance & Excise, Commerce and Industries, IT and Com-munications, Government of West Bengal and Shri Babul Supriyo, Hon’ble Minister of State for Urban Development, Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation, Government of India were the Guests of Honour.

Shri Arun Kumar Saraf, President was confident that with the right measure of push and policy alignment, the state’s regeneration process could be accelerated and a double-digit growth of the economy could be achieved in the coming few years. However in order to achieve it, the raw-materials, power and other inputs need to be made available at competitive costs and a level-playing field in terms of tax-burden is to be assured to the enterprises.

The proposed MSME policy is in the process of taking views and comments of different ministries before being finalised, announced Shri Kalraj Mishra. He further spoke of the Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme and the opportunity of online registration in this programme for creation of employment opportunities both in rural and urban India. The Prime Minister’s ‘Make in India’ campaign seeks to identify and create a favourable environment for encouraging the startups, drive the manufacturing domain with sustained employment opportunity creation and raise the level of skilling for

successful and sustainable enterprise creation. The Union Minister for MSMEs lauded the efforts of the Bengal government in clearing up all land-related issues that had earlier been a problem in the State.

All actions are on stage in West Bengal and the Gross Value Added (GVA) has achieved 10.48 p.c. growth rate in 2014-15’, stated Dr. Amit Mitra who also lauded the stupendous growth of 12.84 p.c. in Per Capita Income witnessed by West Bengal during 2014-15 which is 110 p.c. higher than Indian average of 6.1 p.c. during the same period. According to Dr. Mitra, West Bengal witnessed a 601 p.c. increase in capital expenditure from 2010-11 to 2014-15 also witnessing 300 p.c. growth in social infrastructure, 547 p.c. growth in agriculture and 330 p.c. growth in physical infrastructure’ during the same period. The GST move in the centre had been strongly supported by the State government, said Dr. Mitra who appreciated that the compensatiocn of loss in state revenue owing to GST had been mentioned in the Constitutional Amendment presented in Parliament. Inviting the audience to the Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) 2016 that will be held during 7th-9th January 2016, he mentioned that out of 2,43,000 Crs. investment proposed in BGBS 2015, nearly 91,000 Crs is already in process. Among the PM’s flagship Smart Cities project, 4 cities have been identified in West Bengal, said Dr. Mitra, who also mentioned that Kalyani is aimed to become an analytic city in the coming years.

Shri Babul Supriyo announced that the first phase of the East-West Metro Project from



Salt Lake to Sealdah, distance of 9.36 Km out of the total 16.5 Km stretch, is expected to be completed by June 2018. He was however optimistic that it might be over by December 2017. The second phase, from Sealdah to Howrah Maidan is expected to be completed by June 2019. The Minister thanked the state government for helping in overcoming the hurdles in the project and gave assurance to provide all requisite support for development of West Bengal keeping aside the political

differences. In a federal country like India, delivering exactly what the government wants is really difficult. His suggestion was effective cooperation between Centre and States in a multi-party system like that of ours. Shri Supriyo advocated for raising the biggest democracy of India to finest one across the world.

The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks by Shri Hemant Bangur, Sr. Vice President, MCCI.

14TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Shri Arun Kumar Saraf, President took the chair and welcomed all members present to the 114th Annual General Meeting of the Chamber held on 23 November 2015 in the Somany Conference Hall. On request, from the Chair, Shri R.K. Sen, Director General read out the Notice of the 114th Annual General Meeting which had been issued to all members on 07 November 2015. He said that along with the Meeting Notice, Meeting agenda, Annual Report, Audited Balance Sheet and Income & Expenditure Accounts as well the Auditor’s Report were sent to all the members.

The Chairman then presented the following resolutions which were duly proposed and seconded and unanimously passed by all members present.

RESOLUTION NO. 1 RESOLVED that the Report of the Committee for the year 2015-16 be and is hereby

adopted. Moved by : Shri Suresh jhunjhunwala Seconded by : Shri V. K. Bhandari The Resolution was put to vote and carried unanimously.

RESOLUTION NO. 2RESOLVED that the Audited Balance Sheet and Income & Expenditure Accounts of the

Chamber for the year ended 31st March 2015, along with Auditor’s Report for the same period be and are hereby adopted.

Moved by : Shri Santosh Saraf Seconded by : Shri Sanjay Rasiwasia

The Resolution was put to vote and carried unanimously.



RESOLUTION NO. 3

RESOLVED that the persons whose names are now proposed be and are hereby elected as President, Sr. Vice President, Vice President and Committee Members respectively for the year 2015-16.

Office Bearers : President : Shri Manish Goenka Moved by : Shri B. K. Jhajharia Seconded by : Shri Suresh Jhunjhunwala


Sr. Vice President : Shri Hemant Bangur Moved by : Shri A. R. Sonthalia Seconded by : Shri Sanjay Agarwal


Vice President : Shri Ramesh Agarwal Moved by : Shri S. S. Sanganeria Seconded by : Shri Rajendra Khandelwal


The Chairman then took up the matter of election of 9 (nine) members to the Committee for the year 2015-16.

Committee Member : 1. Shri Amitav Kothari Moved by : Shri A. R. Sonthalia Seconded by : Shri Santosh Saraf


Committee Member : 2. Shri Arun Kumar Churiwal Moved by : Shri S. S. Sanganeria Seconded by : Shri Tushar Basu

The resolution was put to vote and carried unanimously.

Committee Member : 3. Shri Sheo Shankar Bagaria Moved by : Shri Birendra Agarwal Seconded by : Shri Sanjay Rasiwasia




Committee Member : 4. Shri Ajay Kajaraia Moved by : Shri Santosh Saraf Seconded by : Shri Surendra Keyal


Committee Member : 5. Shri Santosh Saraf Moved by : Shri Suresh Jhunjhunwala Seconded by : Shri Rishabh Kothari


Committee Member : 6. Shri Anupam Shah Moved by : Shri A. R. Sonthalia Seconded by : Shri Sanjay Agarwal


Committee Member : 7. Shri Gobind Prasad Agrawal

Moved by : Shri Santosh Saraf Seconded by : Shri Tushar Basu


Committee Member : 8. Shri Tushar Basu Moved by : Shri Santosh Saraf Seconded by : Shri Rishabh Kothari


Committee Member : 9. Shri Bimal Kumar Kejriw-al

Moved by : Shri Rajendra Khandelwal Seconded by : Shri Akhil SonthaliaThe Resolution was put to vote and carried unanimously.

RESOLUTION NO. 4RESOLVED that M/s. K. Prasad & Co., the retiring Auditors be and are hereby re-appointed

as Auditors to the Chamber for the year 2015-16 at a honorarium of 20,000 (Twenty Thou-sand only).

Moved by : Shri A. R. Sonthalia Seconded by : Shri Santosh Saraf The Resolution was put to vote and carried unanimously.



RESOLUTION NO. 5RESOLVED that the Budget Estimates of the Committee for the year 2015-16 be and are

hereby adopted. Moved by : Shri Suresh Jhunjhunwala Seconded by : Shri Rajendra Khandelwal The Resolution was put to vote and carried unanimously.

The Chairman thanked all members for their presence and whole-hearted cooperation in adopting all the resolutions of the Business Session unanimously.

Shri Arun Kumar Saraf, outgoing President, handed over office to the newly elected President Shri Manish Goenka and wished him a fruitful time ahead. Shri Saraf said that he had learnt a lot while working as President and came to be known in the society and government circles. He thanked all Trustees, Past Presidents, Chairmen and Co-Chairmen of Standing Committees, and members for their support, guidance and participation in various programmes held during the year. He also appreciated the dedication and hard work put in by the Secretariat to make all programmes and activities fruitful and visible.

Describing Shri Hemant Bangur, Sr. Vice

President as very resourceful and dynamic, and Shri Ramesh Agarwal, Vice President as knowledgable and experienced, Shri Saraf said that they could certainly take the Chamber to new heights of glory in the coming year.

Shri A.R. Sonthalia complimented Shri Arun Saraf for doing an excellent job and organizing some off-beat programmes, although he had been travelling a lot, during the year. He appreciated that Shri Saraf led a Business Delegation to Vietnam, carrying on the tradition set by Shri Deepak Jalan and Shri Sanjay Agarwal, his predecessors. He hoped that Shri Saraf would continue his interest and love for the Chamber. Shri Suresh Jhunjhunwala and Shri S.S. Sanganeria also joined him in appreciating the excellent work done and greater visibility of the Chamber during the tenure of Shri Saraf.

NEWLY ELECTED COMMITTEE

The Business Session was followed by First Meeting of the New Committee.

Shri Manish Goenka, new President, took the chair and welcomed all members present to the First Meeting of the New Committee. He thanked all the Trustees, Past President’s and Members for placing their confidence in him and electing him as President of the

Chamber for the second term. He also sought co-operation, active support and guidance from all in carrying out the functions of the Chamber effectively and taking new initiatives so that the Chamber can scale new heights of glory with greater visibility.

Leave of absence was granted to Shri Arvind Agrawal and Shri Vishnu K. Bhandari who had



requested for it, and also to all other members who could not be present at the meeting.

Shri Sanjay Agarwal, Past President,

proposed the following names from the two specific categories of A & B for the year 2015-16 in terms of Article 13(c)(iii) of the Articles of Association of the Chamber.

Category A: Past Presidents1. Shri Mahesh Chandra Shah2. Shri Kunj Behari Agarwala3. Shri Aditya V. Agarwal4. Shri Atul Churiwal

Category B : Other Members : 1. Shri Arun Kumar Saraf (Immediate Past

President)2. Shri Sharad Kumar Khaitan3. Shri Srivatsa Kajaria

Shri A.R. Sonthalia seconded the proposal which was unanimously approved by the Committee.

The Chairman informed that out of 93 Director Members at present 03 members have been elected as President, Sr Vice President

and Vice President. The remaining 90 Director Members shall become ipso facto members of the New Committee, with all rights and privileges, subject to the payment of their annual subscription. The Committee approved the proposal.

Sl. Name of Organisation RepresentativeNo01 Adhunik Corporation Ltd. Shri Mahesh Kr. Agarwal02 Alloys & Metals (India) Shri Surendra Keyal03 Auto Distributors Ltd. Shri Subir Poddar04 Avenues 4 Education Pvt. Ltd. Shri Samir Saraff05 Affinity Global Services Pvt. Ltd. Shri Sanjay Bhalotia06 ASO Cement Limited Shri Sandeep Agarwal07 Anmol Feeds Pvt. Ltd. Shri Amit Kumar Saraogi08 Bengal Beverages Pvt. Ltd., Dankuni Shri Shiv Ratan Goenka09 Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd. Shri Alkesh Sharma10 B. Ghose & Co. Pvt. Ltd. Shri Sharad Varma11 Bally Exports Pvt. Ltd. Shri Arpit Dhandhania12 Bansidhar Badridass Modi Pvt. Ltd. Shri Krishna Modi13 BBA Infrastructure Ltd. Shri Arun Kumar Bhuwalka14 Beekay Steel Industries Limited Shri Manav Bansal



15 Bengal Tools Ltd. Shri Ravi Todi16 Century Plyboards India Ltd. Shri Sanjay Agarwal17 Concast Ispat Limited Shri Sanjay Kumar Sureka18 Celica Developers Pvt. Ltd. Shri Mayank Poddar19 CTS Industries Ltd. Shri Sanjay Choudhury20 CKC Fragrances and Flavours Pvt.Ltd. Shri Rishabh Kothari21 Dhanwantary Medicare & Research Shri Rajendra Khandelwal

Centre Pvt. Ltd.

22 DRA Builders Pvt. Ltd. Shri Abhishek Agarwal

23 EMAMI Limited Shri R.S. Goenka

24 Essel Kitchenware Limited Shri Kailash Chand Goyal

25 ECL Agrotech Limited Shri Santosh K. Roongtaa

26 Forum Projects Pvt. Ltd. Shri Rahul Saraf

27 Great Eastern Appliances Pvt. Ltd. Shri Pulkit Baid

28 Great Eastern Trading Co. Shri Manish Kumar Baid

29 Gujarat NRE Coke Limited Shri A.K. Jagatramka

30 Greenply Industries Ltd. Shri Rajesh Mittal

31 Ganesh Sponge Pvt. Ltd. Shri Surendra Kr. Dalmia

32 Haldiram Bhujiawala Ltd. Shri Manish Agarwal

33 Happy-e-Zon Ltd. Shri Sushil Poddar

34 Infinity Infotech Parks Ltd. Shri Pulak Chamaria

35 India Forms Centre Pvt. Ltd. Shri Norat Mal Bothra

36 Jalan Distributors Shri Pawan Kumar Jalan

37 Jai Balaji Industries Ltd. Shri Aditya Jajodia

38 J.G. Hosiery Pvt. Ltd. Shri Sandeep Seksaria

39 Jupiter International Ltd. Shri Alok Garodia

40 JRK Stock Broking Pvt. Ltd. Shri Ravi Jain

41 JVS Securities Pvt. Ltd. Shri Jyoti Vardhan Sonthalia

42 Kali Transport Pvt. Ltd. Shri Suresh Gupta



43 Korp Resources Pvt. Ltd. Shri Prahlad Roy Goenka

44 Lux Industries Ltd. Shri Ashok Kr. Todi

45 Lux Industries Ltd. Shri Pradip Kumar Todi

46 Lumino Industries Ltd. Shri Devendra Goel

47 Lomex India Pvt. Ltd. Shri Amit Goyal

48 Linc Pen & Plastics Limited Shri Deepak Jalan

49 Multiwyn Industries Pvt. Ltd. Shri Vishal Jhajharia

50 Mayur Ply Industries Pvt. Ltd. Shri Prakash Kumar More

51 Microsec Financial Services Limited Shri B.L. Mittal

52 Meghalaya Cement Ltd. Shri Mahendra Kr. Agarwal

53 Phuguri Tea Estate Pvt. Ltd. Shri Abhishek Bagaria

54 Pulkit Veneer Mills Pvt. Ltd. Shri Pawan Kumar Patodia

55 Prestar Infrastructure Projects Ltd. Shri Kalu Ram Dhariwal

56 Plastolene Polymers Pvt. Ltd. Shri Sudesh Kr. Sonthalia

57 Primarc Projects Pvt. Ltd. Shri Mahesh Pansari

58 Pratidin Prakashani Pvt. Ltd. Shri Srinjoy Bose

59 Plymex Timber Pvt. Ltd. Shri Srikant Jain

60 RNA Capital Markets Ltd. Shri Niranjan Kr. Agarwal

61 R.Piyarelall Import & Export Ltd. Shri Ramesh Kumar Agarwal

62 Infinity Infotech Parks Ltd. Shri Ravindra Chamaria

63 R.S. Ispat Ltd. Shri Rakesh Agarwal

64 Rashmi Metaliks Ltd. Shri Sanjib Kumar Patwari

65 Sarda Plywood Industries Ltd. Shri Sudeep Chitlangia

66 SREI Equipment Finance Pvt. Ltd. Shri Sunil Kanoria

67 Sahul India Ltd. Shri Padam Kumar Agarwal

68 Singhania & Sons Pvt. Ltd. Shri Pradeep Kr. Singhania

69 Salasar Stock Broking Ltd. Shri Kiran Kumar Sonthalia

70 Shyam Steel Industries Limited Shri Shyam Sunder Beriwala

71 Saltee Infrastructure Ltd. Shri Surya Prakash Bagla



72 Sanmarg Pvt. Ltd. Shri Vivek Gupta

73 Supreme Wood Products Pvt. Ltd. Shri Manoj Kumar Beria

74 Sreerampur Steels Pvt. Ltd. Shri Pawan Tibrewalla

75 Sharon Impex Overseas Pvt. Ltd. Mr. Ernest Sharon

76 Shree Ganesh Jewellery House Ltd. Shri Nilesh Parekh

77 Shyam Ispat Udyog Shri Lalit Beriwala

78 Supertron Electronics Pvt. Ltd. Shri Vishnu Kumar Bhandari

79 Swadeshi Marketing Pvt. Ltd. Shri Sanjay Rasiwasia

80 Skipper Limited Shri Sajan Kumar Bansal

81 SREI Capital Markets Ltd. Shri Ashok Pareek

82 Shakti Logistics Pvt. Ltd. Shri Lavesh Poddar

83 Sudhir Chandra Sur Degree Shri Taranjit Singh Engineering College

84 Siddha Real Estate Development Pvt. Ltd. Shri Sanjay Jain

85 Shree Balaji Texpin Pvt. Ltd. Shri Bijay Gujarwasia Agarwal

86 Srijan Realty Pvt. Ltd. Shri Shyam Agarwal

87 Shakambhari Ispat & Power Ltd. Shri Deepak Kumar Agarwal

88 Tijiya Engineering Pvt. Ltd. Shri Rakesh Poddar

89 The Grobg Tea Co. Ltd. Shri Pradip Kumar Agarwal

90 UAL Industries Ltd. Shri Arun Kumar Saraf

91 The Grob Tea Co. Ltd. Shri Pradip Kumar Agarwal

92 Vedant Fashions Pvt. Ltd. Shri Ravi Modi

93 Wonder Images Pvt. Ltd. Shri Rajesh Poddar

94 Wonder Investment Management Pvt.Ltd Shri Prateek Agarwal

95 Yaana Apparels Pvt. Ltd. Shri Ajay Jalan

The Committee approved and adopted the proposal unanimously.

The Chairman said that Shri Surendra Keyal, Hony. Secretary and Shri Rajaram Chowdhary, Treasurer had worked with dedication and competency last year. Hence, he would propose their names for re-election to the same posts for the year 2015-16. The proposal was unanimously



approved and adopted.The Chairman proposed the names of Shri R.S. Agarwal as Chairman and Shri B.K. Jhajharia

as Co-Chairman of the Advisory Council for the year 2015-16. The proposal was unanimously approved and adopted.

As per convention, Shri Manish Goenka, President in office was nominated as Chairman of the MCC Foundation for the year 2015-16.

The Chairman then proposed that he would like to constitute the following Standing Com-mittees for the year 2015-16 to address specific issues in the areas of their concern and assist the Committee in suitably taking up different issues of industry and trade with the appropriate authorities.

Chairman Co-Chairman

Advisory Council R.S. Agarwal B.K. Jhajharia

Merchants’ Chamber of Manish Goenka -Commerce Foundation

Working Council Deepak Jalan Sanjay Agarwal

MCCI Ladies Forum (MLF) Seema Agarwal Prapti Jhajharia

Standing Committees for 2015-16

Chairman Co-Chairman1. Agriculture & Sanjay Rasiwasia Amit Kumar Saraogi Food Processing2. Banking, Finance B.L. Mittal Kailash B. Goel & Insurance 3. Capital Market Ashok Pareek Kamal Nayan Jain4. Coal Arun K. Jagatramka Mahesh Kumar Agarwal 5. Corporate Law Santosh Roongtaa Mamta Binani & Governance6. CSR & Rural Ravindra Chamaria Rajendra Khandelwal Development7. Direct Taxes Arvind Agrawal Sanjay Bhattacharya8. Education Samir Saraff Taranjit Singh9. Foreign Trade Ramesh Kr. Agarwal Arpit Dhandhania



10. HR, IR, QM & Tushar Basu Rajesh Jain Entrepreneurship11. IT & Communication Vishnu K. Bhandari Prem Chand Kankaria12. Indirect Taxes, GST Arun K. Agarwal (a) Sushil Kumar Goyal- & State Taxes Indirect Taxes & GST (b) Sanjib Kothari – State Taxes13. Industry Lalit Beriwal Mahendra Kumar Agarwal 14. Infrastructure & Sanjay Jain Munish Jhajharia Real Estate 15. Internal & Retail Trade Pulkit Baid Ravi Modi 16. Membership Development Santosh K. Saraf Atul Churiwal17. Power & Renewable Gyanesh Chaudhary B.L. Chandak Energy18. MSMEs Rishabh Kothari Akhil Sonthalia19. Shipping & Logistics Vishal Jhajharia Prakash Kumar More 20. Steel Deepak Kumar Agarwal Sanjib Patwari

The Committee unanimously approved of the proposal.

The Committee adopted the following Resolution in terms of Article 34(d) of the Articles of Association of the Chamber.

“RESOLVED that the Bank Accounts of the Chamber with the Punjab & Sind Bank, IBD Kolkata Branch, Old Court House Street, Kolkata – 700 001 shall be operated jointly by any two of the following persons.

President : Shri Manish Goenka Sr. Vice President : Shri Hemant Bangur Vice President : Shri Ramesh Agarwal Hony. Secretary : Shri Surendra Keyal Treasurer : Shri Rajaram ChowdharyRESOLVED further that a copy of the resolution be sent to Punjab & Sind Bank as aforesaid,

along with the specimen signatures of the new incumbents”.There being no other business to consider, the meeting ended with a vote of thanks to the Chair.



INTERACTIVE SESSIONS / SYMPOSIA / WORKSHOPS

Interactive Session with Shri U.C. NahtaMember, Competition Commission of India

The Chamber organised an Interactive Session with Shri U.C. Nahta, Member, and Competition Commission of India (CCI) on 21 April, 2015 at the Somany Conference Hall of the Chamber. Shri N.K. Bhola, Regional Director for Eastern & North-Eastern Region of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs was also present.

Shri Arun Kumar Saraf, President in his welcome address highlighted on how competition and good governance are interrelated. He expressed concern over the number of cases pending before the Commission for over two/three years and requested for expeditious disposal of cases. He suggested for building up a robust data base for analyzing the cases referred to the Commission.

Shri Nahta said that it was like home coming to MCCI. He briefly explained the various provisions of the Competition Act, 2002 which

aimed at preventing practices having adverse effect on competition, promoting and sustaining competition in markets, protecting the interests of consumers, and ensuring freedom of trade carried on by other participants in markets. He mentioned the case where CCI is studying the pricing mechanisms of the airline tickets and examining the sharp fare fluctuations and the case where bank interest rates are set by respective lenders and CCI probed into banks acting as a cartel in fixing bank interest rates. In cases of anti-competitive agreements and abuse of dominant position, the Commission is empowered to impose a penalty on each enterprise/person at 10% of turnover (average of preceding 3 years).

The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Shri Santosh Roongtaa, Chairman, Standing Committee on Corporate Law & Governance, MCCI.

Fourth Session of ‘SME KNOWLEDGE INITIATIVE’

The fourth Session of the ‘SME KNOWLEDGE INITIATIVE’ was held with National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. on 22 April 2015 at the Chamber. Shri Dipan Mitra, Assistant Manager, SME and Shri Kunal Dalmiya, Assistant Manager, Currency of National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. and Shri Ajay Laddha, Vice President, Sumedha Fiscal Services Ltd. were the Speakers.

Shri Rishabh Kothari, Chairman, Standing

Committee on MSMEs, MCCI highlighted the need for access to bankfunding for all Startups and SMEs including technology and Service Industries and opined that Stock market for startups and SMEs was still in concept stage pending implementation.

Shri Mitra made a Presentation on EMERGE – a SME platform launched by NSE Ltd. in 2012 to provide new options for raising capital by emerging companies. EMERGE



symbolises the aspirations of a large number of entrepreneurs participating in the “India growth Story” and having potential to unlock value and emerge on a bigger stage. Listing on EMERGE-ITP has the following advantages – Higher visibility & credibility, Lesser dilution, ESOPS - to attract and retain talent and M&A, Setting the stage by getting used to compliance requirements and setting the stage for a fund raising in future. Also, Migration from SME to Main board and Main board to SME are allowed subject to conditions. Company who can List on EMERGE must have – ‘At least 1 year’s audited financial statements’, ‘Not been incorporated for more than 10 years’, ‘Revenues < Rs.100 crore in any of the previous financial years’, ‘Paid up capital < Rs.25 crore’, ‘Cleared standard hygiene factors (such as defaulter list, BIFR etc)’.

Shri Laddha made his presentation on Fund Raising through SME Exchange Platform. Small and Medium companies still have the mindset of ‘me rather we or Company’. Despite having solid growth potential, the managements of privately-held SMEs often remain wedded to the status quo and are wary of new management perspectives and fresh growth capital. Focus needs to be changed from ‘Governing to governance’, ‘Ownership to sharing’, ‘Tax savings to taxpaying’, ‘Owners

to all stakeholders’. Benefits of SME Exchange over Main Board are – Lower time frame for listing, limited number of allotees, Display of offer document on website, Relaxation on post issue capital, Limited intervention by the market regulator SEBI, Ability to migrate to Main Board.

During his presentation on ‘Hedging of Foreign Currency Risk through Exchange Traded Currency Derivatives’, Shri Dalmiya mentioned that benefits of Exchange Traded Currency Derivatives comprise ‘Equating with a large Corporate’, ‘Credit agnostic’, ‘Equality in pricing’, ‘Transparency’, ‘Low impact cost’, ‘High accessibility with Internet Based Trading (IBT) and ‘Availability of Futures & Options Contracts available for trading’. He explained the Benefits of trading in NSE over OTC in regard to Participants, Liquidity, Accessibility, Credit Exposure, Transparency, Margin, Flexibility, Beneficia-ries, Contract size and Delivery of Currencies. He further explained Hedging using Currency Options with examples and also discussed new regulations of NSE in Exchange Traded Currency Derivatives.

The session thereafter ended with a hearty ‘Vote of Thanks’ offered by Shri Akhil Sonthalia, Co-Chairman, Standing Committee on MSMEs, MCCI.

Interactive Session with Dr. Gautam Ray, Chief Commissioner Customs, Central Excise & Service Tax

(West Bengal, Sikkim, Andaman & Nicobar)

The Chamber organised an Interactive Session with Dr. Gautam Ray, Chief Commissioner Customs, Central Excise & Service Tax (West Bengal, Sikkim, Andaman & Nicobar) on 27 April, 2015 on ‘Changes in Central Excise & Service Tax – Impact on Business’.

Shri Arun K. Saraf, President expressed that if 2p.c. Swachh Bharat Cess is also added to increased rate of Service tax of 14 p.c. it is going to affect everybody. He also expressed concern over un-used duty credit available to manufacturers due to abolition of Cess on Excise duty. He suggested that Excise duty on



products like AAC Blocks, Tiles made of fly ash may be reduced to encourage the industries which are abating pollution.

While making a detail presentation on the impact of duty changes in Indirect Tax regime and GST and its impact on business, he expressed that inflation expectation is still very high although WPI and CPI are currently at lower range. Government proposes to give incentive to manufacturing and personally felt that personal Income tax may be reduced to induce savings and investment.

Under GST regime, the producing States like Maharashtra and Gujarat are likely to lose while the consuming States like West Bengal and Kerala would gain. Such loses may be compensated. While responding to a query about the collection in the Kolkata zone, he said that because of closure of some factories like Haldia Petrochemicals, Renuka Sugar and Mitsubishi, government has lost lot of revenue

on Import duty. Moreover, since projects imports have come down drastically and no new project is in the offing in West Bengal revenue loss in significant.

In Kolkata zone, Excise duty collections registered a growth of 12.6p.c. in 2014-15 over the previous year. The Excise duty collection in the year 2014-15 was to the extent of Rs. 9290 crores. Service tax registered only 3.75 p.c. growth from Rs. 5788 crores in 2013-14 to Rs. 6005 crores in 2014-15. He expressed apprehension that GST may affect large number of consumers and from the consumers point of view it may to some extent be regressive. However, he felt that the investors would not be affected.

The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Shri Arun Kumar Agarwal, Chairman, Indirect Taxes, GST and State Taxes, MCCI.

‘Jewels of the East’

MCCI organised an event to Felicitate ‘Jewels of the East’ held on Tuesday, April 28, 2015 at The Lalit Great Eastern, Kolkata. Shri R.S. Agarwal, Chairman, Emami Group, Shri Harshavardhan Neotia, Chairman, Ambuja Neotia Group and Shri Arun Kumar Chandra, Managing Director, P.C.Chandra Group were presented Mementos to acknowledge their contribution to Indian Industry and Business Growth.

Shri Arun Kumar Saraf, President, MCCI while delivering the welcome address advised

‘conducting a reality check along with the passion as the driver of any business’, ‘balancing the ups and downs of business’, ’retaining the reputation’ and ‘detaching oneself from the outcome of the business’ as few of his experiences worth sharing with the new aspirants. He highlighted ‘hunger for success’, ‘inspiration’, ‘diligence’ and ‘persistence’ as the hallmarks of success of all entrepreneurs.

Shri A.K. Chandra advocated ‘Obsession for Excellence’, ‘Quality and ‘Diversifica-



tion’ as mantras for Success in Business. He appreciated MCCI’s historic effort ac-knowledging the ‘Achievers for Future’. He considered Industry as one of the pillars of Growth creating employment and contributing to National Exchequer. Mr Chandra said that ‘bad times come and they make us stronger to fight back and also they inspire’. We should have faith that ‘there is always light at the end of a dark tunnel’. Business never follows a Silk Route. There were turmoils for Business Houses in Bengal and currently the State Scenario is conducive for Business, and Budding Entrepreneurs should take advantage of the situation.

Shri Harshavardhan Neotia shared few lessons from his lifetime experiences. He narrated the 1997 Ambuja cement takeover of Modi Cement in Eastern India, a sick company, which had 400 court cases against the company, demoralized workforce, with a paid up capital of Rs 40 Crore and book losses of about Rs. 300 Crores, he said his learning experience in Construction Industry to deal with people enabled him to turn the company

into a profit making company with no initial knowledge of the cement Industry by 2006. He has perceived that work is a subset of life. We need to develop sound body and spirit through Dhyan or Adhyan. Nishkam Karma is essential to develop peace and happiness. The way a success is achieved is very important.

Shri R.S. Agarwal proclaimed that ‘Greed must not be your need’ and left everything to Almighty for the success and failure. He advised -‘Non Betrayal’ ; ’Dedication’, ‘Conviction and Innovation’, ‘Persistence’, ‘Selling the Products and Not the Business’, ‘Creating and Not Following’, ’Employing the Top Talent of the territory’, ‘Being Non Bureaucratic’, and ’Lesser Meeting’ as tips for success in Business. Narrating his experience of founding Emami and then takeover of Himani and converting a Rs 25,000 company into a Conglomerate with a Rs 25,000 Crore turnover, he said that only 5p.c. of all Business in the World succeed and 90 p.c. fail.

The session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Shri Pulkit Baid, Chairman, Internal and Retail Trade Standing Committee.

Session on ‘Google Cloud Apps for Business’

The Chamber jointly with Infiflex Technologies organised a Session on ‘Google Cloud Apps for Business’ on 06 May 2015 at The Oberoi Grand, Kolkata. Shri Upender Jit Singh, Managing Director, Webel, Shri Tushar Bhalla, Sales Manager and Shri Subrotah Biswas, Partner – Retail Development, Google India and Shri Jude Mohanty, Managing Director, Infiflex Technologies addressed the session. Shri Sanjay Agarwal, Immediate Past

President of the Chamber also presented the industry perspective on Google Cloud Apps.

Shri Arun Kumar Saraf, President, MCCI in his welcome address mentioned that Cloud Computing is now evolving with companies of all shapes and sizes adapting this new technology. He highlighted few facts and figures on the usage of Google Apps like usage of Hangouts in organizations increased by 133



p.c. between 2013 & 2014, Usage of Google+ is up 25 p.c. from 2013 and Google Docs usage among businesses with more than 1,000 users is up 10.6 p.c. from last year.

While elaborating on the advantages of Cloud computing applications, Shri Sanjay Agarwal, Immediate Past President of the Chamber pointed out that it is a solution to disaster management at zero investment, having endless users with no requirement of licenses. He also cited few examples of companies which are using Cloud Apps in a big way like Red Bus, Coca Cola, Angry Birds, etc.

While referring to state’s congenial environment for IT companies, Shri Upender Jit Singh mentioned existence of ‘15 IT Parks and hubs in West Bengal where Corporates and MNCs may start their business and do the R&D’, ‘GI Cloud which is Government of India cloud applications built in assistance of State Government and NIC’ and ‘State level Clouds for various Departments’. He announced that 2 large prospective EMCs (Electronic Manu-facturing Clusters) are coming up in Falta and Naihati to foster growth of IT industries in the State. As of now, 50 applications have already been built and hosted on state data centre. He announced that Webel is going to launch its campaign on ‘Digital India’ in May 2015. He said that ‘Digital India’ at a National Level will be ‘citizen-centric Cloud Applications’

and ‘Digital locker’ will be a new concept where all the Government certificates would be stored and can be downloaded by citizens’. He was hopeful that the Government of India would be in cloud in next 5-6 years.

‘Google Apps for Work will help you to find facts and connect seamlessly’, proclaimed by Shri Tushar Bhalla in his presentation on ‘why to use Google Apps for Work’. Only 1 in every 3 people work outside the office, 3 in every 4 choose to work in mobile and also prefer to work from home. Google Apps helped people to support more than 30 types of file at a yearly subscription of Rs 1500 per person.

Shri Subrotah Biswas in his presentation categorized devices as those ‘made by Google’, ‘made with Google’ and ‘made using Google’ like, ‘Chromecast’, ’Nexus’, ‘Android One’, ‘Chromebook-laptops with Chrome devices’, designed for seamless usage of Google Apps. Shri Jude Mohanty introduced Giffy as their new applications for Businessmen. Giffy is a quick to implement business framework which can be used to build scalable web appli-cations on the Google Cloud Platform. It is de-veloped using ‘Google Appengine’ and ‘Goo-gle Apps API’s’, and is optimized for seamless integration with the Google Cloud platform. The session ended with a Vote of Thanks by Shri Prem Chand Kankaria, Co-Chairman, Standing Committee on IT & Communication, MCCI.

Seminar on “Vision for an Efficient Power Sector” The Chamber organised a Seminar on

‘Vision for an Efficient Power Sector’ on 08 May 2015 at The Park, Kolkata. Shri Manish Gupta, Hon’ble Minister for Power and Non-Conventional Energy Sources, GoWB, Shri Gireesh B. Pradhan, Chairperson, Central

Electricity Regulatory Commission, and Dr.S.K. Chatterjee, Joint Chief (Regulatory Affairs), CERC addressed the Seminar.

Shri Arun Kumar Saraf, President, MCCI expressed his concern over the issues related to ‘Financial losses of Power Discoms’;



‘Overdrawing of power by the discoms’; ‘Pending Cases with CERC which are beyond the stipulated time’ and ‘inadequacy of manpower of CERC’ etc. He viewed that eletricity distribution to the end consumers in India needed reforms in order to achieve the target of reaching electricity to all by 2019. He expressed concern as presently, power generation capacity of 136 GW is stalled in the country.

While speaking on the power situation in the State, Shri Manish Gupta stated that West Bengal is a power surplus State with a 18% registered growth in power generation from 17.15 Million Units in 2011 to close to 21 Million Units at present and the State exports Power to Bangladesh earning Rs 800 Crores per year and also to other States. He added that his government has published a policy on renewable energy already. The State has undertaken generation of Solar backed up Hydro Power plant including existing 900 MW Pump Storage Plant in Baghmundi. Two hydro power generation plants of 1,000 MW and 900 MW each similar to the Purulia Pump Storage Project (PPSP) will come up at Turga and Bandakhola in Purulia. State is doing power banking whereby Inter-State transaction is performed. Government is going to set up 500 MW Solar Park at Dadan in Midnapur and 200 MW Roof-Top Solar Power Project in Rajarhat. He announced that in the next 2-3 years, the power tariff is expected to be reduced following a favourable coal block

allocation and auction result in West Bengal. He expected that by June 2016, all villages would be electrified from the present 85-86% coverage.

Dr. Chatterjee pointed to the issue of the Separation of Tariff Content and Distribution; Real Time Balancing by Designing a Proper Power Market as Trading or Exchanging platform; and explained the initiatives taken by CERC like introduction of an Ancillory Services in terms of 24X7 power market which would fit into low budget and is at a draft stage at National Level. For Grid Integration of Renewable energy framework, CERC has come up with a scheduling policy.

Shri Gireesh B. Pradhan, while addressing the session mentioned that the country requires Rs 13-14 Lac Crore investment to ensure 24X7 power for all by 2019-20 with the current installed capacity of 270,000 MW and plan to add 88,000 MW during the 12th Five Year Plan Period. He pointed out that in the distribution sector, investment is required in three important segments, like electrification of un-electrified households, segregation of agriculture feeders, system improvement for loss reduction, meter data management and IT enabled services and all these will require total Rs.5,27,000 crore investment in the next 5 years.

The Meeting ended with a ‘Vote of Thanks’ proposed by Shri Deepak Kumar Agarwal, Chairman, Standing Committee on Steel, MCCI.

Seminar on ‘Efficient Agri-Marketing CanEmpower Farmers of West Bengal’

The Chamber organised a Seminar on ‘Efficient Agri-Marketing Can Empower Farmers of West Bengal’ with Chief Guest Shri Arup Roy, Hon’ble Minister of

Agriculture Marketing, Government of West Bengal on 13 May, 2015 at Chamber premises. Dr. V.K. Tewari, Professor and Head, Dept of Agricultural and Food Engineering, IIT



Kharagpur, Shri A.K. Raybarman, General Manager, NABARD (Kolkata) and Dr. Abhijit K. Nandi, Professor and Head, Dept. of Agricultural Economics, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswa Vidyalaya were also present as speakers.

Shri Ramesh Agarwal, Vice President of the Chamber enquired regarding the benefits of the recent amendment to the APMC Act to the farmers, effectiveness of the e-marketing mechanism for agriculture produce and problems of post-harvest management in Bengal. He suggested that marketing plans need to be kept ready to deal with any surplus production; growth rate may be raised through modernization, upgradation, subsidies and expansion, ‘collaborative farming contracts’ could be effective and crop insurance should reach all marginal farmers.

Shri Arup Roy proclaimed that the Hon’ble Chief Minister of West Bengal is working to help the farmers get the right price for their produce and make best use of the Kishan Credit Cards (KCC) by resolving the related banking issues and facilitating licenses for cold storages. He proposed to set up an Agricultural Marketing Core Committee with one representative from each major Chambers/business bodies. 94 Krishak Bazaars have been completed so far and 85 will be set up soon in order to encourage the farmers. Problems in banking are responsible for the farmers’ inability in using the KCCs properly. At least 50 p.c. cold storage renewals are required; otherwise there is no use in facilitating the licenses. In last 3-4 years there has been an increase of 50p.c. space in storage. He requested the members to invest in cold storages in order to prevent the huge wastage of 40% of produce and ensure food security. The campaign ‘Amar Foshol

Amar Gola’ (My Crop, My Storehouse) with Rs. 25,000 grant for Onion golas, Rs. 10,000 for Paka Golas and Rs. 5000 for kachha golas was also highlighted.

Dr. V.K. Tewari observed that 15-20 years one could not think of mechanization in farms. Land is small and training of farmers is important so that they may use the machines properly and grow more than one crop efficiently. Mechanization of 3-4 hectares of land is cheaper than mechanizing 1 hectare. His concerned department at IIT has been developing machineries such as a censor based sprayer which needs to be sprayed in the bushes effectively.

Shri A.K. Ray Barman observed that more multi-chambered cold storages are required such that more than one crop could be stored. NABARD is developing models which are climate resilient and can increase productivity. They are also working towards implements hub where availing implements would cost the farmer around Rs. 400 less than if they own them personally. NABARD does not have the power to finance these models but they are bankable and other financial institutions need to take these forward. They are experimenting with e-marketing and farmers need to pay a small charge in order to use this facility.

Dr. Abhijit K. Nandi mentioned that agriculture has moved from subsistence based to profit making oriented. The problem is that 42 p.c. of agri-based households are not interested in stay in agricultural operations.

The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Shri Sanjay Rasiwasia, Chairman, Standing Committee on Agriculture and Food Processing, MCCI.



Interactive Session with Shri Rajiv, Central Vigilance Commissioner

The Chamber organized an Interactive Session on ‘Vision for a Corruption Free India’ with Shri Rajiv, Central Vigilance Commissioner on May 14, 2015 in the Somany Conference Hall.

Shri Hemant Bangur, Sr. Vice President, MCCI mentioned that commercial banks reported highest number of 1.69 lac cases of frauds involving Rs.29,910 crores as on 31.3.2013. As per Annual Report 2013 of CVC, it received 35,332 complaints of which only 1237 were found verifiable.

Shri Rajiv also emphasised on quick and speedy resolution of trials in corruption cases.

He informed that the CBI courts investigated 803 corruption cases in 2014 with a conviction rate of 69 p.c. As on December 2014, there were 6527 cases under trial pending in various courts of which about 1500 cases were more than 10 years old. He mentioned that the proposed amendment in the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 provides for most stringent punishment which may be extended to 10 years behind the bar and stipulates to complete all corruption trials within two years.

The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Shri Santosh Saraf, Past President, MCCI.

Session on MCCI Donation for Nepal Earthquake with H.E. Shri Chandra Kumar Ghimire

MCCI organized a function of donation for Nepal Earthquake with H.E. Shri Chandra Kumar Ghimire, Consul General of Nepal in Kolkata who addressed on ‘Status of Nepal after Earthquake’ on Thursday, May 21, 2015 at The Somany Conference Hall. Shri Surendra Thapa, Deputy Consul General of Nepal in Kolkata played 15 minutes video showing live Footage of Nepal Earthquake. H.E. Preecha Kaensa, Consul General of Royal Thai Consulate in Kolkata was also present to make donation to the Nepal Relief Fund on behalf of Thai Consulate in Kolkata.

Shri Deepak Jalan, Past President, MCCI while delivering the welcome address outlined the earthquake proneness of India with a history of 25 Earthquakes including the third deadliest earthquake in the world killing 15,000 people and measuring 9.1 magnitude in 2004. Shri Deepak Jalan handed over the MCCI Contribution of Rs 31 Lacs, Ten Thousand and Hundred to Shri Ghimire.

Recounting the human loss Shri Ghimire narrated - The combined disaster of the Earthquake on April 25th and its 49 aftershocks each of more than 4.1 magnitude till May 12th, the deadliest in the history of Nepal has claimed 8600 priceless lives, leaving more than 21,800 seriously injured, more than 1 Lac injured, affecting 86 Lac Population across 29 districts with 14 districts declared as emergency. Describing the mammoth structure of the natural calamity he added- the movement has brought down the Roof of the World Mt Everest by 2 cm and Elevated Kathmandu Valley by 1 Metre, completely damaging 4 Lac 80 Thousand houses and partially 2 Lac 63 Thousand in the country and demolished 90% of Heritage Sites within Kathmandu few of which were as old as 5th century.

The session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Shri Surendra Keyal, Hony Secretary, MCCI



Fifth Session of ‘SME Knowledge Initiative’

The Chamber organised its 5th Session of the ‘SME KNOWLEDGE INTITIATIVE’ on ‘Financing MSMEs in West Bengal’ which was held on 02 June 2015 at the Chamber. Speakers were Shri S. Ramakrishnan and Shri K.C. Vaid, Regional Heads, SIDBI, Kolkata Region, Dr. P. Mukhopadhyay, General Manager, Asset Management, West Bengal Financial Corporation (WBFC) and Shri Sanjeev Kumar, Sr. Manager, SME, United Bank of India.

Shri Rishabh Kothari, Chairman, Standing Committee on MSMEs, MCCI, in his welcome address, raised concern over the need-gaps between organized lending sector and SMEs that had resulted in SMEs’ reaching out to the high interest rate unorganized sector, leading to sustainability issues.

Shri S. Ramakrishnan highlighted on the developmental and promotional activities of SIDBI and spoke at length on the Schemes introduced by SIDBI for the benefit of MSMEs through ‘Credit Guarantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE)’, SIDBI Venture Capital Ltd (SVCL)’, SME Rating Agency of India Ltd (SMERA), SIDBI Revolving Fund for Technology Innovation-SRIJAN, SIDBI Foundation for Micro-Credit (SFMC) and others. SIDBI provides Concessional Rates of Interests, presently, 50 Basis Points, for Energy Efficient Projects, announced Shri Ramakrishnan. SIDBI has tie-ups with Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) and offers Term Loans for setting a project, which are payable in installments.

Shri K.C. Vaid mentioned that all government schemes related to small businesses were on the website: www.smallB.in, an initiative by SIDBI to inspire all individuals to look at the

business opportunities and to demystify and simplify the process of starting a business in India. It acts as a step by step guide for starting a business.

Dr. P. Mukhopadhyay highlighted on WBFC’s role in extending financial assistance on easy terms to MSMEs in the form of long term loan for acquiring fixed assets to set up manufacturing units or service industries. With a small number of 13 branches covering all districts in the state, WBFC has been committed in providing term loans, working capital term loans and composite loans under different Schemes.

Shri Sanjeev Kumar while making his presentation on UBI’s role in MSME Financing mentioned that Total Exposure of UBI in MSME as on 31.03.2015 is Rs 12949 Crs of which 64 p.c. accrues to the Micro sector, 31 p.c. to the Small Industries and remaining 5 p.c. to the Medium Enterprises. MSME Initiatives of the Bank through a wide network of 2000+ Branches include Term Loan for acquisition of capital goods, fixed assets, plant and machinery; Working Capital as cash credit for purchase of Raw Material, Components and stores; Maintenance of stock in process; Cluster based approach for financing MSME Sector, Concessional ROI for borrowable accounts with adequate collaterals; Nodal Office functioning for various Subsidy linked Schemes viz. CLCSS ,TUFS and others; and MSME ‘May I help you’ online queries and MSME Toll free Helpline & Centralized lodgment of online Loan applications (Toll free No 18003453344).

The session thereafter ended with a hearty ‘Vote of Thanks’ offered by Shri Akhil Sonthalia, Co-Chairman, Standing Committee on MSMEs, MCCI.



Interactive Session with the High Commissioner of Australia

The Chamber organised an Interactive Session with H.E. Mr. Patrick Suckling, High Commissioner of Australia on ‘India and Australia: Trading our way to Progress & Prosperity’ on 05 June 2015 in the Chamber. Ms. Tanya Spisbah, First Secretary Economic, Australian High Commission was also present at the Session.

Mr. Arun Kumar Saraf, President, MCCI in his Welcome Address expressed concern over the imbalance in bilateral trade skewed in favour of Australia with two-way trade registering at US$ 12.2 billion in 2013-14, down from a peak of US$ 22 billion in 2009-10. He advocated signing of CECA between India and Australia which will reduce the trade barriers and boost up bilateral trade opportunities.

Mr. Ramesh Kumar Agarwal, Vice President & Regional Chairman, FIEO and Chairman of Foreign Trade Standing Committee, MCCI while highlighting on the major decisions taken during the visit of Prime Minister of India to Australia, suggested that more and more education-industry linking programmes should be encouraged between the two countries.

While addressing the members, H.E.

Mr. Patrick Suckling, High Commissioner of Australia said that energy, education & infrastructure will be the fundamental driver of the economic cooperation between India and Australia in the coming years. Australia is specially looking for cooperation in corporative farming. He viewed that the real synergy is between real complementarities between India and Australia. On Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA), he informed that it will be finalised by the end of this year, opening doors for both the countries to broaden their economic cooperation and take it to the next level. Mr. Suckling said that the huge population difference between India and Australia is the prime reason behind the imbalance in the trade between the two countries.

To solve the strategic security issues in the future, Mr. Suckling proposed for India- Australia Defence Cooperation. In this context, he informed that the first Navy-to-Navy exercise between India and Australia is going to take place in this year.

The session ended with a hearty ‘Vote of Thanks’ proposed by Shri Arpit Dhandhania, Co-Chairman, Standing Committee on Foreign Trade, MCCI.

Interactive Session with Senior Officials of CESC

The Chamber organised an Interactive Session with the Senior Officials of CESC on June 9 2015 at the Conference Hall of the Chamber. Shri Avijit Ghosh, VP-Distribution Services, Shri Debashis Roy, Vice President – IT, Shri Amitava Shome, GM-Customer Relations, Shri Biplab Saha, GM-HT Systems,

Shri B. Nag Chaudhuri, GM-Construction, Shri Indranil Chatterjee, GM Corporate Services, Shri Debasish Bandopadhyay, Dy GM (Commercial - HT), Shri Sanjoy Mukherjee, General Manager (Planning) were present at the session and interacted with the members and customers to know their problems and



provide solutions to them. Shri Arun Kumar Saraf, President of MCCI

in his Welcome Address mentioned that in order to promote industrial growth in West Bengal, CESC should extend the distribution lines to all such areas where power connection is not readily available for supplying power to the consumers. He suggested for ‘separate electricity meter for sub-lessees and separate Bill to be raised by CESC for payment’, and ‘bank rate of interest on security deposits’, etc.

While addressing the members, Shri Avijit Ghosh mentioned that CESC is planning to provide new connections to its customers within 24 hours of application by this financial year. Presently, CESC is providing new connections within 24 hours after the payment being made. He further informed that starting from applying for the new connection to supply, CESC’s service is best in class. Presently, CESC has three shift LT control rooms for serving its 3.8 million LT customers.

Shri Amitava Shome made a power-point presentation explaining a host of new initiatives taken up by CESC in order to connect with

its customers in a better way. It includes ‘web-based services’ and ‘e-payment services’. They are adding atleast one online payment option every month. He also informed that CESC is coming up with new payment options through ‘gateway aggregator’ and ‘PayU’, which will be launched in a few weeks. Debit-card-pin’, ‘Mobi-Quick – payment through mobile’ and ‘Insta pay’ are other bill-payment options offered by CESC to its customers.

To solve bulk supply related problems, Shri Ghosh informed that CESC has 6 nodal officers dedicated for this job in 6 regions. Details of these officers are published in the CESC Website. Shri Ghosh also informed that due to safety reasons CESC does not allow HT and LT consumers to stay in a same building. Only if a HT consumer wants to convert its connection and if all the beneficiaries of the building agree with this, CESC will allow for the conversion. Each year 15-20 such HT consumers are opting for conversions to become LT consumers.

The session ended with a Vote of Thanks proposed by Shri Surendra Keyal, Hon. Secretary, MCCI.

Interactive Session with Shri Tathagata Roy, Hon’ble Governor of Tripura

The Chamber organized an Interactive Session with Shri Tathagata Roy, Hon’ble Governor of Tripura on the theme ‘Cooperative Federalism in India’ on 12 June, 2015 at the Conference Hall of MCCI, Kolkata.

Shri Roy pointed out that our Constitution is federal in structure but unitary in spirit. The founding fathers provided a strong unifying force as a protection against centrifugal forces in an amorphous emerging country but chose a federal structure on account of its diversity.

The immediate objective of the Government is to remove poverty and help people lead a complete life. It is wealth, and not poverty, which should be distributed. Wealth has to be first created before it can be distributed. The breakup of the Soviet Union and the experience of China have established that state ownership does not lead to the removal of poverty. This has to be understood by a section of the Indian public. He felt that the Government has no business to get into business.



Shri Roy said that the following are duties of the Government. Firstly, the Government should provide infrastructure. It should then ensure smooth flow of merchandise within the system. Thirdly, the Government should provide stable law order within a politically neutral setup. In other words, the police should appear to be politically neutral. Finally, ensuring a corruption free environment is the goal of the Government.

He remarked that the arbitration mechanism has led to create further litigation and judicial reforms are necessary to ensure that litigation is completed in a timely manner. On a query, Shri Roy said Tripura state is doing very well and Agartala is considered to be cleanest city compared to any city of West Bengal.

The session ended with a hearty vote of thanks offered by Shri Surendra Keyal, Honorary Secretary, MCCI.

Interactive Session with Shri P. Madhusudan, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd.

The Chamber organized an Interactive Session on June 13, 2015 on the “Indian Steel Industry & RINL - A Growth Story” at the Conference Hall of the Chamber.

While making a detailed presentation on the current steel scenario and its future prospect, Shri Madhusudan informed that the current phase of depressed demand will soon be over once the infrastructure development gears up. While the China has a negative growth in steel in 2014 and also in the next two years, Indian Steel industry will exhibit higher growth. India has emerged as the 3rd largest producer overtaking USA and likely to take 2nd place by 2015. Lack of availability of land, insufficient infrastructure, regulatory bottlenecks, and subdued manufacturing growth coupled with skill shortages are the challenges that have to be met by the steel industry for its growth.

As per current practices India can reach 170 mlt. by 2025 but can aspire to have 250 mlt., provided the bottlenecks are removed. Logistics, particularly railways could play a very differentiating role and unless this is addressed steel industry will receive a setback

as payload per wagon is only 3 mt. per km. compared to 7.3 in USA and 4.6 in China. While Singapore has 1600 shipping fleet, India owns only 340. Similarly, waterways have limited use of 14,500 kms. compared to 1,10,000 kms. in China, 50,000 in Brazil. Cost of raw-materials of the companies having captive mines constitute only 40 p.c. compared to 70 p.c. for others not having captive mines which is a serious drag for those companies.

RINL has increased its capacity to 6.9 mt. from 3 mt. and they are in the process of taking the mines in Rajasthan with low Fe grade which would be utilised after beneficiation. He felt that Indian companies have to take innovative ideas, expand R&D base to face the competition from other countries. He is optimistic that since per capita consumption of steel is still very low about 10 – 12 kg in rural areas and about 60 kg. at all India level there is enough scope for expansion of capacity for domestic use.

The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Shri Deepak Kumar Agarwal, Chairman, Standing Committee on Steel, MCCI.



Interactive Session with Shri Babul Supriyo, Hon’ble MoS, Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, GoI

The Chamber organised an Interactive Session on ‘Federal Structure of Governance is the key to faster Urban Growth in India’ with Shri Babul Supriyo, Hon’ble MoS, Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Govt. of India on June 15, 2015 at The Park.

Shri Arun Kumar Saraf, President of the Chamber in his welcome address suggested need for private participation in urbanisation, rationalization of Stamp Duty, calibration of Property Tax and abolition of ULC Act which are acting as hindrances on urbanization process, strict monitoring of unhygienic activities and levy of due penalties for dumping wastes in drains, rivers and prohibited areas.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Babul Supriyo stated that people of all three tiers of a train need to travel together in harmony in order to reach the required goal. The same three tier system of governance is followed in our nation and this system should be respected. The Make in India Campaign, Housing for all (targeted for the homeless) and Smart Cities need to be treated differently because they have individual and different purposes. Make in India

is supposed to support and give a kick-start to the Smart Cities project in order to empower the rural areas. The Hon’ble Prime Minister is working towards the goal of bringing down the Ease of Doing Business index for India from 142 to below 50 rank. Land Acquisition Bill has not been implemented in West Bengal. However the Land Act has several provisions to compensate farmers with four times return. He remarked that the phase one of the East West Metro Corridor, which was initiated in 2008 with a proposed cost of Rs. 5000 crore, will be completed by December 2017 instead of earlier set date in June 2018. The Dattabad issue has been resolved and several houses have been relocated effectively. Also 20 more houses will be constructed for rehabilitation. As per AMASAR act which was amended in 2010 there can be no rail track construction within 100 metres of any heritage building. Kolkata Metro Rail Corporation Limited (KMRCL) has written already to the ASI regarding this.

The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Shri Munish Jhajharia, Co-Chairman, Standing Committee on Infra-structure and Real Estate, MCCI.

Workshop on Recent Amendments to The Companies Act, 2013

The Chamber organized a Workshop on Recent Amendments to The Companies Act, 2013 with Smt. Mamta Binani, Vice President, The Insitute of Company Secretaries of India on 24 June, 2015, at the Conference Hall of the Chamber.

Smt. Mamta Binani mentioned ever since the draft notifications were placed before the

Parliament, companies have been eagerly waiting for the approval and promulgation of the same. Finally the exemption notifications saw the light of day with MCA releasing 4 exemption notifications in bulk on June 05, 2015. Among the four notifications, one notification pertains to Government Companies (‘Govt. cos.’) wherein the Central



Government (‘CG’) in the public interest has come out with some exemption/ modification/ exception/ adaptation to certain provisions of Companies Act, 2013 (‘Act’) for Govt. cos.

Where at one side the private company exemption notification was utterly disappoint-ing, the partial Government seems to have bestowed all its affection on its own entities. A balance of grace on either side would have been a more welcome step. On one hand ad-ministrators are unnecessarily burdening the private entities with senseless compliances, at the other hand Government entities are being relieved of major compliance requirements.

Private companies have also been allowed to accept deposits from members without the requirement of offer circular and creation of deposit repayment reserve etc. Flexibility has also been provided in the types of share capital that can be issued by private companies. Exemption has been given from filing of board resolutions with the registry and giving of notice for standing for directorships.

The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Shri Santosh Roongtaa, Chairman, Standing Committee on Direct Taxes, MCCI.

Special Session with Shri Nitin Gadkari, Hon’ble Minister of Road Transport, Highways and Shipping, GoI

The Chamber organised a Special Session with Shri Nitin Gadkari, Hon’ble Minister of Road Transport, Highways and Shipping, Govt. of India on the theme ‘Synergic Relationship between Kolkata Port and Inland Waterway’ on 24 June, 2015 at the Taj Bengal, Kolkata. Shri S.V.K. Reddy, Director of Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI) and Shri R.P.S. Kahlon, IAS, Chairman, Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) were also present as speakers.

Shri Sanjay Agarwal, Past President of the Chamber enquired about efficient re-structur-ing of the port system in India, IWAI’s plans for development of waterways other than NW-1, the action-plans for the proposed sea port at Sagar Island and scheme for access to funds from abroad for expansion of major ports. He suggested implementing more mechanised berths to improve turnaround time of vessels.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Reddy mentioned that many projects have been developed to encourage industries adopt

transport via Inland Waterways for meeting their business needs. The National Waterways (NW) would surely help ports meet the logistic requirements. Haldia Dock Complex has handed over 51 acres of land to IWAI for development of the multi-modal Inland Waterways.

Shri Kahlon declared that works on the ‘Jal Marg Vikas’ Project has progressed and first stretch developed already. Thrust areas of KoPT comprise connectivity of waterways, IWT terminals, development of roads and tributaries of National Waterways. More vessels should be inducted, cargo commitment needs to be addressed and here more private investment is required. Multimodal logistics can be developed through PPP mode. KoPT is giving series of concessions for the same.

Shri Gadkari mentioned that goods and passenger traffic movement through waterways is 43 pc. in Korea, 44 p.c. in Japan and 47p.c. in China, more than 40 p.c. in Europe while



it is 3.3 pc in India (3pc Coastal traffic and 0.3 p.c. Inland Waterways). The five declared waterways include the main rivers such as Ganges, Brahmaputra, Godavari and Krishna, Mahanadi, and West Coast Canal in Kerala. Transportation of imported thermal coal and coke from ports in Bay of Bengal to various existing and future thermal power plants on river banks is the most promising prospect. For the Haldia-Varanasi waterway, Rs. 4200 crores has been granted by World Bank. Varanasi, Haldia, Jharkhand and Sahibganj will be developed into multi-modal hubs and connected via water, railways and road. Rail companies are being developed along ports. Within 3 weeks, 40 activities will start. The government has decided to recognize 101 more waterways in India and the Bill has been cleared by the Cabinet and will be introduced in the coming session in the Parliament. He

is also developing light houses for the same and reports are ready for 16 of them. The 1300 islands of India can be developed for tourism promotion. Vessels from Guwahati were brought to Kolkata for repairing and this involved huge cost. Hence Rs. 47 crores grant has been given to Guwahati for development of their own ship repairing centers. Joint ventures should be developed between central and state government in order to develop Inland Waterways. Technologies are developed by World Bank such that draft of 3m can be maintained without barges. Kolkata can be a growth engine especially since Sagar Port is being developed.

The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Shri Vishal Jhajharia, Chairman, Standing Committee on Shipping and Logistics, MCCI.

Interactive Session with Shri Radhey Shyam, General Manager, Metro Railway, Kolkata and South Eastern Railway

The Chamber organised an Interactive Session on ‘Metro Railway and SE Railway – Challenges of Modernisation and Expansion’ with Shri Radhey Shyam, General Manager, Metro Railway and South Eastern Railway, on 8 July, 2015 at Chamber premises.

Shri Arun Kumar Saraf, President of the Chamber enquired about the progress on the East-West project, scope for PPP in getting new rakes for Metro Railways, delay in freight lines in SE Railways, dual classification problem of freight, penalty charges on wagons and steps initiated for station redevelopment in SE Railways.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Radhe Shyamji stated that the steps taken towards

modernization include ‘GSM-R based Mobile Train Radio Communication’, ‘Track Protection & Warning System’, ‘New Integrated Security System’ ‘improved signage’, etc. here are 661 CCTVs along with special personnel for women’s security in the New Integrated Security System. There are five projects sanctioned which comprise 87.83 km total stretch, Rs. 12,234 crore cost out of which around Rs. 2000 crores spent upto March’15. Every year around Rs. 580 crore is spent. These projects include – Dum Dum to Baranagar Metro Extension Project; Noapara- Baranagar-Barrackpur & Dakshineswar; Noapara to Barasat New Line Metro Project; Kavi Subhas (New Garia) to NSCB (Dum Dum) Airport (Via Rajarhat) New Metro Line;



and BBD Bag-Joka-Diamond Park New Metro Line. But land issues and encroachment issues are present. The problem area lies between Mominpur and Esplanade where the land belongs to the army. Permission is sought from Archeological Survey of India (ASI) regarding the route to pass near the 182-year-old protected Old Currency Building in the BBD Bag area. For New Garia to Dum Dum line it

will take another three years to be completed. The Joka-BBD Bag route will be completed in three years after the land acquisition issue is resolved. Salt Lake to Sealdah route will be completed by June, 2018.

The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Shri Prakash Kumar More, Co-Chairman, Standing Committee on Shipping and Logistics, MCCI.

Summit on ‘Combatting Earthquake Disasters’The Chamber organized a Summit on

‘Combatting Earthquake Disasters’ which was held on Tuesday, July 14, 2015, at The Park, Kolkata. Janab Javed Ahmed Khan, Hon’ble Minister of Disaster Management, Fire & Emergency Services & Civil Defence Department, Government of West Bengal was the Chief Guest. Dr Shailesh Nayak, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India was the Guest of Honour. Lt Gen N.C. Marwah, Member, NDMA (National Disaster Management Authority) delivered the Special Address. Prof (Dr.) Sankar Kumar Nath, Professor, Geology & Geophysics, IIT-Kharag-pur moderated the session. Dr. O.P. Mishra, Scientist-F, DDG, India Meteorological Department; Shri Sushil Mohta, President, CREDAI Bengal; Dr. Ambarish Ghosh, Prof. Civil Engineering & Head, School of Disaster Mitigation Engineering, IIEST, Shibpur and Smt. Sunita Chowdhurie, Zonal Head, TATA AIG General Insurance Company were the other speakers at the event.

Shri Arun Kumar Saraf, President, MCCI during his welcome address highlighted gradual slipping of Indian Plate into Asia, pushing against the Burma Plate which is creating continuous stress and strain as the major reason for high frequency and intensity

of the earthquakes in India. In order to minimize the loss due to earthquake, he suggested, ‘appropriate knowledge’, ‘technology’, ‘equipment’, ‘trained man-power’ and ‘financial resources’.

Janab Javed Ahmed Khan proudly said that ‘West Bengal is the only State to have a Ministry for Disaster Management‘. He clearly delineated that Risk Management is a Central Government responsibility and Crisis Management lies with the State. He stressed the revamping of Disaster Management Department by the TMC (All India Trinamool Congress) after it came to power since 2011. He also mentioned the State Government Proposal for installing an ‘Audio Early Warning System’ to the Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India.

According to Dr Shailesh Nayak the three Pillars which outlined the Solution to the ‘Preparedness and Combatting Earthquake Disasters’ are Knowledge and Upgrading the Knowledge of the Mechanism and the Process and Prediction of Earthquake, Human Consciousness to consult the Structural Engineers and construct according to the set Rules to make Earthquake Resistant Buildings and Building a sound Social, Government and Industrial Infrastructure. He concluded



that Earthquake Prediction will be possible!, 20-30 years down the line, Earthquake will be predicted. India is leading an ambitious project of measuring and observing the process of Earthquake where 24 countries are partaking across the world and now World is looking at India to invent the mechanism of Earthquake Prediction.

Lt. Gen. N.C. Marwah, speaking on the theme ‘Building an Earthquake Resilient Society’ made very pertinent suggestions. Few of his unique suggestions include Establishment of Community and District Disaster Management Centers, Strengthening Fire and Emergency Services, Equipping Municipal Corporations /Councils with basic DM (Disaster Management) Equipment and Skilled Man power, Propagating Do’s and Don’ts before, during and after an earthquake and Integrating Community DM into Incident Response System of District.

Shri Sushil Mohta speaking on the theme ‘Earthquake proof Urban Planning’ emphasized a proper nexus between Architects, Construction Engineers, Developers, Municipal Bodies, Concerned Agencies who are aware of the Building Rules and Regulations to ensure ‘Construction of a Building’ within the rulebook.

Smt Sunita Chowdhurie, elaborating on the theme ‘Mandating Earthquake Resistant Construction Code’ commented ‘lack of awareness that buildings could be made earthquake resistant at a small additional cost only, hence lack of motivation’, ’lack of financial resources for meeting earthquake resistance requirements in building construction’ and ‘lack of skills in seismic design and construction techniques and the unorganized nature of the building sector’ are

the key challenges faced.Dr Ambarish Ghosh,who spoke on

‘Liquefaction Hazard Mitigation’ narrated ‘Proper Planning’, ‘Theoretical Knowledge and Numerical Tools’, ‘Practical Experi-ence’,’Constructability Aspect and State of the Art Machineries’ and ‘Quality Control and Instrumentation’ as the key ingredients for Success of a Project. ‘Tilted Foundation’, ‘Foundation Failure’, ‘Damage of Utility Lines’, ‘Ground Cracks’, ‘Sand Boiling’, ‘Distortion of Port and Harbour’ are the effects of Liquefaction of Infrastructure due to Earthquake.

Dr. O.P. Mishra, speaking on ‘Challenges in Earthquake Prediction: Future Strategy for Earthquake Risk Mitigation’ delineated the future strategy as Identification of Causative factors that lead to the Disaster, Encouragement of Community based Disaster Risk Management Scheme (CBDRRM) by involving private and public partnership for continued and sustainable disaster risk resilient program for the area, and Legal implications and Adequate budget allocation to deal with disasters for better cause of human beings, live stocks, resilient infrastructure and stable ecosystem.

Prof (Dr.) Sankar Kumar Nath, who moderated the session and spoke on the theme ‘Saving Earthquake Prone Cities in India’ shared that at least 38 Indian cities lie in High Risk seismic zones and nearly 60% of the subcontinental landmass is vulnerable to earthquakes. Barring rare exceptions, such as Delhi Metro, India’s hastily built cities are open to great damage from Earthquakes.

The Session ended with a hearty Vote of thanks from Shri Arun Kumar Saraf, President, MCCI.



Interactive Session with Hon’ble Justice Shri Cyriac Joseph, Chairperson, National Human Rights Commission

The Chamber organised an interactive session with Justice Shri Cyriac Joseph, Chairperson, National Human Rights Commissionon India on “A Beacon of Hope for Human Rights Activists’’ at the Chamber premises on 15 July, 2015. Shri M. S. Dwivedy, Member, West Bengal Human Rights Commission and Shri Shyamal Ghosh, Legal Remembrancer, Govt. of West Bengal were also present and addressed the Chamber.

Shri Ramesh Agarwal, Vice President, MCCI in his welcome address enquired if the NHRC has the authority to enforce the implementation of its recommendations? He also enquired if the NHRC has the power to order detention and arrest. The debate over the age of juvenile offenders continues and people question whether the outlook of the law should be to reform or only to punish or both.

Shri Shyamal Gupta, Legal Remembrancer, Govt. of West Bengal stated that encounters cannot be used as a tool by the State to quell either the dissenting voices or the alleged rogue elements when other remedies are available. The debate over age in juvenile crime continues. The Constitution has guaranteed Fundamental Rights which can be exercised with restraint. In this light, the strike down of

Section 66A of the Information Technology Act is a welcome move.

Shri M. S. Dwivedy, Member, West Bengal Human Rights Commission said that the rights of every person against the state are Human Rights. These are the rights to life, liberty, equality and dignity. These rights cannot be safeguarded without support from NGOs and human rights defenders.

Justice Shri Cyriac Joseph, Chairperson, National Human Rights Commission stated that one function of NHRC is to create awareness which is why he accepted MCCI’s invitation. Human Rights involve the rights related to life, liberty, equality and dignity. Justice Joseph added that Human Rights have evolved over centuries. The major developments include the UN Charter and Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In India, the rule of law prevails. The protection of Human Rights is a Constitutional value and goal. We are consti-tutionally bound to secure the dignity of the individual. All branches of Government have a constitutional duty to uphold Human Rights.


‘Employability and Entrepreneurability – Opportunities & Challenges for Human Resource Development in Current Economic Scenario’

The Chamber organized a Seminar on the theme ‘Employability and Entrepreneurability – Opportunities & Challenges for Human Resource Development in Current Economic Scenario’ on 12 August, 2015 in the Conference

Hall of the Chamber. Smt. Indrani Chatterjee, Director, Human Resources, Pricewaterhouse-Coopers, Smt. Sujata Guin, Corporate Director and Associate Vice President, HR, Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels, Shri Subhrangshu



Sanyal, CEO, IIM Calcutta Innovation Park, Shri Subhashish Das, VP Corporate, HR & Personnel, Berger Paints and Shri Tushar Basu, Chairman, Standing Committee on HR & En-trepreneurship, MCCI and Director, Analytic Consultants were present as speakers.

Shri Arun Kumar Saraf, President of the Chamber suggested inclusion of Holistic counseling in educational institutions in order to help people make appropriate career choices and integration of Education to Employability (E2E) into the curriculum of all educational institutions. Entrepreneurability depends on ‘ability to manage a business, ability to innovate from the given resources and take risk’.

Smt. Indrani Chatterjee observed that the country is undergoing a paradigm shift from commodity based to knowledge based economy. Around 58 p.c. share of the GDP of India is catered by services sector. This sector has seen a CAGR of 10 p.c. for last ten years and is on the way to witness more growth. In fact ‘growth is a good story’ (which means a company will need resources) and ‘how to get rid of human resources’ is the painful story, she said. In fact PwC is growing by 20p.c. presently and there is a large requirement of professionals from time to time.

Smt. Sujata Guin mentioned that the hospitality industry has created 44 lac jobs since 2011 and by 2017 it is expected to rise to 68 lac. This sector is the second highest employment generator in India. By 2018 this will grow by 65p.c. and add 3500 additional rooms. The Park will need 5 million skilled people by 2022. The Apeejay Institute of hospitality in Mumbai produces around 50 management trainees every year. The Park invests highly

in training. However they believe in hiring retired people also and gradually transferring their experience, expertise and knowledge onto the younger generations.

Shri Subhrangshu Sanyal mentioned that India lies among the top five nations in areas of startups. During the period 2014-15, there were above 400 new businesses, more than 200 deals and 4 million invested. In terms of startups India has gone past even China. Innovation is the key word for a successful entrepreneur. Connecting students with the start-ups should be the new strategy for educational institutions. This is will give students the right exposure and later they can make the right choice of either starting their business or look for a suitable job.

Shri Subhashish Das mentioned that an HR professional should be a change agent and need to be risk-taking, pro-active and assertive. HR professionals need to attract the right talent, equip them with right skills and provide them the environment to hone their skills. One needs to emphasise on capacity building such that they may stay with the organisation for a lifetime.

Shri Tushar Basu, Chairman, Standing Committee on HR & Entrepreneurship, MCCI and Director, Analytic Consultants, mentioned that only 25p.c. of graduates from engineering institutions are employable in India, which necessitates a dialogue between institutes and industries to review and design appropriate industry friendly educational methodologies.

The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Shri Tushar Basu, Chairman, Standing Committee on HR, IR, Quality & Entrepreneurship, MCCI.



Session on ‘Growth with ERP andBusiness Controls & Ready Reporting’

The Chamber organised an Interactive Session with Shri Jitendra Kulkarni, Founder & CEO, Winspire Solutions, Singapore on ‘Growth with ERP and Business Controls & Ready Reporting’ on August 17, 2015 at the Chamber.

Shri Vishnu Kumar Bhandari, Chairman, Standing Committee on IT & Communication, MCCI in his Welcome Address highlighted the need for ERP implementation for small as well as large businesses and challenges that were coming in the way of successful imple-mentation of ERP. He viewed that ERP is very important for scaling up one’s business. As per some latest Survey, 50 p.c. of small-to-medium sized businesses were yet to implement ERP Solutions because of their concerns about the level of resources required for the application of ERP.

Shri Jitendra Kulkarni mentioned that as most of the SMEs are struggling to manage their risks, ERP is the only solution for

ALL. The scope of ERP implementation encompasses what is often referred to as the entire value chain of the enterprise, from prospect and customer management through order fulfillment and delivery. He said that companies with multi-locational operations, low margin businesses, complex processes and looking for investors should go for ERP implementation.

While highlighting on some easy steps to implement ERP successfully, Shri Prem Chand Kankaria, Co-Chairman, IT & Communica-tion Standing Committee of MCCI suggested spreading ERP goals by organisations into short stages like ‘Goal Management’, ‘Resource Management’, ‘Change Management’, ‘Vendor Management’ and lastly ‘Managing Yourself’.

The session ended with a Vote of Thanks proposed by Shri V.K. Bhandari, Chairman, Standing Committee on IT & Communication, MCCI.

Interactive Session with Shri Sushil Muhnot, Chairman and Managing Director, Bank of Maharashtra

The Chamber organised an interactive session with Shri Sushil Muhnot, CMD, Bank of Maharashtra on ‘Role of Nationalised Banks in Driving Economic Growth’ at the Chamber premises on 19 August, 2015. Shri Amitav Kothari, Past President, MCCI gave the Theme Presentation.

Shri Arun Kumar Saraf, President, MCCI in his welcome address pointed out that the changes prior to and after 1969 and prior to after 1991 are clear indicators that the returns from inclusive banking tend to be much lower

and sometimes negative. This is also true of inclusive sectoral lending. Under recapital-isation plan for public sector banks, 13 banks will receive Rs 20,058 crore this financial year. The rest Rs 5,000 crore will be allocated as per efficiency criteria.

Shri Amitav Kothari, Past President, MCCI pointed out that public sector banks have high gross and net NPA whereas private banks have NPA of 1 p.c. only. The NPA pain will last another 2 – 3 quarters. The new capital adequacy norms under Basel III will be operational in 43



months. It is estimated that Rs 1,80,000 crore of additional capital will be required by public sector banks. The Government has announced at Rs70,000 crore recapitalisation plan which leaves a gap of Rs 110,000 crore.

Shri Sushil Muhnot, CMD, Bank of Maharashtra started by saying that the objective of nationalising of banks in 1969 was to release deposits for inclusive growth. For this, the bank branches expanded throughout the nation. Thus, public sector banks have a business role as well as a role in financial inclusion. Cross subsidisation is required as public sector banks perform both roles.

NPAs came into existence as banks did not conduct discovery of demand for infrastruc-ture projects. In other words, banks agreed to fund projects based on the gap in infrastruc-ture, in areas such as power and roads. Also, the regulatory system lagged and linkages did not happen. In other words, uncertainty about the rules and regulatory framework has been a problem. Infrastructure projects got stuck for a variety of reasons leading to stalled projects which turned NPA after 90 days. Private sector

banks, on the other hand, focused on financing retail assets. Secondly, the slowdown in Western economies and Japan meant that export-oriented sectors, such a jewellery and gemstones and textiles started to perform poorly. Thirdly, domestic demand nosedived due to high inflation which again reinforced the NPA problem.

The merger of public sector banks when it happens will help finance larger infrastructure projects. However, before merger can take place, we need to create healthier banks. The Bankruptcy Law will be shortly presented in Parliament.

Almost two-thirds of branches of Bank of Maharashtra are in semi urban and rural areas. This bank is concentrated in Maharashtra and has a pan India presence as well. Banks can create employment only when it is sustainable. In this regard, it should be remembered that public sector banks are creating more indirect employment these days, for example in IT.


Session with H.E. Mr.Ton Sinh Thanh, Ambassador of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to India

The Chamber organized an Interactive Session with H.E. Mr. Ton Sinh Thanh, Ambassador of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to India on the theme ‘Facilitating India –Vietnam Trade’ held on Wednesday, August 26, 2015 at The Somany Conference Hall. Rear Admiral A.K. Verma,C&MD, GRSE (Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Ltd) and Mr. Ramesh Kumar Agarwal, Chairman Standing Committee on Foreign Trade ,MCCI and Vice President & Chairman FIEO (ER)

were also present.

Shri Arun Saraf, President, MCCI while delivering the welcome address announced the MCCI plan to moot a proposal to the Vietnam Government to lead an initiative to form an economic zone in the GANGA MEKONG area promoting the potential sectors in this zone as an extension of the Act East Policy. Agriculture, Textiles, Tourism, Culture and Religion were indicated as the probable sectors



which may assist in the formation of this zone. H.E. Mr.Ton Sinh Thanh considered the

MCCI delegation to Vietnam perfectly timed when Vietnam is celebrating 70 years of Independence. He added that - More than 18,000 Foreign Investment Projects worth USD 250 Billion in Vietnam and USD 150 Billion of Exports equal to 100 % of GDP make Foreign Investment and Exports the prime drivers of the Vietnam economy. He advocated signing of Free Trade Agreement between the two nations and commencement of duty free import on select items which are important to both. Additionally Indian Medicines, Machineries and Chemical Products also have very big market in Vietnam and needs to be explored according to Mr Thanh.

Rear Admiral Verma proudly introduced GRSE as First Shipyard of the country. GRSE has supplied 91 warships to Indian Navy till date. He announced the recent India Vietnam

agreement to sell 14 Patrol Vessels to Vietnam few of which will be built in India and the rest assembled in Vietnam. He also invited Mr Thanh to visit GRSE shipyard and meet the visiting Delegation of Major General of Armed Forces from Vietnam.

Shri Agarwal made a special mention of the outcome of the 2nd meeting of the India-Viet-nam Joint Sub-Commission on Trade led by Shri Rajeev Kher, Commerce Secretary which was held in Hanoi on 20 January 2015 where both sides reviewed the progress made since the first meeting and discussed measures to enhance cooperation in textiles, pharmaceuti-cals, agri-trade, investment, services to achieve the target of bilateral trade of US$15 billion by 2020.

The session ended with a hearty Vote of thanks from Shri Arpit Dhandhania, Co Chairman, Standing Committee on Foreign Trade, MCCI.

Exclusive Session with Prof. Dr. Achyuta Samanta, Founder and Mentor, KIIT University & KISS, Bhubaneswar

The Chamber organised an Exclusive Session on ‘KIIT University and KISS’ with Prof. Dr. Achyuta Samanta, Founder and Mentor, KIIT University & KISS, Bhubaneswar on Thursday, 3rd September 2015 in the Conference Hall of the Chamber.

Shri Ramesh Agarwal, Vice President, MCCI appreciated and lauded the success story of KIIT as one of the most respected educational conglomerates in India with 25,000 students from across the country and abroad. He saluted Prof. Samanta for his indomitable spirit, innovative mind and adept hands that weaved KIIT which has become a model for emulation. He also expressed interest in the

‘Finance Model’ behind running a non-profit institution like KISS on a large scale.

Prof. Samanta – the visionary founder of KIIT and KISS, informed that KIIT having 25,000 students and KISS having another 25,000 tribal students were been set up for the elite and deprived sections of the society, respectively. Market value of KIIT assets is Rs 10,000 crores. Currently 800 poor tribal children of KISS are pursuing their professional education like Medical, Dental, Engineering, Law, etc. in KIIT University, at completely free of cost. This initiative seeks to metamorphose the hapless to haves, tax consumers to tax payers.



KISS Model is important in India in order to convert the ‘liabilities into assets’ and ‘tax-consumers into taxpayers’, said Dr. Samanta. A clone of the KISS model - KISS DELHI is successfully functioning in Delhi to cater to the needs of the deprived children of the country. Several others are to be replicated in different districts of Odisha – the poorest state in the country, and also in other states

across the country. In this respect he would invite support from the concerned State governments and industrial houses. In this regard he mentioned that Emami Group of Companies is mulling over to collaborate for one KISS replica in Balasore District of Orissa.

Shri Samir Saraff, Chairman, Standing Committee on Education, MCCI proposed a hearty Vote of Thanks at the end of the Session.

Special Session on ‘Business Opportunities in Start-up Companies’ – A MCCI-NASSCOM Initiative

The Chamber organised a Special Session on ‘Business Opportunities in Start-up Companies – A MCCI-NASSCOM Initiative’ on 11 September 2015 at the Chamber. The Session was organised with an aim to support ’10,000 Start-ups Initiative’ of NASSCOM and provide the new generation entrepreneurs with an access to the potential customers and investors and help them gain knowledge of possible strategic tie-ups.

Shri Nirupam Chaudhuri, Regional Head, NASSCOM, Eastern Region and Shri Ravi Ranjan, Manager, NASSCOM 10,000 Start-ups Warehouse, Kolkata addressed the Session. Founders of start-ups in Kolkata : Shri Sourav Goswami, Co-Founder, iMan-ageMyHotel, Shri Partho Mitra, Manager, Tickto, Shri Rahul Singhal, Founder & CEO, Oiral, Shri Angshuman Bhattacharya, Founder & CEO, Sibia Analytics and Shri Anurag Prajapat, Founder, Axon Tech Labs also addressed the Session.

Shri Vishnu Kumar Bhandari, Chairman, Standing Committee on IT & Communica-tion, MCCI in his welcome address lauded the ambitious ’10,000 Start-ups’ Initiative of NASSCOM and explained that MCCI would

like to lend a hand in facilitating entrepre-neurial ecosystem in the State. He further mentioned that road to building a startup in India is scattered as they are struggling without mentorship and business connects, lacking existence of a strong tech-community. He hoped that NASSCOM’s initiative could help greatly and prove a boon to these Start-ups.

Shri Nirupam Chaudhuri, said that NASSCOM is jointly working with the Government to promote path breaking steps and vision like ‘Innovate for India’, ‘Digital India campaigns’, ‘Smart city initiatives’, and also to encourage young generation to follow their dreams and contribute to a plethora of projects with real business benefits. He also mentioned that the eastern part of India is a hub for SME IT companies which are doing amazing work in their fields. But they are lacking in marketing strategy and reaching to PAN India customers.

Shri Ranjan introduced five startups who are part of the NASSCOM ‘10,000 Start-up Initiative Kolkata’. Highlights of their Presentation and discussions are broadly as under :



Shri Sourav Goswami, Co-Founder, IMan-ageMyHotel explained that IManageMyHotel is a cloud based Hotel Management System / Mobile Application for mid-sized Hotel Owners, Hotel managers for their internal use for central reservation, accounts, restaurants, channel management. Started in 2014, within one year it has achieved 66 paying clients and targetting to reach 5000 customers in next 3 years. His Company is looking for strategic funding.

‘Applop is like your On Demand Mobile App Partner’ – commented Shri Rahul Singhal, Founder & CEO, Oiral. ‘It is a hassle free app which takes care of your mobile app related problems, create mobile app without coding, so that you can only focus on staying connected with your users’. Presently it has 206 clients and 124 Paid Apps. Applop charges $15/monthly subscription fee which is cheapest in the world.

Tickto is an app which enables retailers to place real-time product promotions directly to ‘in-store shoppers’ on their smart-phones in

a location-aware, context-aware fashion for increasing sales – informed Shri Partho Mitra, Manager, Tickto. Tickto maps consumer behaviour.

Shri Angshuman Bhattacharya, Founder & CEO of SIBIA Analytics said that it is a technology integrated predictive analytics company based in Kolkata. It focuses on marketing and sales optimization for retail and consumer products brands. Presently the company has 12 clients, 50+ projects, 15 team members.

Shri Anurag Prajapat, Founder, Axon Tech Labs explained Astrik which is an IoT based wearable device that collects vital health signs and provides a complete preventive heathcare solution. Collects vital health signs from users continuously, monitors health remotely, provides proactive outlier detection and connects patients to doctors and more.

The session ended with a hearty ‘Vote of Thanks’ offered by Shri Prem Chand Kankaria, Co-Chairman, Standing Committee on IT & Communication, MCCI.

MCCI Debate on ‘eRetail Vs Brick and Mortar Retail’

The Chamber organised a Debate on ‘eRetail Vs Brick and Mortar Retail’ which was held on Monday, September 21, 2015, at The Park, Kolkata. Mr Sadhan Pande, Hon’ble Minister of Consumer Affairs, Government of West Bengal was the Chief Guest at the event. Mr P Kamalakanth, Executive Director, WBIDC; Mr Vidyut Saraf, Deputy Managing Director, Forum Projects;Dr Archana Sharma, Head of Department- Retail Management IISWBM; Mr. Partha Sinha, Sr General Manager, Leads Property Acquisition Team, WB and NE, Reliance Industries Ltd; Mr.

Swagat Sengupta, Country Head, (Operations and Purchase), Apeejay Oxford Bookstore; Mr. Anil Talreja, Partner, Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP; Mr. Navin Mistry, Head Retail Exports and India Lifestyle Category, eBay India were the panelists. Mr. Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO, Retailers Association of India moderated the session.

Mr. Sanjay Agarwal, Immediate Past President, commented that India is at the cusp of an e-retail revolution, with a predicted rise from USD 2.3 billion (for financial year 2014) to USD 32 billion by 2020. E-tail is growing at



a faster clip than brick-and-mortar retail.

Mr Pulkit Baid, Chairman, Standing Committee Retail, MCCI said at the Introductory Remarks, Indian Retail which is ranked eleventh in market potential boasts of highest number of retail outlets in the world at over 13 Million in 2014 and the highest number ( 11,903) per million inhabitants. Digital Technology today is changing how we discover products, evaluate them, experience and purchase them.

Mr. Sadhan Pande promised that West Bengal is formulating a Policy to statute the Online Channel of Purchase. He added that India is an ancient but young nation with 75% of the population less than 45 years of age and thus there has been a change in the style of shopping. He advocated the formation of a Committee to impose Tax and some restrictions as demanded by the Panelists to weed the Unfair Pricing and Unfair Market Players so that online consumers do not suffer.

Mr. Kumar Rajagopalan, CEO, Retailers Association of India said after NASA, Retail uses the maximum technology, but is yet not considered as an industry per se. He moderated the session after introducing all to the audience.

Dr. Archana Sharma urged there should not be any competition between ecommerce and brick and mortar and both modes can coexist.

Mr. Anil Talreja said that there has been an evolution of consumers from touch and feel to digital and it is more prevalent in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities.

Mr. P. Kamalakanth suggested the need for installation of proper policy for protection

and security of data which are flooding the e commerce market.

Mr. Swagat Sengupta said that Books and Music have been the worst hit products due to e commerce. However U.S.A has been going through O2O (Online to Offline) mode already as revealed by the data earlier. If Newspaper can stay, then Brick and Mortar will also stay!

Mr. Navin Mistry said that a change in mindset will enable us to consider Online and Offline sales as complementary models rather than being competitive. He clearly stated that eBay is 20 year old e marketing platform and eBay does not own the products sold through eBay. Last year eBay generated revenue more than USD 80 Billion.

Mr. Partha Sinha said that the question is whether Brick and Mortar would die. He quoted the PwC survey- Total Retail 2015 which covered 19,000 respondents across 19 countries with 1000 respondents from India which depicted retail covering 1% of total Indian Retail market.

Views shared by the Panelists in response to the issues raised by Dr Rajagopalan: Reasons for the flourish of the e retail market include ‘Peer Pressure’, ’Smart Phone’; ’Vast Landscape of Consumers’, ’Time’ and ‘Discounted Price’, ’Seamless shopping experience’; ‘Option for Cash On Delivery’.

The session ended with a hearty Vote of thanks from Shri Pulkit Baid and it was well attended by Past Presidents of MCCI, Diplomats, Corporates, Seismologists and Electronic and Print Media.



Interactive Session on ‘Internet of Things (IoT)’

The Chamber organised an Interactive Session with Shri Ashish R Bedekar, Head-Me-diaTek Labs (India), on ‘Internet of Things (IoT)’ on September 28, 2015 at the Chamber.

Shri Prem Chand Kankaria, Co-Chairman, Standing Committee on IT & Communication, MCCI in his Welcome Address remarked that IoT is emerging as the third wave in the development of the Internet and has the potential to connect 10X as many (28 billion) “things” to the Internet by 2020, ranging from bracelets to cars.

Shri Ashish Bedekar mentioned that IoT ecosystem is rapidly growing in India and Govt. of India is playing a very important supporting role. The department of Electronics and IT has drafted an IoT Policy with the goal of creating an IoT industry in the country worth $15 billion by 2020. While speaking about India’s IoT potential, he remarked that the number of devices in the internet of things will increase at a CAGR of 35 p.c. and estimated

number of installed IoT devices will be more than double the size of the smartphone, PC, tablet, connected car, and the wearable market combined by 2019. Right from B2B enterprise, every sector has its own opportunity in IoT.

While speaking on MediaTek Labs, he said that it is the best solution partner for IoT that provides integrated application platform and comprehensive connectivity. The company is working in areas like connectivity network, feature phone, tablets, smartphone, digital TV, DVD/BD player, optical disc drive etc. He also showed mediatek powered products.

He requested all members of MCCI to visit his company’s website and register at http://labs.mediatek.com to stay connected with IoT ecosystem.

The session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks proposed by Shri Tushar Basu, Chairman, Standing Committee on HR, IR Quality & Entrepreneurship, MCCI.

Interactive Session with the Consul Generalof the Federal Republic of Germany

The Chamber organised an Interactive Session with Mr Olaf Iversen, Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany in Kolkata on 13 October 2015 at the Chamber. Mr. Nari Kalwani, Chairman, Eastern Region Council, Indo-German Chamber of Commerce also addressed the Session. Mr. Damien Syed, Consul General of France in Kolkata was also present at the Session.

Shri Arun Kumar Saraf, President, MCCI, highlighting on the bilateral trade figures,

mentioned that in last couple of years, trade between India and Germany has stagnated and stood at around US$ 20.33 billion in 2014-15. He enquired about how the present sluggishness in India’s trade with Germany can be overcome. He further identified few thrust areas in West Bengal such as IT, Renewable Energy, Education & Skill development, Engineering Goods etc where German companies could venture in.

While speaking on the Indo-German trade



growth, Mr. Nari Kalwani, Chairman, Eastern Region Council, Indo-German Chamber of Commerce mentioned that 1600 German companies were present in India making investment in sectors like automobiles, mechanical & engineering industries, services, chemicals and trading. They provide jobs to about 400,000 people. 40,000 jobs are going to be added by German companies in the next 3 years. Around 150 German companies are present in Eastern India, most of them are in West Bengal and out of those about 20 companies have their Indian headquarters in Kolkata.

Mr. Iversen while presenting his views on Indo-German relations with emphasis on trade and investment mentioned that the trade volume between India and Germany has doubled in the last 10 years and the overall exchange of

goods and services between the two countries is valued at around 16 billion Euros in 2014-15. India’s export to Germany amounts to less than 1 p.c. of total German’s external trade which shows that there is tremendous scope for mutual cooperation between the two. He invited India’s cooperation in areas like ICT, Manufacturing, Clean Energy, Climate Changes, and Vocational Trainings etc. Germany ranks 7 in the list of top 10 investing countries in India, and invested over US$ 8.3 billion since 1991. He proposed that Germany can help India with post harvest management technologies and water treatment and water management technologies.

The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Shri Arpit Dhandhania, Co-Chairman of the Standing Committee on Foreign Trade, MCCI.

Interactive Session with Rev. Fr. Dr. J. Felix Raj, S.J, Principal, St. Xavier’s College

The Chamber organised an Interactive Session on ‘SXC Vision 2020’ on 28 October 2015 with Rev. Fr. Dr. J. Felix Raj, S.J, Principal, St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata which was held in the Conference Hall of the Chamber. Shri R.S. Agarwal, Trustee & Past President, MCCI & Jt. Chairman, Emami Group of Companies addressed the Session. Shri R.S. Goenka, Committee member, MCCI & Jt. Chairman, Emami Group of Companies also attended the Session.

Shri Arun Kumar Saraf, President raised the need for concerted efforts from all fronts in Higher Education, which are imperative to ensure that all entrants to the job market are equipped with relevant skills, mind-sets and passion for work. He urged Father Felix Raj

who is the leader of one of the most eminent educational Institutions in the country, to suggest changes in the curriculum, teaching method and examination system and what additional role St. Xavier’s College could play to facilitate the change on a broader perspective.

St. Xavier’s has made its mark in the world of higher education and is one of the ten best Colleges in India credited with autonomous status and a College with Centre for Excellence status, said Shri R.S. Agarwal who is an alumnus of the College and also an achiever of prestigious ‘Global Xaverian Award 2014’. Expansion of St. Xavier’s College and its transformation into a University with Special Status will be a landmark event in the State



of West Bengal, added Shri Agarwal whose reminiscence of the days in St. Xavier’s College and words of encouragement to Rev. Fr. Dr. J. Felix Raj touched the hearts of all.

Father Felix Raj, in his opening statement mentioned that after 68 years of Freedom, India emerged as a great vibrant democracy on the path of economic progress with 1.21 bn people, 60 p.c. of the population in the 15-45 age group and being the world’s largest democracy though also containing 1/3rd of the world’s poor with 21.9 p.c. of its citizens living below poverty line. Highlighting on India’s 136th position in the HDI index, he pointed out that the country had made inclusive growth as a key element of its policy platform covering women, poverty, Education/Skill, Employment, Infrastructure and Backward Communities. Inclusive growth has been projected as the strategic pillar of India’s 12th five-year plan (2012-17). Indication of high

inequality in India with regards to ownership of the means of production is evident from the facts as mentioned by the Father, according to whom ‘10p.c. own 40p.c. of the wealth’, ‘20p.c. own 30p.c.’, ‘40 p.c. own 20p.c.’ and the ‘bottom 30p.c. own just 10p.c.’

On SXC Vision 2020 and its expansion plans, Father Felix Raj announced opening of St Xavier’s University, with a new management school on the premises, at Rajarhat in July 2017. The management school will be on the lines of Jesuit-run B-schools, XIMB in Bhubaneswar and XLRI in Jamshedpur. It will be the first minority university campus that will be built on the public-private partnership (PPP) model with the authority and administration by Jesuits and with limited participation by State.

Shri Samir Saraff, Chairman, Standing Committee on Education, MCCI proposed a hearty Vote of Thanks at the end of the Session.

Session on ‘Strengthening Communication Linkages in India – Road Ahead’

The Chamber organised a Session on ‘Strengthening Communication Linkages in India – Road Ahead’ with Shri Anand Kumar, Managing Director, National Highways Infrastructure Development Corporation Ltd (NHIDCL) on October 31, 2015 at the Chamber Conference Hall. Shri Manoj Kumar Agarwal, Managing Director, West Bengal Highways Development Corporation Ltd (WBHDCL) was also present as speaker.

Shri Arun Kumar Saraf, President of the Chamber raised issues about innovative PPP mode of financing, expansion and construction plans of NHIDCL and WBHDCL. He enquired the areas covered by NHIDCL under Bharat

Mala project, challenges faced by the Border States and the State government’s initiatives of tackling increasing traffic by developing better connectivity.

Shri Kumar proclaimed that though our country ranks second in length of roadways, we lack far behind in terms of quality of those roads. Future planning of projects in road infrastructure or highways should be done on priority and need basis (since resources are limited) instead of being colored by any kind of political, regional and personal bias. He mentioned the seven key strategies – 1) use of e-tools for monitoring, file maintenance and regular upgradation and overall efficient



functioning and transparency; 2) capacity building of engineers and contractors; 3) empowerment of local people, contractors and the communities; 4) bringing in new technology through effective Detailed Project Report (DPRs) - this would reduce time and cost and increase quality and safety; 4) raise and spread a scientific temperament in the nation - defective DPRs are the biggest reasons behind faulty projects; 5) use of SFMS for faster bank guarantee and verification and ease of doing business; 6) avoiding disputes at all levels - objectives to be realized in 30 days and creating common goal platform for all stakeholders and 7) finance is of utmost importance - North East and Remote area infrastructure fund might be created to give utmost importance to the Border States.

Shri Agarwal observed that the link between infrastructure and economic development is a continuous process. West Bengal, the fourth most populous state in India has a road network of 3lakhs with a density of 337.13 km per 100 sq km of area. Yet it is 17th in terms of road network km per lakh population. WBHDCL was established in 2012 under the direction

of Chief Minister of West Bengal as a Special Purpose Vehicle to undertake construction of Roads, bridges, Road Over Bridges (ROBs), etc. with participation of Private partner in PPP mode. Six major projects with total investment of Rs. 1250 crores on item rate contract basis – 1) 4-laning of the Dankuni-Chandannagar section of State Highway (SH)-13; 2) 4-laning of the Chandannagar-Mogra-Ishargupta Setu section; 3) 2-laning with paved shoulder of the Tribeni-STKK road; 4) 2-laning with paved shoulder of the Barjora-Durlavpur More (Mejia) stretch 5) 2-laning of the of Ghatakpukrur-Malancha- Sarberia Road section (Passage to Sundarbans); 6) 2-laning of Chanditala –Seakhala- Champadanga Road. West Bengal is the first state which has launched these entirely state funded projects. Seven more projects are in the pipeline. PricewaterhouseCoopers has been engaged for drafting toll policy for highway sector in West Bengal. In the next 10-15 days, PwC will present the draft toll policy, after which it will be placed for approval by the cabinet.

The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Shri Manish Beriwala.

Interactive Session with H.E. Mrs. Maria Teresita C Daza, Ambassador of the Republic of Philippines to India

The Chamber organised an Interactive Session with H.E. Mrs. Maria Teresita C Daza, Ambassador of the Republic of Philippines to India, on ‘India-Philippines Bi-lateral Trade’ on 07 November, 2015 at The Lalit Great Eastern. Mr. Michel Alfred V Ignacio, Commercial Counselor, Embassy of the Philippines, India and Mr. Deepak Kumar Khemka, Honorary Consul General of Philippines in Kolkata were also present at the Session.

While expressing concern over the slow and uneven trade growth between India-Phil-ippines, Shri Arun Kumar Saraf, President, MCCI, stressed on the need for doing a detailed study to find out possibilities of cooperation in the areas like Information Technology, energy sector (especially renewable energy), phar-maceuticals and tourism. He suggested that a direct flight from Kolkata could contribute significantly towards enhanced tourism and



business links between Philippines and West Bengal.

While speaking about her country, H.E. Mrs. Maria Teresita C. Daza, mentioned that with strong economic fundamentals like GDP registering at 6.1 p.c., headline inflation at 4.1 p.c., stable banking sector, and healthy fiscal position - Philippines has secured the position of ‘Asia’s Rising Tiger’. Mrs. Daza invited India’s cooperation in the sectors such as man-ufacturing, investment tourism, Infrastruc-ture development, pharmaceutical industry, Shipbuilding, IC Design, Aero-Space, film industry.

Mr. Michel Alfred V Ignacio, Commercial Counselor, Embassy of the Philippines, made an elaborate presentation on the various incentives offered by the Philippine Government to the Indian investors. Being situated in a strategic business location, Philippines will connect Indian firms with the ASEAN Market and East-Asian economies.

According to the World Bank ‘Ease of Doing Business Report 2014’, Philippines ranked 108th out of 189 countries. In Global Com-petitiveness Index the country ranked 59th out of 148 countries. Annual increase in average wage from 2009 to 2013 is 2 p.c. which is sufficiently low compared to other South-East Asian countries. No labour strikes in recent five years. ‘4–6 years (max of 8 years) of Income Tax Holidays’, ‘0% Duty-free Importation of Capital Equipment, Spare Parts and Supplies are few of the facilities that Philippines offer to its investors. Philippines is the 3rd largest english-speaking country with 93% literacy rate, over 40 Million labor force, 24 yrs old average worker, 27 yrs old median age and the country is set to become the world’s 16th largest economy, up 27th places from today.

The session ended with a hearty ‘Vote of Thanks’ proposed by Shri Arpit Dhandhania, Co-Chairman of the Standing Committee on Foreign Trade of the Chamber.

Special Session with Shri Nitin Gadkari,Hon’ble Minister of Road Transport, Highways and Shipping, GoI

The Chamber organised a Special Session with Shri Nitin Gadkari, Hon’ble Minister of Road Transport, Highways and Shipping, Govt. of India on the theme ‘Enhancing Connectivity across Eastern India – Key to Economic Growth’ on 01 December, 2015 at The Oberoi Grand, Kolkata. Shri R.P.S. Kahlon, IAS, Chairman, Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) was also present as speaker.

Shri Manish Goenka, President of the Chamber enquired about the action plan of Ministry to ensure faster and high quality connectivity across states, role of the Ministry in smart cities, the new ‘Road Transport and

Safety Bill’ and the progress of the crucial projects related to India’s ‘Act East Policy’. He suggested use of innovative devices to control carbon emission and energy consumption.

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Kahlon mentioned that KoPT is the only Port Trust with double dock system – Haldia and Kolkata docks. They are connected via NH2, NH6, NH34, NH31 to rest of the country. The docks are also connected by Eastern and South Eastern Railways of India. He noted that India and Bangladesh have signed trade protocol agreement which will enhance connectivity of North East. KoPT made significant



developments in last five years and invites members to invest. Last six months witnessed 22% increase in cargo. First time in 100 years traffic reached 15 million metric tonnes for Kolkata Dock System and 25 metric tonnes for Haldia Dock System.

Shri Nitin Gadkari declared that the 12 major ports and ship yards in India have reported a profit of Rs 6,000 crore this financial year. The road sector is also doing a good job. It is currently building 18 km of roads per day which has increased from 2 km per day. The Ministry has a target to complete 30 km of roads per day. Three major ports, namely, Kolachal in Tamil Nadu, Dahanu in Maharashtra and Sagar in West Bengal are being developed. The Hon’ble Minister lamented that every year there are 5 lac accidents and 1.5 lac deaths on Indian roads. The Ministry is working on reducing the number of fatalities on roads, building 1,200 roadside facilities

and spending a significant amount for planting trees. Efforts are under way to develop India’s 1,300 islands and 200 lighthouses for tourism and invited business community to participate in these efforts. Agreement with Bangladesh provides for seamless travel and reduces travel time between Agartala and Kolkata significantly. Shri Gadkari inaugurated the following port projects by remote control in conjunction with Kolkata Port Trust from the venue - Fly ash handling jetty at Haldia Dock Complex for exporting Flyash to Bangladesh; Refurbished caisson at lock entrance of Haldia Dock Complex; Foundation stone for setting up floating cargo handling facilities at Haldia Dock Complex; Stacker cum reclaimer at berth No. 4 of Haldia Dock Complex and JRE Tank Terminals, Budge Budge.

The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Shri Hemant Bangur, Sr. Vice President, MCCI.

Interactive Session on ‘Telecom Revolution in India – Vision 2020’ with Shri R.S.Sharma, Chairman, TRAI

The Chamber organised an Interactive Session with Shri R.S.Sharma, Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on ‘Telecom Revolution in India – Vision 2020’ on 03 December, 2015 at the Chamber. Shri Amit Kumar Bhattacharya, Chief General Manager, BSNL, Calcutta Telephones also addressed the Session.

Shri Manish Goenka, President of the Chamber brought to the fore the issues related to ‘increased network congestion and consequent poor Quality of telecom service’, ‘call drops’’ and ‘low spectrum availability’. He further suggested that government should incentivise domestic manufacturing with

policies like tax holidays, interest subsidies so that the Indian telecom sector can reach new benchmarks.

While appreciating the liberalisation policy of the government and the role played by the regulatory body in providing the quality of services in affortable prices, Shri Amit Bhattacharya said that India’s telecom sector is experiencing tremendous growth with tele-density registering at around 79 (115 in urban and 50 in rural areas). He also mentioned that as part of the Modi-government’s ‘Digital India plan’, BSNL would connect 177 gram panchayats covering 18 blocks of 4 districts in West Bengal. Out of this, 39 panchayats are



already being connected by BSNL.

Shri R.S. Sharma in his address urged that ‘Digital India’ can not happen without connectivity. He praised the policies of the government and telecom operators for making telecom sector a profitable one. Despite having one of the lowest tariffs in the world, India’s telecom industry is managing a profit of 200 crores, having one billion mobile connections of which 95 p.c. are prepaid with average top up of Rs 10. India is a frugal, low value, large volume market. India should follow Pro-tech-nology approach.

While admitting the problem of low spectrum availability, he said that TRAI has requested government to release more

spectrum. He added that besides 2G, 3G or 4G network, other options like wired broadband, cable TV bandwidth, wide spaces (lowest frequency bands) are needed to be considered. The government has an ambitious BharatNet project which aims at providing 1 gigabit/second connectivity to 2,50,000 gram panchayats through optical fibre network. As far as better services were concerned, Shri Sharma said that Centre had decided to build mobile towers on government buildings. In this regard, concerned State government will have to be contacted.

The session ended with a Vote of Thanks proposed by Shri Ramesh Agarwal, Vice President of the Chamber.

Interactive Session on Power Procurement through Open Access in West Bengal

The Chamber organised an Interactive Session on ‘Power Procurement through Open Access in West Bengal’ with Shri Rajesh K.Mediratta, Director, Business Development, Indian Energy Exchange Ltd. on 15 December 2015 at the Chamber. Shri Bibhu Charan Swain, Sr. Consultant, Power Tech Consultants and Shri Sirsendu Mukherjee, Head – Conversion & Sales Planning Ferro Alloys & Minerals Division, Tata Steel Limited also addressed the Session.

Shri Deepak Kumar Agarwal, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Steel, MCCI in his Welcome Address, mentioned that at present, the electricity tariff of all the industrial consumers of West Bengal at HT and EHT levels are more than Rs.6/kWh which is very high for any industry. Further the tariff is likely to increase in the coming financial years making

it further difficult for the energy intensive industries which does not have a captive generating plant. He said that there are certain very vital and important areas of discussion like high cross-subsidy charges (currently Rs. 2.20 - Rs.2.72 per kWh) approved by the West Bengal Electricity Regulatory Commission, problems in getting permission for open access from the distribution companies etc. which are affecting the open access and power trading market in the state of West Bengal today.

While addressing the members, Shri Rajesh K. Mediratta, Director, Business Development, Indian Energy Exchange (IEX), mentioned that if open access is allowed, industrial as well as domestic consumers will be highly benefitted. He suggested that power purchase cost could be optimized by replacing costlier power from DISCOM with



power from IEX. Power exchanges provide a competitive option for power purchase and IEX operates on the price-discovery model and since November 2014 a decrease in prices has been noted. He remarked this trend would remain through this year and perhaps for some time. IEX data showed that the market price of power dropped to Rs 2.85 /kWh on an average between April and November 2015 compared with Rs 3.51 /Kwh in 2014-15. As on date, about 4000 participants across utilities from 29 States, 5 Union Territories (UTs), 1000+ private generators (both commercial and renewable energy) and more than 3000 open access consumers are leveraging the IEX platform to manage their power portfolio in the most competitive and reliable way.

Shri Bibhu Charan Swain, Sr. Consultant, Power Tech Consultants, explained that higher cross subsidy surcharge had significant impact on the open access and power trading market in West Bengal affecting the purchase of power from IEX or from third party through open access very badly. He said that Power Tech Consultants assists Industrial Consumers to

procure power through Competitive Bidding, IEX, third party generator through short term / long term open access. He advocated for buying power from IEX as it would be very cost effective for any power intensive industry provided open access is permitted by the state government. Consumers procuring power from IEX has to pay for Cross Subsidy Surcharge, Renewable Purchase Obligations, Electricity Duty, STU Transmission Loss, STU Transmission Charges, POC Withdrawal Loss + Reliability Charges, Scheduling Charges, Operation Charges, Trading Margin, IEX Margin etc.

Shri Sirsendu Mukherjee said unlike other states, West Bengal has much complicated tariff structure and non-industry friendly policies. He suggested that industry has to put their concern together and come forward in order to reduce the cross subsidy surcharge and tariff rates.

The session ended with a hearty ‘Vote of Thanks’ offered by Shri Sanjib Patwari, Member of the Managing Committee, MCCI.

Interactive Session with Shri Manik Sarkar,Hon’ble Chief Minister of Tripura

The chamber organized an interactive session with Shri Manik Sarkar, Hon’ble CM of Tripura, at the Chamber premises on 31 December, 2015.

In his welcome address, Shri Manish Goenka, President of the Chamber enquired about the progress of important projects in establishing connectivity between Bangladesh and India, upgradation of rail links and Agartala airport, the state government’s stand on SEZ and measures to combat insurgency.

Shri Goenka asked about investment prospects in IT, Food Processing, feedstock, rubber and tea sectors. He also compared Tripura’s literacy rate of 96 p.c. with Gujarat’s 83 p.c., life expectancy of 71 years for men and 73 years for Tripura in Tripura with Gujarat’s 64 and 66 respectively.

Tripura, a landlocked nation with chicken neck connectivity with the rest of the country (via Assam) is in need of quality National Highways. This single lane NH44 is in need of



more expansion and foundation has been laid down for double lane provisioning sanctioned by the Indian government.

India has initiated the process to supply 100MW of power from Tripura to Bangladesh. Steps are taken to sell the excess power supply to other states of North East. Infrastructure for evacuation of surplus power from ONGC Tripura Power Corporation (OTPC) would take some more time to be laid out. This process should be completed in 8-10 months. With respect to telecom sector, BSNL has adopted steps to link with Cox Bazar and the third International long distance gateway of India will be set up by May 2016. Getting land for business is not a problem in the state and the revenue department will help will

all relevant documents. However, the buyer has to purchase directly from the owners and government will not mediate.

A MOU has been signed with Bangladesh which will allow the use of Chittagong sea port and Mongla River Port for movements of goods from India and Mongla port might be used by multimodal transport. The proposed bridge will connect southern Tripura border at Sabroom, just 72 km off Chittagong port with Ramgarh town in Bangladesh. This four-lane bridge will have features of four lane road. It will also enlarge the market for the North East states by developing connectivity.

The session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks offered by Shri Hemant Bangur, Sr. Vice President, MCCI.

Interactive Session with Mr. Mehmet Ali Seker, Vice President of Turkey Indian Chambers of Commerce

Mr. Mehmet Ali Seker, Vice President (HEAD USA) along with Mr. Bulent Acikgoz, Vice President, Mr.Sinan Karadas, Regional Director, Mr. Harun Kara, H. Director and Mr. Osama Mohammed, Secretary, Turkish Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry visited MCCI on 7 January 2016. They had a meeting with Shri Surendra Keyal, Hony. Secretary of the Chamber. Shri Piyush Keyal, Hindustan Produce Ltd., Shri Ankit Keyal, Alloys & Metals (India), Shri Suresh Agarwal, Kriday Traders Pvt. Ltd., and Shri Rahul Balasaria, Oriental Power Electrical Pvt. Ltd. MCCI were present at the meeting.

Opening the Dialogue, Shri Surendra Keyal welcomed Mr. Mehmet and his colleagues at the Chamber. Mr. Mehmet gave a brief introduction about the activities of Turkey

Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (TICCI) and also about TUSKON which is the Confederation of businessmen and industrialists of Turkey. He informed that TICCI encourages investors to invest in India. They organize Road Show not only in Turkey but also other countries for ‘Make in India’.

TUSKON with its 50,000 member business-people, 212 business associations and 7 business federations is the leading business NGO in Turkey. Tuskon helps their members and partners to meet the new emerging markets and facilitate strong partnership opportu-nities via Trade Bridge Events, Investment Delegations, and participating international summits. In this regard, TUSKON is partnering with The Corporate Council on Africa’s (CCA) to organize participation from Turkey, Africa,



Middle-Asia, Eurasia, and Pacific countries to the 10th Africa-Business Summit. In order to stregthen the tie with West Bengal and Turkey and promoting businesses & trade relations, Mr. Mehmet proposed few ideas of cooperation between the two Chambers.

They also proposed to sign few MOUs with MCCI on that day. This event will be a great opportunity for the Presidents of TICCI & MCCI to meet each other. To which MCCI

agreed to work on. MCCI can mount a 6-day Business Delegation to Turkey in the 2nd-3rd week of May 2016. TICCI further proposed to organise B2B meetings on behalf of MCCI with countries like US, UK, CIS countries etc.

Shri Surendra Keyal thanked Mr. Mehmet and his colleagues for a very fruitful discussion and hoped that it would be carried forward to result in some production or trading activities between West Bengal and Turkey.

Interactive Session on ‘Status of the Indian Economy - Opportunities for accelerated growth’

The Chamber organised an Interactive Session with Dr. Chandan Mitra, Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on ‘Status of the Indian Economy – Opportunities for accelerated growth’ on 13 January, 2016 at the Chamber.

Shri Hemant Bangur, Sr. Vice President, MCCI raised concern over the deteriorating investment climate in India over the last half decade and the country’s falling merchandise exports. He was of the opinion that India must be especially watchful about services exports which have slowed markedly. The Investment climate could only be improved through fiscal reforms that protect public capital spending; financial sector reforms; and reforms in the business environment. Furthermore, job creation, in the face of large-scale unemployment, is also critical.

Dr. Mitra in his address stated that the imposition of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) will lead to the development of a pan-India market (for goods) and is likely to push up the country’s GDP by at least 1 p.c. GST has been blocked by politics and not by economics. He stated that ‘Singur Issue’ has a

‘demonstration effect’ which acted adversely towards industrialisation in the State and also land acquisition on other parts of India. Being a member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Insurance, he said that the Insurance Bill which allows 49 p.c. FDI will be a path-breaking move for the sector as well as for the economy.

He viewed that agriculture is the backbone of any economy and rural economy must develop in order to create adequate demand which will help the economy to grow. While referring to the significant contribution of MSME sector to India’s GDP, Dr. Mitra mentioned that Government needs to support the growth of this sector.

While speaking on the industrial development initiated by the Government, Dr. Mitra informed that 5 industrial corridors which are developed namely Delhi-Mumbai, Chennai-Bangalore (506 Km), Bangalore -Mumbai (1000 Km), Amritsar-Kolkata (1839 Km) and Chennai-Vizag (1483 km), will further boost infrastructure development in the form of development of smart cities and industrial corridor. Delhi-Mumbai corridor



will have 8 cities. Kolkata-Amritsar corridor will pass through populous cities of Punjab, Haryana, some parts of Uttarakhand, UP, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal and 12-14 cities will be built around this corridor. He advised

the members of MCCI to prepare a blue-print of wish-list and submit to the Government.

The session ended with a Vote of Thanks proposed by Shri S.S.Beriwala, Past President of the Chamber

Interactive Session on ‘Department’s Perspective on Issues on Service Tax Compliance’

The Chamber organized an Interactive Session with Shri S. K. Panda, Chief Commissioner of Service Tax on ‘Department’s Perspective on Issues on Service Tax Compliance’ on 15 January, 2016. Regarding the issue of notices simultaneously by Scrutiny and Audit department, he cate-gorically informed that when scrutinies were undertaken and completed for a particular period, no audit compliance is required. In case any notice is issued by Audit Department, a simple intimation regarding compliance of the scrutiny may be given and no action will be taken by the department.

As regards lot of cases coming up for adjudication, he agreed that due to lack of information with the Assessing officers, such adjudication cases are rising. Delay in adjudication are also caused due to non-submission of required information by the assesses. In cases, where the assessees had paid the tax along with interest, penalty imposed by the Assessing officer, may have to be reviewed.

Shortage of staff at the department level is

also considered for piling up of cases. In view of the expected implementation of GST, he urged on the assesses to submit all the details asked for, to liquidate all pending cases. Out of 70 Ranges, only 45 Ranges were equipped with adequate computer resources, which are now being upgraded gradually.

Shri Arun Kumar Agarwal said that the mindset of the officers need be changed so as not to harass the assessee for uncalled for reasons. Shri Ramesh Agarwal, Vice President, MCCI informed that as per a reply given in the Lok Sabha 80 % of the decisions given by CESTAT went against Revenue authorities which tells upon the quality of the assessment made by the Department. He said that growth of Service tax is phenomenal, as paltry sum of Rs.40/- crores were collected as Service tax in 1994 with only 3943 assessees had gone up to Rs.1.3 lac crore with 13.72 lac assessees in 2014-15.

The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Shri Arun Kumar Agarwal, Chairman, Standing Committee on Indirect Taxes, GST and State Taxes, MCCI

Interactive Session on ‘Exploring Opportunities : India-Kazakhstan Bilateral Trade’

The Chamber organized an Interactive Session on ‘Exploring Opportunities: India-Kazakhstan Bilateral Trade’ with H. E. Mr. Bulat Sarsenbayev, Ambassador of the

Republic of Kazakhstan to India on 18 January 2016 at the Chamber premises.

Shri Hemant Bangur, Sr. Vice President of the Chamber in his welcome address informed



that the bilateral trade between India and Kazakhstan has grown from US$ 310 mn in 2010-11 to US$ 952 mn in 2014-15. He highlighted the scope of joint ventures in trade and investment in areas of conventional and renewable energy, infrastructure development, IT and ITES, pharmaceuticals etc.

H.E. Mr. Bulat Sarsenbayev, Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan to India said that it was his first visit to the city of Kolkata. India and Kazakhstan share very good relation. The country shares much common international interest with India. He mentioned that his country has supported the move of India’s membership in UN Security Council. Out of the 26 projects identified between India and Kazakhstan in July 2015, MoUs had been signed for 9 projects and 23 were under negotiation. Astana Economic Forum would be organised in May 2016 which is an inter-national platform that annually brings together over 5,000 delegates from 80 countries. He invited members of the Chamber to participate in the Forum.

Agreeing to the fact of lack of connectivity between the two countries by road, he mentioned that the opening of the Kazakhstan-Turkmen-istan-Iran railway link and linking of Bandar Abbas port in Iran would give India much needed transport corridor to Central Asia, Russia and Europe through Mundra port in

Gujarat. The Kazakh-Turkmen-Iran leg of the project is already operational and the linkages between India and Kazakhstan through Iran would be operational soon. The two sides are negotiating on this port link project. By air it is only three hours journey from Delhi to Kazakhstan capital which is operating three days in a week and likely to be extended to five days a week shortly. To encourage tourist movement between the two nations, Kazakhstan is trying to liberalize visa regime by this year.

He expressed his country’s interest to promote business ties with Bengal. Kazakhstan is keen on getting the State’s support in development of technology especially in Solar energy. West Bengal can become a vital tourist destination for Kazakhstan if proper awareness is created about the places of tourist interest in the State.

Mr. Sarsenbayev introduced Shri Vishal Jhajharia, Committee Member of the Chamber as the Honorary Consul of Kazakhstan in Kolkata who will be responsible for strength-ening the bilateral ties between Kazakhstan and West Bengal.

The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Shri Arpit Dhandhania, Co-Chairman, Standing Committee on Foreign Trade.

Interactive Session with Shri Ashish Kumar Goel, General Manager, South Eastern Railway

The Chamber organized an Interactive Session with Shri Ashish Kr. Goel, General Manager of South Eastern Railway in India on 19 January, 2015 in the Somany Conference Hall. Other senior officials of SER were also present.

Shri Sanjay Agarwal, Past President of the

Chamber, in his welcome address, enquired about the performance of SER with respect to passenger and freight traffic volumes, safety, technological upgradation of stations and coaches, development of freight corridor, roadblock for MSMEs, dual classification for iron ore, difference in weighments at



weighbridges, land allotment for private siding in the current year. He suggested reduction of the minimum requirements of 8 rakes as per CBT scheme to 4 rakes per month.

Shri Goel observed that SER carries 12p.c. of Indian Railways freight traffic with 4p.c. of its total track km. Around 85p.c. of SER Route km is electrified. 10 major stations (Ranchi, Hatia, Balasore, Shalimore, Digha, Kharagpur, Bokaro Steel City, Jharsuguda, Rourela and Tatanagar) of SER have been identified for commercial development of railway land surrounding them. Freight regulator will be set up by the Government soon to work independently. E-procurement and e-auction have been informed to bring transparency in this system. 85p.c. of its total earning comes from freight of which iron ore contributes 51p.c. followed by coal at 22p.c and steel at 12p.c. SER freight loading may increase by 8 p.c. this fiscal. Until December, SER’s freight earnings grew 8.74p.c. to Rs. 7523.12 crore.

To minimise accidents at unmanned level crossings, 631 UMLCs have been identified for provision of ‘Gate Mitra’s and 549 Gate Mitras have been deployed so far during peak hours of day time. State government is not agreeing for closure of balance unmanned LCs though movement of Train Vehicle Units (TVU) is quite low. Among 86 stations identified to be

developed as ADARSH stations, 80 have been already developed and rest will be completed by this year. Satragachi and Shalimar have been identified for upgradation an moderniza-tion to world class standard with respect to parking, connectivity for entry and exit, car communication, toilets, waiting hall, and ticket counters etc. and the work has been entrusted to IRCON.

Among other green initiatives, VVVF drives in lift and escalators, timer switch on 70p.c. high mast light installations and use of star rated electric appliances are noteworthy. He invited industries to invest in green buildings and solar panels. Provision of Bio-toilets in coaches would replace open discharge toilets. 220 coaches in 7 trains have bio-toilets. 3 rakes of Howarh-Yesvantpur express are ‘Green Rakes’ having all coaches with Bio-toilets. Ticket booking is made easier through privat-ization and a special SMS service is introduced for passengers. There are 9 projects targeted for commissioning in 2015-16 out of which three are already commissioned and rest will be commissioned by March 2016. Total of five new projects are under progress at a cost of Rs. 4403.33 crores.

The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Shri Lalit Beriwala, Chairman, Standing Committee on Industry, MCCI.

Interactive Session on ‘Doing Business with Vietnam’The Chamber organized an Interactive

Session on ‘Doing Business with Vietnam’ with H. E. Mr. Ton Sinh Thanh, Ambassador of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to India on 25 January 2016 at the Chamber premises. Mr. P.Kamalakanth, Executive Director, WBIDC also addressed the Session. Mrs. Bach Thanh

Binh, Counsellor, Head of Political & Cultural Section and Mr. Trinh Ngoc Anh, Third Secretary of the Embassy of Vietnam and Mr. Do Huy Binh, Bureau Chief of the Vietnam News Agency (Representative Office in India) were also present at the Session.

Mr. Arun Kr. Saraf, Immediate Past



President, MCCI, in his Welcome Address suggested that both India and Vietnam should negotiate a ‘Preferential Trade Agreement’ for reduction in tariff and non-tariff barriers for the exports of both goods and services. He also suggested that Buddhism is a common area which can be separately explored between India and Vietnam and especially between Vietnam and Kolkata which is the gateway to Bodh Gaya the Vatican for Buddhists in Bihar.

While mentioning about the traditional linkages between Kolkata and Vietnam, Mr. P. Kamalakanth, Executive Director of WBIDC emphasised on the close bonding of the business entities of West Bengal and Vietnam. The state offers great opportunities for investment in sectors like Food Processing, Steel, Aquaculture, Agriculture etc. He invited Vietnam’s presence in the next Bengal Global Business Summit. He also invited the envoy to visit the Industrial Parks of West Bengal.

While speaking about his country, H.E.Mr.Ton Sinh Thanh mentioned that this year Vietnam celebrates 30 years of implementa-tion of economic reforms since 1986. From a centrally-planned economy with heavy subsidies, Vietnam has gone a long way to become a socialist-oriented market economy

characterized by strong dynamism and rapidly growing entrepreneurship.

For pharmaceutical industry, the Ambassador has invited Indian companies to manufacture in Vietnam. Like the ‘Make in India’ campaign of the Indian Government, Vietnam would invite Indian pharmaceutical manufacturers to open their manufacturing units and make products in Vietnam. He also invited India’s cooperation in knowledge-pro-cessing sector.

Corporate Tax has been reduced to only 20 p.c., while income tax can be exempted for FDI projects upto 5 years and duration and procedure to open new business has been minimized. Vietnam is a member of 13 Free Trade areas, also member of FTAs between ASEAN and India, China, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and has Bilateral FTAs with Korea, Russia-Belarus-Kazakhstan and currently negotiating FTAs with EU, Trans-Pacific-Partnership (TPP) and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

The Session ended with a hearty ‘Vote of Thanks’ from Shri Surendra Keyal, Honorary Secretary, MCCI.

Interactive Session on ‘Income Tax Settlement Commission-Provisions & Procedures’

The Chamber organised an interactive session with Shri M.K. Mirani, Chairman, Income Tax Settlement Commission with some Professional Bodies on Provisions and Procedures of Income Tax Settlement Commission on 4 February, 2016. Shri Mirani in his Interaction said that 17 thousand cases have been resolved till date. He clearly said

that shell companies, which are very prevalent, cannot approach the Commissioner for their settlement.

Commissioner received about 5 – 6 hundred cases per year through all his benches and resolve their disputes within 18 months and there is no consideration for reducing this mandatory time period.



A suggestion was made from this House for filing of e-papers and avoids physical paper work. To this Shri Mirani appreciated but observed that with the number of cases between 500 and 600, it is not cost effective. This can be done only if a number of cases touch 5000 per annum. The Professionals in the home vehemently raised the points that if share capital of shell companies can be taxed by the Income Tax Department, then why the

Commission can’t accept such applications instead of asking for manner of earning of Income. It was stated by the House that similar problem existed in the case of long term capital gain also. The House requested that if such cases are accepted, thousands of crores of revenue could be generated.

The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Shri Arvind Agrawal, Chairman, Standing Committee on Direct Taxes, MCCI.

Interactive Session on ‘Brainstorming Session on GST’

MCC Chamber of Commerce and Industry organized an Interactive Session on ‘Brainstorming Session on GST’ on February 5, 2016 and it was addressed by Shri Sunil Mitra, Former Revenue and Finance Secretary, Govt. of India, Shri Jai Kumar Mittal, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court & Eminent Tax Consultant, Shri Pulak Saha, Partner, Price-waterhouseCoopers India, Mr. Khalid Aizaz Anwar, Joint Commissioner, Directorate of Commercial Taxes, West Bengal, Shri Arun Kumar Agarwal and Shri Sushil Kumar Goyal, Chairman & Co-Chairman of MCCI Standing Committee on Indirect Taxes & GST,

Shri S.S. Beriwala, Past President, MCCI who chaired the session, said that Agriculture and unorganized sector might be affected adversely in the GST regime.

Shri Mitra in his interaction said that during his tenure in the Finance Ministry as Revenue and Finance Secretary, two important legislations namely DTC and GST were developed. A study by NCAER revealed that with the introduction of GST, the GDP will go up from 0.92 p.c. to 1.7 p.c. on annually. Since GST requires marshalling of huge

data base, Nandan Nielkani was entrusted to develop the system. GST would definitely reduce the cascading effect of various Centre and State Indirect taxes and the GST Bill has been finalized after adequate consultation, However, its implementation requires not only the approval from the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha but also has to be vetted by two-third majority in the State legislatures.

Shri Mittal remarked that no member from trade and industry were consulted in drafting the reports on Business Process for GST. It was only walled up for comments within a very limited time in the public domain. At present more than 50 p.c. of the disputes are in the service tax category. Since the rules applied to goods cannot be applied to service, the concept of service would remain as a source of dispute. Since there will be multiplicity of jurisdiction, deputes will arise in valuation which is not properly defined in the GST.

Shri Saha said that although under GST a separate registration is required for each business verticals but credit will be available in one vertical and cannot be used by the other. But demand from one vertical can be



recovered by the government from all other verticals which is discriminatory.

Shri Anwar who was also member of the Joint Committee on Business Processes constituted by the Empowered Committee of the State Finance Ministers nullified all such apprehensions. He said that GST council has been constituted as a Section 25 company. The Joint Committee always desires that GST Law should be clear, un-ambiguous so that litigations are minimized and easy to apprehend.

On registration, he categorically said that single registration is only required and if no

information is given to the dealer; the system will generate automatic registration. On IGST, he said that it is purely a Hindusthani concept for the easy credit flow and not available in any other country. As regards, Black listing of the dealers for not uploading the returns, he justified as this would clear the system, eliminate the undesirable elements. He does not find any difficulty in introducing GST in the middle of the year as this is a transaction based system.

The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Shri Arun Kumar Agarwal, Chairman, Standing Committee on Indirect Tax, GST and State taxes, MCCI

Interactive Session on ‘Doing Business with Senegal’

The Chamber organized an Interactive Session on ‘Doing Business with Senegal’ with H.E. Mr. Elhadj Ibou Boye, Ambassador of the Republic of Senegal to India on 12 February 2016 at the Chamber premises. Mr. Demba Camara, Trade and Economic Counsellor, Embassy of the Republic of Senegal also addressed the session.

Mr. Ramesh Agarwal, Vice President, MCCI, highlighting on the bilateral trade figures said that trade between the two countries is growing steadily and it has increased by 25 p.c. during 2013-14 to 2014-15. He viewed that India’s rich expertise in Information Technology, energy sector, especially renewable energy, mining, pharmaceuticals, food-processing, processing of fruits and vegetables etc can be of mutual benefit for both the countries.

H.E. Mr. Boye invited India’s cooperation in the areas such as agriculture, tourism, mining & manufacturing, education, health, development of integrated SEZ and Business

Park etc.. To achieve a target of 1000 MW of power generation, he invited India’s strong experties in the R & D of energy sector including renewable energy in Senegal.

While explaining the possibilities of cooperation in iron ore mining, the Ambassador said that Senegal is looking for investment in the development of US$ 202 mn Integrated Faleme Iron & Steel project which has a production target of 15 to 25 million tons of iron ore per year. Senegal has iron ore reserve of 750 mn tons. In this context he informed that licence that was given to Arcelor Mittal earlier has been withdrawn.

Mr. Demba Camara made a detailed presentation informing about 27 major projects which were part of the ‘Senegal Emerging Plan’. This plan is aimed at creating 500,000 new jobs with GDP growth of 7p.c. To attract investment in agriculture, health, education and services sector, investment floor price has been set at 30,000 USD. He informed that



India is going to provide US$ 200 mn Line of Credit to Senegal for transmission projects in next month.


Interactive Session on ‘India-Egypt Economic BilateralRelations and Trade, Services & Investment opportunities’

The Chamber organised an Interactive Session with H.E. Mr. Hatem Tageldin, Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt to India on ‘India-Egypt Economic Bilateral Relations and Trade, Services & Investment opportunities’ on 16 February 2016 at the Chamber. Mr. Sanjeev Chopra, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Agriculture, Government of West Bengal and Mr. Mongy Aly Badr, Minister Plenipotentiary, Head of the Commercial Office in Delhi, Embassy of Arab Republic of Egypt also addressed the Session.

Mr. Arun Kr Saraf, Immediate Past President, MCCI, in his Welcome Address said that India’s expertise in Information Technology, energy sector especially renewable energy, mining and pharmaceuticals can be of mutual benefit for both the countries. He also viewed that for Indian suppliers, Egypt could serve both as an export and logistics hub in tapping new markets of Africa, Europe and Turkey.

Shri Sanjeev Chopra, Additional Chief Secretary, Deptt. of Agriculture, GoWB emphasised on signing Egypt-India MOU in agriculture sector which has been pending for long. He urged the Ambassador to give due focus to Eastern Region of the country especially West Bengal, as the Government of West Bengal is keen to foster better ties with Egypt.

While interacting with the members, H.E.

Mr. Hatem Tageldin emphasized that there are many high potential sectors in Egypt which Indian investors can explore. These are textiles, ICT, renewable energy mainly wind and solar energy, finance, logistics, tourism, agriculture, medical tourism, retail, construction and education.

The Ambassador said that the country was also looking at Indian hospitals to set up their units in Egypt. A number of Egyptian patients come to India for treatment. In this context he informed that Egypt is keen on signing Double Taxation Agreement with India.

Egypt developed a Special Economic Zone in Suez Canal Corridor. This is a mega project in Egypt that will make Egypt a logistic hub for the whole region, giving access for investors, to the Middle-East, the European and the African market all at once. The zone offers 5 p.c. flat tax rate on personal income tax and 10% tax on all activities within the zone, Zero Import Duties, Zero Export duties when exporting out of Egypt, Zero Export duties on domestic components when sold in Egypt, Integrated custom and tax administration, licensing, and dispute settlement.

While presenting about Egypt’s potential as a growing economy, Mr. Mongy Aly Badr, said that Egypt is home to only fully vertically integrated textiles industry and one of the highest-growth potential IT markets in the Middle East. India Petro Chemical Giant ICT



SANMAR is going to invest additional US$ 300 bn in Egypt. UFLEX has also increased its investment from US$ 160 bn to US$ 250 bn in the country.

The session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Shri Arpit Dhandhania, Co-Chairman of the Standing Committee on Foreign Trade.

Interactive Session with H.E. Mr. Niankoro Yeah Samake, Ambassador of the Republic of Mali

The Chamber organised an Interactive Session with H.E. Mr. Niankoro Yeah Samake, Ambassador of the Republic of Mali on ’Trade & Investment Opportunities in Mali’ at the Chamber premises on 17 February, 2016. Shri Gaurav Goenka, Hony. Consul Republic of Mali, in Kolkata was also present and addressed the Chamber.

Shri Arpit Dhandhania, Standing Committee on Foreign Trade, MCCI in his welcome address pointed out that India – Africa trade is expected to reach US $160 billion by 2020 and enquired how Mali is planning to capitalise on this. He also enquired if Mali plans to work with Indian firms to undertake exploration and exploitation of its rich mineral resources.

Shri Gaurav Goenka stated that H.E. Mr. Samake ran for the President’s post in his country a few years back. He said that Africa is the new frontier for business. Mail is a gold exporter. It has potential in other mining activity as well.

Mr. Niankoro Yeah Samake said that Mali’s Investment Code guarantees full rights and protection for investors. Its main features include the following: non-discrimination of foreign investors, repatriation of funds, foreign ownership, guarantee against expropriation, dispute resolution and investment guarantee. Furthermore, foreigners can set up companies in just 72 hours in Mali.

While Americans and Europeans are risk averse to doing business in Africa, the Chinese are doing brisk business. There are already many Indian brands operating in Mali and it is up to Indian firms to discover Africa.

According to the Ambassador, India pledged a $ 10 billion line of credit to Africa at the October Africa Summit. India requires its companies to partner with Africans. It also requires that 75 p.c. of the equipment must be bought in India.

Mali needs to develop its own industries and this opens up opportunities for foreign investors. Despite having sizeable assets in the form of livestock, poultry, gold reserves and cotton, Mali does not have a large tannery or poultry hatchery, gold refinery and major cotton processing plant. Mali has uranium, bauxite and phosphates, but again no processing units. 70 p.c. of the population subsists on agriculture. The Ambassador invited Indian businessmen to invest in Mali.

Currently, Mali is meeting its health equipment requirements largely through imports from China. The Ambassador said that India has to offer, for Mali to buy. Similarly, the Ambassador evinced an interest in Indian firms engaged in skill development.

The session ended with a hearty vote of thanks offered by Shri Tushar Basu, Chairman, Standing Committee on HR, IR, Quality & Entrepreneurship, MCCI.



Interactive Session on ‘Doing Business with Turkey’The Chamber organised an Interactive

Session with Turkish Indian Chambers of Commerce (TICCI) on ‘Doing Business with Turkey’ on 18 February 2016 at the Chamber premises. Mr. Ersin Karaoglan, President and Mr. Bulent Acikgoz, Vice President, TICCI along with a business delegation from Turkey attended the Session. Mr. Sinan KARADAS, Regional Director, Mr. Harun KARA, H.Director and Mr. Osama MOHAMMED, Secretary, Turkish Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry, Kolkata were also present at the Session. Mr. Sami Dinler, Chairman of the Board of Director of Isi Metal San Tic. A.S. and Council President of Turhal Chamber of Commerc & Industry and Mr. Ahmet Gencler, Owner of E-Commerce website www.parparo.com came all the way from Turkey to attend the Session.

On this occasion, MCCI signed a MoU with TICCI to enhance bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

While presiding over the Session, Mr. Surendra Keyal, Honorary Secretary, MCCI identified few sectors such as textile & apparel, automotive, construction & real estate, energy specially renewable energy agriculture & food processing, mining, health care, ICT, chemical & petrochemical etc which can be of mutual benefit for both the countries.

‘Mr. Ersin Karaoglan invited Indian companies to produce jointly with Turkish companies and capture the African market together. Turkey’s most attractive sectors are finance & insurance services, real estate, manufacturing, energy, ICT, whole sale & retail trade, transportation & storage, mining & quarrying etc. While supporting the ‘Make in India’ initiative, he mentioned that Turkish firms are interested to establish their manufacturing facilities in India.

Mr. Bulent Acikgoz made an elaborate presentation on the Turkish economy and its business environment. Turkey is the 17th largest economy in the world and 6th largest when compared to EU countries, 17th largest automotive producer in the world and largest TV and white goods manufacturer in Europe. In addition to a robust domestic market, Turkey also offers lucrative export opportunities for Indian firms in the markets of surrounding countries as the country is already in the Custom Union of EU and has Free Trade agreements with 25 countries in the world.


Education Summit on ‘Restructuring Education to Generate Employment & Higher Economic Growth’

The Chamber organized an Education Summit at The Park on 24 February. This Summit was inaugurated by Hon’ble governor of West Bengal, H.E. Shri Keshari Nath Tripathi. Shri Ujjal Biswas, Hon’ble Minister in charge of Technical Education and Training,

Govt of West Bengal, Prof. Ajoy Ray, Director of Indian Institutes of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST), Shibpur, Shri Vivek Kumar, IAS, Principal Secretary, Department of Higher Education in West Bengal and Prof. Om Prakash Sha, Dean, Continuing Education,



IIT Kharagpur were also present as Guests of Honour.

Shri Manish Goenka, President of MCCI suggested that a massive expansion of University level education could help in leveraging demographics, trained and industry-friendly labour force should be developed and industries may join hands with academicians. He requested more light on reasons for lagging of Indian universities. He suggested that government may consider re-examining mission targets and redesigning its policies/execution towards generating employable skills.

H.E. Shri Keshari Nath Tripathi, Hon’ble governor of West Bengal declared that MCCI, 115 years old Chamber looks to the future with confidence in its capacity to serve the people and the business community of this region and in the process, to contribute its mite to the economic development of the State and the country as a whole. Development of indigenous technologies and capabilities in agriculture, food security and other industrial areas are possible because of our world-class higher education infrastructure. Discipline involves a restraint on liberty, which is necessary for the interest of society and needs to be inculcated at a very young age. Freedom of speech cannot be absolute as per our Constitution. Conducive learning environment should be the objective of every educational institution. Apart from textual knowledge, it is important to impart senses of empathy, selflessness, morality, responsibility, respect and appreciation in the students. Institutional autonomy requires a high degree of self-regulation. Teachers must provide safe spaces where students are seen, valued, cared for and respected. Reforming pedagogy for making entire syllabus and

education system more attuned to produce job read and industry ready students is essential.

Shri Biswas mentioned that training should be an integral part of all industries. Mentioning Swami Vivekananda he said that “we are poor but we have the spirit and spirit comes from the mind and the mind is hiding in our skull”. It is important to provide the third eye to the students. Utkarsha Bangla scheme is to be launched by the state government in association with the West Bengal State Council of Technical & Vocational Education & Skill Development to provide vocational training to school dropouts. The government has recently launched ‘Egiye Bangla’ in collaboration with IIM, Kolkata, Innovation Park to incubate entrepreneurship development.

Shri Vivek Kumar mentioned that West Bengal has a comparative advantage in education. State government has moved with the belief that Kolkata can be the Intellectual Capital of the country. From 2011 to 2015 the number of universities increased from 13 to 28. Upto 2011, from independence, 31 government degree colleges were set up while in last three years 31 new colleges were established. Out of them 15 are government aided. In last 3 years, 15 new universities came up and 8 of them are private. Upto 2011 there was no private university. This was one of the finest policies of the present government. Usually budgetary allocation for education increases from 10-15p.c. yearwise, but in west Bengal there has been a 400p.c. increase in Budget allocation for higher education over last three years.

Prof. Ajoy Ray mentioned that an analytical mind is required to be nourished by the universities and educational institutions rather than traditional method of bookish



learning. Universities should have autonomy in decision making in certain crucial areas while government may have some control over financial aspects. BESU did not have any interference from the government and got true autonomy which helped it grow. “Excellence does not come out of over control and over regulation” - Regulation should be only for those who are not performing. Industry-ac-ademia partnership is required to bring in excellence. The acts or statutes applied several years ago are not relevant today.

While speaking on production of industry ready engineers, Prof. O.P. Sha observed that the system of education has undergone manifold changes along with technological

upgradation. Now the system has evolved from teacher centric to knowledge centric learning. Class sizes have increased, electronic sources and computers are provided the resources.

Shri Samir Saraff, Chairman, Standing Committee on Education moderated the programme. He observed that in the age of destruction in technological field mere incremental changes in education sector cannot keep pace with changing realities and requirements. In order to produce future ready students, it is necessary to have drastic/radical changes in this sector.

The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Shri Hemant Bangur, Sr. Vice President, MCCI.

Interactive Session on ‘Doing Business with Czech Republic’

The Chamber organised an Interactive Session on ‘Doing Business with Czech Republic’ with H.E. Mr. Milan Hovorka, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to India on 25 February 2016 at the Chamber. Mr. Vladimir Bomberovic, Project Manager, Export Strategy Department, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Czech Republic and Mr. Milan Tous, Head of Economic Section, Embassy of Czech Republic also addressed the session.

While presiding over the Session, Shri Ramesh Agarwal, Vice President, MCCI suggested that since India is trying to build new capacities in the nuclear sector and Czech has abundant thorium at its possession, it’s imperative that India and Czech begin to cooperate on this front. He also informed that from January-November 2015, the bilateral trade witnessed a decrease of 7.4 p.c. at US$1.2 billion. Indian exports were at US$ 499 million against Czech exports of US$623 million.

While referring to the existing trade volume of US$1.3 billion between India and Czech Republic, H.E. Mr. Hovorka puts emphasis on the need for deploying more effort to streamline the bilateral trade between the two countries. This being his second visit to Kolkata, the Ambassador informed that he was in the city to explore the possibilities of cooperation between West Bengal and Czech Republic.

His Excellency mentioned that machinery manufacturing promises further enhancing of bilateral cooperation given the objective that Indian Government is trying to transform India to a manufacturing hub. In energy sector CR has built a number of power plants in India and would like to collaborate more in this area, especially in renewable energy. Automobile industry also has good prospect to collaborate.

To enhance people to people contact, His Excellency was keen to open Visa Application



Center in Kolkata soon. He further informed that CR offers incentives to attract foreign films to shoot in the country and many Hollywood films were shot in CR. He said that the time has come to use cinema as an important tool to promote tourism between India and CR.

He also requested MCCI to mount a Business Delegation to CR in the coming days.


Symposium on The Union Budget, 2016-17

The Chamber organized a Symposium on The Union Budget, 2016-17 on 01 March, 2016 with Prof. Anup K Sinha, and Prof. Mritiunjoy Mohanty, Prof. of Economics, IIM Calcutta. Shri Amitav Kothari, Financial Analyst, Shri Arun Kumar Agarwal, Indirect Tax Expert and Shri N. K. Poddar, Eminent Tax Consultant also addressed the Symposium.

Prof. Sinha said that it is not clearly known where the 3.5 p.c. fiscal deficit figure has come from. Rating agencies stick to such targets and can bring down the rating of democratically elected governments. Even when the Indian economy is growing at 7.5 p.c., which is almost highest in the world, we are worried as it does not reflect the ground realities.

Prof. Mohanty said that the Finance Minister has not addressed the problems with the economy. He explained that the dominant model driven by private corporate investment and globalisation underpinned growth in the last 3 decades has since collapsed. Private corporate investment has dried up in the last 5 years which is reflected in the falling

investment to GDP ratio in each of last 5 years. Exports have contracted for 13 straight months. Our foreign trade agreements with about 90 p.c. countries show an import bias. MGNREGA places undue emphasis on irrigated agriculture. The bulk of pulses is grown in rain fed agriculture and suggested to improve productivity of rain fed agriculture.

Shri Kothari expressed concern on the rising NPS of banks. Shri Arun Agarwal felt that increase in the Cess on Coal by Rs. 200/- per tone will affect all coal based industries and Krishi Kalyan Cess is going to affect everybody. Shri Poddar added that there is no indication as to how much is spent on such Cess amount in targeted schemes. He said that schemes for Declaration of Undisclosed Income and new Dispute Resolution Scheme are having dangerous provision which need to be sorted out.

The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Shri Arvind Agrawal, Chairman, Standing Committee on Direct Tax, MCCI.

Awareness Session on Lean Manufacturing Competitiveness Scheme for MSMEs

The Chamber organized an Awareness Session with Dr. S.N. Nandi, Consultant of Quality Council of India on Lean Manufacturing Competitiveness Scheme

(LMCS) for MSMEs today in the Somany Conference Hall on 9 March, 2016.

Shri Rishabh Kothari, Chairman, Standing Committee on MSME of the Chamber in his



welcome address mentioned that the share of manufacturing sector in Indian National GDP over the years has decreased and stagnated at 14 p.c. National Manufacturing policy of India envisages share of manufacturing to reach target of 25 p.c. of the National GDP by 2022. He enquired how the lean manufacturing techniques can help attain this goal and enhance productivity in the MSMEs.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Nandi mentioned that Lean Manufacturing techniques aim at elimination of waste in different areas of production including customer relations, product design, supplier networks and factory management. Techniques such as 5S System, Standard Operating Procedures (SOP), Kaizen Blitz or Rapid Improvement Process, Value Stream Mapping, Total Productive Maintenance, Single Minutes Exchange of Dies/ Quick Changeover, Visual Control, Just in Time, Cellular Layout, Poka Yoke or Mistake Proofing, Kaizen Blitz and Kanban

system, have evolved over a long period. They are based on breakthroughs which help in reducing cost and increasing productivity and competitiveness. This may take place via proper personnel management (less human effort), better space utilization (less space), scientific inventory management (less inventory), improved process flows reduced engineering time (less time to develop products), etc. The implementation of LM Techniques will be divided into 5 milestones – completion of cluster specific DSR; Existing Status including workspace management, safety, health, energy conservation, etc; Time Bound targets for achieving incremental improvements; Phase wise action plan; and qualitative, qualitative or monetary benefits to be achieved.

The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Shri Tushar Basu, Chairman, Standing Committee on HRD & Entrepreneur-ship, MCCI.

Interactive Session with H.E. Mr. Petko Doykov, Ambassador of the Republic of Bulgaria to India

The Chamber organised an Interactive Session on ‘Doing Business with the Republic of Bulgaria’ on 11 March, 2016 at the Chamber. H.E. Mr. Petko Doykov, Ambassador of the Republic of Bulgaria to India along with Mr. P. Kamalakanth, Executive Director of WBIDC Ltd and Mr. Vishambhar Saran, Honorary Consul of the Republic of Bulgaria in Kolkata addressed the session.

Mr. Ramesh Agarwal, Vice President of the Chamber, in his welcome address, enquired about the potential of India-Bulgaria trade, scope for investment in textile, pharmaceutical and steel industries and the opportunities

offered by Bulgarian government to draw the Indian film Industry to Bulgaria. He observed that between 2012 and 2014, the trade volume grew by more than 50 p.c. while it has grown manifold from US$ 15 Million in 2000 to US$ 218 Million in 2014.

Mr. Kamalakanth emphasized on the prospects of doing business in West Bengal which has an attractive climate for investment from any country. He invited the Ambassador to the next Bengal Global Business Summit.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Saran mentioned that Bulgaria is a member of the



European Union and is strategically well positioned for trade and commerce, being close to Middle East and Turkey and the European countries. Bulgaria’s contribution to defense sector of India (India buys defense products from Bulgaria) is not reported for being a strategic issue.

H.E. Mr. Doykov mentioned that Bulgaria and India were very close in terms of cultural relations. It stands at the crossroads of east-Asia and Europe. Investors from other countries would find it lucrative destination for getting access to different markets. Bulgaria is also looking closely at the Indian policies, especially the ‘Make in India’ initiatives and following them. They wish to be a part of it. He believes this policy would boost investment for mutual benefits. The Embassy would enter into a dialogue with Himachal Pradesh government to provide technical know-how on increasing productivity of apples in the state. Wine of Bulgaria is expensive but well known for its

unique taste and aroma. Yogurt is a popular line of Bulgarian product across the world. Bulgarian chocolates are better than Swiss or Belgium ones and most chocolate production houses in Bulgaria are owned by companies from the latter two nations. Pharmaceutical, food production and cosmetic sectors have prospects for doing business by the two nations jointly. India buys defense instruments from Bulgaria which excels in heavy industries. Bulgaria has four diplomatic offices in India – Kolkata, Hyderabad, Delhi and Mumbai. For ease of issuing visas Bulgarian Embassy is tying up with different Indian companies/ agencies which can take the responsibility of getting visas for local people in India. A visa usually takes a maximum of two weeks.

The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Shri Arpit Dhandhania, Co-Chairman of Standing Committee on Foreign Trade, MCCI.

Interactive Session with Shri K. Sanath Kumar, CMD, National Insurance Company Limited

The Chamber organised an Interactive Session with Shri K. Sanath Kumar, CMD, National Insurance Company Limited on ’Non Life Insurance – Prospects & Challenges’ at the Chamber premises on 16 March, 2016. Shri Sharad Mathur, Senior VP & Head – Agency, Digital & Alternate Channel at SBI General Insurance Company Limited was also present and addressed the Chamber.

Shri Hemant Bangur, Senior VP, MCCI in his welcome address enquired how the penetration of insurance companies can be increased in the SME space. He also wondered if the low premium of the Pradhan

Mantra Fasal Bima Yojana would lure more farmers into the crop insurance safety net. The high claims and combined ratios of general insurance companies is an area of concern.

Shri Sharad Mathur mentioned that insurance density (or per capita spending on Insurance) is only USD 9 in India compared with USD 45 in China while insurance penetration (or insurance premiums as a percent of GDP) is only 0.7 p.c. Only 20 p.c. to 25 p.c. of the Indian population has some form of health insurance. In general, small and medium size companies shy away from insurance except when they are taking loans from banks.



Shri K. Sanath Kumar said that the general insurance industry was worth Rs 85,000 crore last year and it might come close to Rs 1 lac crore this year. About 30 crore Indians are covered by some form of general insurance, including insurance from government programmes. With an average growth rate of 20 p.c. which dipped to 10 p.c. to 12 p.c. last year, Indian has one of the fastest growing insurance businesses in the world. Future growth is expected to be 12 p.c. per annum.

All general insurance companies have combined losses [(operating expense + claims + commission) as a percent of net owned premiums] in excess of 100 p.c. and all are making ends meet with their investment income. Their loss making status arises from

poor performance on third party motor claims and group health insurance, whereas retail health is not losing money.

General insurance in India is driven by motor and health insurance and other forms of insurance have not caught on. This is typical for any developing country. Today, GIC is the only reinsurer. Lloyd’s is entering India with an office in Mumbai as a reinsurer only and it will not do any underwriting.

Shri Sanath Kumar stated that insurance companies need more traction with customers who still do not know when their claim will get paid. Delay in delivery of claim is an issue as 90 p.c. of claims can be settled within 30 days. National Insurance is setting up claims hubs, which will only handle claims.

OTHER IMPORTANT EVENTSMeeting with Shri Purnendu Basu, Hon’ble Agriculture Minister of the State On 7 April, 2015, Shri Sanjay Rasiwasia, Chairman, Agriculture & Food Processing Standing Committee of the Chamber and Shri S. Roy, Asst. DG met Shri Purnendu Basu, Hon’ble Agriculture Minister of the State and submitted a proposal to organize a joint meeting with his Department.

Roadshow on Resurgent Rajasthan Investors Summit 2015On 21 April, 2015, President and other senior members of the Chamber were present at the Roadshow on Resurgent Rajasthan Investors Summit 2015, organised by the Government of Rajasthan with Smt. Vasundhara Raje, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Rajasthan at ITC Sonar, Kolkata.

A Special Session on MSMEs by Zee TVOn 3 May, 2015, a Special Session on MSMEs was organised by Zee TV at which Shri Sanjay Agarwal, Past President of MCCI, Shri Madhav Lal, Secretary, Ministry of MSME, Shri Dinesh Agarwal, Founder – Indiamart and Dr. Ram Sangapure, ED- Punjab National Bank, took part.

Conference by MCCI and Steel & MetallurgyOn 7 May, 2015, a one-Day Conference was organised on ‘Raw Materials, Technology & Markets for Long & Flat products’ jointly by MCCI and Steel & Metallurgy at The Park, Kolkata. Following the inaugural address by Dr. S.N.Rao, G.M, CC & ERP, RINL, a discussion was held by the Panel Experts like Mr. Chang Wang of China Metallurgical



Industries & Dr. J.V.Scheele, Head of Linde India Ltd. Shri Deepak Agarwal, Chairman, Steel Standing Committee of the Chamber, presented the welcome address.

DRUCC MeetingShri Surendra Keyal, Hony Secretary of the Chamber attended the DRUCC meeting held on 19 May, 2015. Mrs. Jaya Varma Sinha informed the Committee Members of certain recent developments in the Raiwlays.

MSME Survey by IMRB A MSME Survey was conducted by IMRB on behalf of the Deptt. of MSMEs, GoWB at the Chamber on 21 May 2015. 10 MSMEs participated and brought up their issues/ complaints/ suggestions regarding carrying on business in the state.

‘Financing MSME’ under the main series theme of ‘Make in IndiaPresident participated in a programme organised by Zee Business and IndiaMart on ‘Financing MSME’ under the main series theme of ‘Make in India: Unleasing the SME Potential’ at The HHI on 30 May, 2015.

Meeting with Jyotipriyo Mallick, State Minister of Food & Supplies, GoWBOn 30 May, 2015, Shri Sanjay Rasiwasia, Chairman, Agriculture and Food Processing Standing Committee accompanied by Shri Tushar Basu, Chairman, HR,IR,Quality & Entrepreneurship Standing Committee and Shri S.Roy, Asst. D.G, MCCI called on Shri Jyotipriyo Mallick, State Minister of Food & Supplies and invited him to address the members of the Chamber.

‘Doing Business in West Bengal – the next level’On invitation, the President along with some Sr. members of the Chamber attended a Convention, organised by the Govt. of West Bengal on ‘Doing Business in West Bengal – the next level’ at the Town Hall, Kolkata on 1 June, 2015. The Hon’ble CM chaired the Convention and announced many new initiatives for reducing time, documents and hassles in doing business. The Convention was also addressed by Senior Ministers like Dr. Amit Mitra, Shri Subrata Mukherjee, Janab Firhad Hakim and almost all departmental Secretaries.

Meeting with Shri Suresh Prabhu, Hon’ble Minister of Railways On 6 June 2015, the President, accompanied by Shri B.K. Swaika, Past President, Shri Surendra Keyal, Hony. Secretary, Shri Vishal Jhajharia and Shri Lalit Beriwala, Committee Members and Shri S.Roy, Asst. D.G called on Shri Suresh Prabhu, Hon’ble Minister of Railways at Eastern Railway Officers’ Club and presented a memorandum on issues like freight delivery delays, dual classification problem, freight rate anomaly for cross-coun-try movement, Chamber’s representation on ZRUCC etc.

Condolence Meeting of Hemant Bangur’s fatherOn behalf of the Chamber, Shri Surendra Keyal, Hony. Secy and Shri S.Roy, Asst. D.G called on Shri Hemant Bangur, Sr.VP of the Chamber at his residence and offered flowers and homage to his father who passed away early in the morning on 8 June, 2015.



On 10 June, 2015, Shri Arun Saraf, President accompanied by Shri A.R. Sonthalia, Shri B.K. Jhajharia - Trustees, Shri B.K. Swaika, Shri Suresh Jhunjhunwala, Shri Santosh Saraf - Past Presidents, Shri C K Jain, Shri Rajendra Khandelwal and Shri Rishabh Kothari - Committee Members went to Shri Hemant Bangur, Sr VP’s residence to offer tributes to the departed soul of his father, Shri G.D.Bangur and condolences to the family, on behalf of the Chamber.

Awareness Programme on ‘Social Media and its impact on Youngsters’On 11 July, 2015, The Standing Committee on Education, MCCI in association with IBM India Pvt. Ltd. organised an Awareness Programme on ‘Social Media and its impact on Youngsters’ at The Newtown School, Kolkata. The initiative has been taken to organise such Sessions at several premier schools of the city in order to sensitise the young minds about Social Media and its impact on them. Speakers from IBM included: Dr. Surojit Mookherjee, Associate Director & Head-CSR, Eastern India, IBM, Ms. Akanksha Rastogi, Application Developer and System Analyst, IBM, Ms. Swayamsiddha Panigrahi, Application Developer, CICS, IBM and Mr. Rakesh Sarma, Application Developer & Vice-President Education - IBM. The Session was well attended by around 250 participants including students, parents and faculty members of Newtown School.

Meeting with Deputy of the Foreigner’s Visa Section of the Embassy of Afghanistan, New DelhiOn 4 August 2015, President along with Shri Surendra Keyal, Hony. Secretary, Shri R.K.Sen, D.G and Shri S.Roy, Asst. D.G met

with Mr. S.M. Ahmadi, Economic Counsellor and Mr. Homayun Kamgar, Deputy of the For-eigner’s Visa Section of the Embassy of Af-ghanistan, New Delhi and discussed about set-ting up of Consul General’s office in Kolkata.

Interaction with Shri Amit ShahOn 12 August, 2015, President accompanied by Shri S.Roy, Asst. D.G of the Chamber attended a Special Session with Shri Amit Shah, President, BJP organised by ICC at Taj Bengal, Kolkata. Prior to the Session, Shri Shah interacted with the leading businessmen and Office Bearers of leading Chambers of Kolkata for half an hour, at which the President was present.

SME Hero’ - Organised by Zee Business On 11 September, 2015, MCCI participated in the Zee Business SME Growth Series on ‘Exploring Newer Markets’ at the Lalit Great Eastern. Shri Atul Churiwal, Past President, MCCI was one of the panel speakers. Others were - Shri Rajiva Sinha, Prn. Secretary, MSME, GoWB, Shri Aseem Chawla, MD, MPC Legal, Shri Sandeep Juneja, VP – Commercial, DHL Express India and

Press Meet on MCCI Delegation to VietnamA Press Meet was held on the forthcoming MCCI Delegation to Myanmar from 15 September, 2014 –19 September, 2014 at the Chamber.

Delegation to Vietnam – 15.9.2015 to 20.9.2015A multi-sectoral 10 member Business Delegation from MCCI left for Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. It was led by the President, Shri Arun Kumar Saraf and comprised of the following delegates : Shri Vijay Agarwal, from office of the President, Shri Ramesh



Agarwal, Vice President, MCCI, Shri Maruti Maheshwari, Member & Director, Prabhu International Vyapar Ltd, Shri Arun Kumar Agarwal, Committee Member & Director, ARS Management Consultancy Services Pvt Ltd, Shri Pankaj Shah, CEO, VS Finance and Shri Vineet Nahata, Director, Power Gilt Treasuries, Shri Mahabir Prasad Agarwal, Director, Tirupati Polychem Pvt Ltd, and Shri Shashikant Tewary, Managing Director, Gram Tarang Foods Ltd. Shri M.C. Das, Dy. DG of the Chamber accompanied the Delegation as coordinator. Indian Foreign Offices –Indian Embassy in Hanoi and Indian Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City and VCCI (Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry) organized 2 Buyer Seller Meets and Industrial Park visits in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh, Factory Visits, One-to-One dialogues with Leaders of Ministry of Industry & Trade and KPMG. There was also another BS Meet organized by Investment and Trade Promotion Deptt of Dong Nai province.

7-member Business Delegation from TaiwanOn 9 October 2015, Mr. Fu-Han, Director of the Kolkata Office of Taiwan World Trade Centre and a 7-member Business Delegation from Taiwan visited the Chamber and had a meeting with Shri Surendra Keyal, Hony. Secretary, Shri S.K.Roy, President, UAL Industries Ltd., Shri Dhruv Yash Khaitan from R.S.Ispat Ltd and Shri R.K.Sen, D.G. The delegation members represented industries like Machine Tools & Accessories, Self-drilling Screws for particle board/clip board/roofing/ Window, CR/HR products, Auto, Motor Cycle parts etc.

GST–Stakeholders’ Workshop Shri Surendra Keyal, Hony Secretary, Shri

Arun Kumar Agarwal, Chairman, Standing Committee on Indirect Taxes, GST & State Taxes and Shri M.C.Das, Dy D.G of the Chamber attended a GST–Stakeholders’ Workshop organised by department of Commercial Taxes, WB at The Lalit Great Eastern, Kolkata on 2 November, 2015. The Workshop was inaugurated by Shri Binod Kumar, Commissioner Commercial Taxes, WB.

Bijoya Greet and Meet TogetherOn invitation from Dr. Amit Mitra, Hon’ble Minister of Commerce & Industries, GoWB the President along with Shri R.K.Sen, D.G and Shri S.Roy, Asst. D.G attended the ‘Bijoya Greet & Meet Together’, which was graced by the Hon’ble Chief Minister, Smt. Mamata Banerjee, other Senior Cabinet Ministers and Principal Secretaries of the government at the 27 Ballygunge Park, Kolkata. Dr. Mitra anchored the meet on 9 November 2015. Shri S.S. Bagaria, Shri K B Agarwala, Shri R.S Goenka, Shri Ravi Todi, Shri Aditya Agarwal, Shri Sanjay Agarwal and Shri Manish Goenka also attended the meet. Hon’ble CM and Dr. Mitra requested all industrialists to attend the ‘Bengal Global Business Summit 2016’ and come up with their proposals.

Meetings for Bengal Global Business SummitIn connection with the upcoming Bengal Global Business Summit 2016, Shri Rishabh Kothari, Chairman of the MSME Standing Committee of the Chamber along with Shri Rajiv Mukherjee, Dy. Secretary of the Chamber attended meetings on 27 November, 2015 and 2 December, 2015 at Khadi Bhawan and WBIDC respectively. Shri Kothari, Shri Mukerjee and Shri S. Roy, Asst. DG attended a meeting with Shri Rajiv Sinha, Principal



Secretary, Dept. of MSME & Textiles, GoWB at Khadi Bhawan on 16 December, 2016 to discuss in detail the responsibility given to MCCI in the Bengal Global Business Summit 2016. Shri Devi Prasad Karanam, IAS, Director, Dept. of MSME, GoWB, MG Ali Husein, Addl Secretary, Dept. of MSME, GoWB, Ajoy John, Creative Consultant, Dept. of MSME, GoWB were also present at the meeting. Inaugural Session of 2-day long Bengal Global Business Summit 2016President attended the inaugural session of the 2-day long Bengal Global Business Summit 2016 held in Milan Mela Ground, Kolkata on 8 & 9 January, 2016.

Session with Shri Manohar Lal, Chief Min-ister of HaryanaThe Session was organized on 30 January, 2016 at The Oberoi Grand by the Haryana Government as a pre-event activity for the Happening HaryanaGlobal Investor’s Summit 2016 to be held on 07-08 March 2016 in Gurgaon. Other speakers of the Session were Capt. Abhimanyu, Finance & Industries Minister of Haryana and Shri Devender Singh, Principal Secretary of Govt. of Haryana, Industries Department. Shri S.S. Beriwala, Past President of MCCI addressed the Session and presented a Memento to Shri Manohar Lal, Hon’ble CM of Haryana.

PRESS COMMUNIQUE 21.04.2015

A Press communiqué was made on the MCCI Session with Shri U.C. Nahta, Member- Competition Commission of India. Shri Nahta spoke on the Anti-Trust Law in Competition Act 2002. Significant ongoing investigations on Airline and Bank cases were detailed.

27.04.2015A press communiqué was made on the MCCI Session with Dr. Gautam Ray, Chief Commissioner Customs, Central Excise & Service Tax on ‘Changes in Central Excise & Service Tax – Impact on Business’ where Dr. Ray spoke on the impact of duty changes in Indirect Tax regime and GST on business.

28.04.2015A press release was made on the MCCI event ‘Jewels of the East’ where Shri R.S. Agarwal, Chairman, Emami Group of Companies, Shri Harshvardhan Neotia, Chairman, Ambuja

Neotia Group and Shri Arun Kumar Chandra, Managing Director, P.C. Chamdra Group were felicitated by the Chamber to honour and acknowledge their contribution to Industry and Business Growth.

6.05.2015A pre-event press release was made on the MCCI Session on ‘Google Cloud Apps for Business’ in association with Infiflex Technologies, a Google Apps for Work Part-ner.

04.05.2015A press communiqué was made on the MCCI Ladies Forum session with Dr. Rajendra Venkatesh, Dental Surgeon, The Gentle Dental Centre on ‘Love your Teeth – you only have one set’.

06.05.2015A press communiqué was made on the MCCI – Infiflex Joint Session on ‘Google Cloud Apps



for Business’ with Shri Tushar Bhalla, Sales Manager (North), Google India. Shri Upender Jit Singh, Managing Director, WEBEL, Shri Sanjay Agarwal, Managing Director, Century Plyboards, Shri Jude Mohanty, Managing Director and Smt. Asamanya Mohanty, Director, Infliflex Technologies were also present.

13.05.2015A press communiqué was made on the MCCI Seminar on ‘Efficient Agri-Marketing can Empower Farmers of West Bengal with Shri Arup Roy, Hon’ble Minister of Agriculture Marketing, Govt. of West Bengal. Dr. V.K. Tewari, Professior and Head, Agricultural and Food Engineering, NABARD, Kolkata, Shri A.K. Ray Barman, General Manager, NABARD, Kolkata and Dr. Abhijit K. Nandi, Professor and Head, Bidhan Chandra Krishi Viswa Vidyala were also present.

14.05.2015

A press communiqué was made on the MCCI Session with Shri Rajiv, Central Vigilance Commissioner where he discussed the problems of corruption and activities of anti-corruption agencies like CVC and CBI.

21.05.2015A press communiqué was made on the MCCI donation of Rs. 31 lacs for the relief and rehabilitation of the victims of Earthquake in Nepal. Shri Chandra Kumar Ghimire, Consul General of Nepal in Kolkata addressed the session.

01.06.2015A press communiqué was made on ‘Doing Business in West Bengal’ held with Industrialists, where Hon’ble Chief Minister of West Bengal outlined various changes made in the policies and procedures, to speed up the process of setting up industries in the State.

5.06.2015A press communiqué was made on the MCCI Session on ‘India and Australia: Trading our way to Progress and Prosperity’ with H.E. Mr. Patrick Suckling, High Commissioner of Australia.

6.06.2015A press communiqué was made on a meet-ing with Shri Suresh Prabhu, Hon’ble Union Minister of Railways. A delegation led by Shri Arun K. Saraf, President of the Chamber discussed few problems and suggestions faced by industry in West Bengal.

09.6.2015A press communiqué was made on MCCI Session with Shri Avijit Ghosh, Vice President, Distribution Services, CESC and his team. Shri Amitav Shome, GM, Customer relations also spoke on the ocassion.

12.6.2015A press communiqué was made on MCCI Session with Shri Tathagata Roy, Hon’ble Governor of Tripura on ‘Cooperative Federalism in India’.

13.6.2015A press communiqué was made on the MCCI Session with Shri P. Madhusudan, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Rash-triya Ispat Nigam Ltd. on ‘Indian Steel Indus-try & RINL – A growth Story’.

15.06.2015A press communiqué was made on the MCCI Session with Shri Babul Supriyo, Hon’ble Union MoS, Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, held at The Park, Kolkata.



25.06.2015A press communiqué was made on the Spe-cial Session with Shri Nitin Gadkari, Hon’ble Union Minister of Road Transport, Highways and Shipping held at the Taj Bengal, Kolkata. Shri S.V.K. Reddy, Director of Inland Wa-terways Authority of India (IWAI) and Shri R.P.S. Kahlon, IAS, Chairman of Kolkata Port Trust were also present as speakers.

18.07.2015A press communiqué was made on the MCCI Session with Shri Radhey Shyam, General Manager, Metro Railway, Kolkata and S.E. Railway of India on ‘Metro Railway and South Eastern Railway- Challenges of Mod-ernisation and Expansion’.

14.07.2015 A press communiqué was made on the MCCI Seminar on Earthquake with Dr. Shailesh Nayak, Secretary, Union Ministry of Earth Sciences, Janab Javed Ahmed Khan, Hon’ble Minister of Disaster Management, Fire & Emergency Services & Civil Defence Department of West Bengal and other dignitaries.

15.7.2015A press communiqué was made on the MCCI Session with Hon’ble Justice Shri Cyriac Joseph, Chairman, NHRC on ‘India – A beacon of Hope for Human Rights Activitsts’. Shri M.S. Dwivedy, Member, WBHRC and Shri Shyamal Gupta, Legal Remembrancer of the state also spoke on the ocassion.

4.08.2015A press communiqué was released on the dis-cussion between Mr. S.M. Ahmadi, Economic Counsellor of Afghanistan and Shri Arun K. Saraf, President of MCCI where Mr. Ahmadi

promised to set up a Consul General’s Office in Kolkata, New Town by December 2015.

8.08.2015A press communique was made on the six mem-bers MLF and MCCI visit to TATA MEDICAL CENTRE at Rajarhat to meet 36 Child Cancer Patients and their families inside the hospital ward and Premashraya at the center. MLF and MCCI donated a cheque of Rs. 1.11 lacs and Food and stationery items. The team was led by Ms Saroj Saraf, Chairperson of MLF.

12.08.2015A press communiqué was made on the MCCI Seminar on Employability and Entrepre-neurability on 12 August, 2015. Smt. Indrani Chatterjee, Director, Human Resources, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Smt. Sujata Guin, Corporate Director and Associate Vice President, HR, Apeejay Surrendra Park Hotels and Shri Subhrangshu Sanyal, CEO, IIM Calcutta Innovation Park.

17.08.2015A press communiqué was made on the MCCI Session with Shri Jitendra Kulkarni, Founder & CEO, Winspire Solutions, of Singapore. The session discusses the scope of ERP implemen-tation.

19.08.2015A press communiqué was made on the MCCI Session with Shri Sushil Muhnot, Chairman and Managing Director, Bank of Maharashtra. Shri Muhnot spoke of the credit limit to the MSME Sector.

25.08.2015A press release was made on the oncoming 15 member Business Delegation to Vietnam during September 15-20, 2015 to be carried out with the help of Indian Embassy in Hanoi



and Indian Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City under Indian Ministry of External Affairs.

26.08.2015A press communiqué was made on the Session with Ambassador H.E. Mr. Ton Sinh Thanh of Vietnam to India at MCCI on ‘Facilitating In-dia –Vietnam Trade’. Rear Admiral A.K. Ver-ma, C&MD, GRSE also addressed the session.

27.08.2015A press communiqué was made on the news that India’s Space Craft ‘Mangalayaan’ was successfully put into Mars Orbit on a maiden mission. This demonstrates India’s mastery in super space technology and makes her the first Asian country and ISRO the 4th Space agency in the world to send a Satellite successfully to the Mars.

3.9.2015A press communiqué was made on an exclusive session with Prof. Achyuta Samanta, Founder and Mentor, KIIT University and KISS, Bhubaneswar. Prof. Samanta spoke on the success story of KIIT and KISS.

11.09.2015A press communiqué was made on the Session with NASSCOM on Business Opportuni-ties in Start-up Companies’. Shri Nirupam Chaudhuri, Regional Head – East, NASSCOM and other distinguished entrepreneurs.

14.09.2015A press communiqué was made on the appeal to political leaders regarding the GST Bill 2014 which could not be passed at the last session of the Rajya Sabha due to lack of con-sensus and the much needed reform of indirect tax system.

21.09.2015A press communiqué was made on the seminar on ‘eRetail Vs Brick and Mortar Retail’ held at The Park with Mr. Sadhan Pande, Hon’ble Minister of Consumer Affairs, GoWB and other corporate leaders of the industry.

28.09.2015A press communiqué was made on the Divine session to be organized by MCCI jointly with MCCI Ladies Forum with His Holiness Mora-ri Bapu at Nazrul Mancha.

29.09.2015A press communiqué was made on the RBI’s reduction in the policy repo rate by 50 bps from 7.25p.c. to 6.75 p.c. and consequent reduction of reverse repo rate under LAF to 5.75p.c. and the Marginal Standing Facility and Bank Rate to 7.75 p.c.

05.10.2015A press communiqué was made on the MCCI-MLF Divine Session with His Holiness Morari Bapu on ‘True Meaning and Under-standing of Ram Rajya in Today’s Context’.

13.10.2015A press communiqué was made on the MCCI Session with Mr. Olaf Iversen, Consul General of Germany in Kolkata. Mr. Damien Syed, Consul General of France in Kolkata and Mr. Nari Kalwani, Chairman, Eastern Region Region Council, Indo-German Chamber of Commerce were also present.

28.10.2015A press communiqué was made on MCCI Session on ‘SXC Vision 2020’ with Rev. Fr. Dr. J. Felix Raj, S.J. Principal, St. Xavier’s College, Kolkata. Shri R.S. Agarwal, Trustee



& Past President, MCCI and Jt Chairman, Emami Group of Companies also addressed the session.

09.11.2015A press communiqué was made on the Interactive Session with H.E. Mrs. Maria Teresita C. Daza, Ambassador of the Republic of Philippines to India on ‘India-Philippines Bi-lateral Trade’. Mr. Michel Alfred V Ignacio, Commercial Counselor, Embassy of the Philippines in India and Mr. Deepak Kumar Khemka, Honorary Consul Geines in Kolkata were also present.

23.11.2015A press communiqué was made on election of new President of the Chamber, Shri Manish Goenka at the 114th Annual General Meeting of the Chamber.

1.12.2015A press release was made on the MCCI Ses-sion with Shri Nitin Gadkari, Hon’ble Union Minister of Road Transport, Highways and Shipping and Shri R.P.S Kahlon, Chairman, Kolkata Port Trust on ‘Enhancing Connectiv-ity across Eastern India – Key to Economic Growth’.

3.12.2015A press release was made on MCCI Session with Shri R.S. Sharma, Chiarman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India and Shri Amit K. Bhattacharya, Chief General Manager, BSNL, Calcutta Telephones also spoke on the ocassion.

16.12.2015A press communiqué was made on the MCCI Session with Shri Rajesh K. Mediratta, Director, Business Development, Indian

Energy Exchange and Shri Bibhu Charan Swain, Sr. Consultant, Power Tech Consultants.

18.12.2015A press communiqué was made on the sad demise of Shri R.K. Sen, Director General, MCCI on 17 December, 2015.

31.12.2015A press communiqué was made on the Interactive Session with Shri Manik Sarkar, Hon’ble CM of Tripura where Shri Sarkar spoke of the opportunities of investment in the state.

13.1.2016A press communiqué was made on the Interactive Session with Dr. Chandan Mitra, Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce of Govt. of India on ‘Status of the Indian Economy – Opportunities for accelerated growth’.

15.1.2016A press release was made on Interactive Session with Shri S.K. Panda, Chief Commissioner of Service Tax on ‘Department’s Perspective on Issues on service Tax Compliance’.

18.1.2016A press communiqué was made on Interactive Session with H.E. Mr. Bulat Sarsenbayev, Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan to India on ‘Exploring Opportunities: India-Ka-zakhstan Bilateral Trade’.

19.1.2016A press communiqué was made on Interactive Session with Shri Ashish Kr. Goel, General Manager of South Eastern Railway in India on issues regarding freight and passenger traffic in SER.



25.1.2016A press communiqué was made on Interactive Session with H.E. Mr. Ton Sinh Thanh, Ambassador of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam to India on ‘Doing Business with Vietnam’.

04.2.2016A press communiqué was made on Interactive Session with Shri M.K. Mirani, Chairman, Income Tax Settlement Commission with some Professional Bodies on Provisions and Procedures of Income Tax Settlement Commission.

05.2.2016A press communiqué was made on Interactive Session with Shri Sunil Mitra, Former Revenue and Finance Secretary, Govt. of India, Shri Jai Kumar Mittal, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court & Eminent Tax Consultant, Shri Pulak Saha, Partner, PwC, India, Mr. Khalid Aizaz Anwar, Joint Commissioner, Directorate of Commercial Taxes, West Bengal, Shri Arun Kumar Agarwal and Shri Sushil Kumar Goyal, Chairman & Co-Chairman of MCCI Standing Committee on Indirect Taxes & GST.

12.2.2016A press communiqué was made on Interactive Session with H.E. Mr. Elhadj Ibou Boye, Ambassador of the Republic of Senegal to India on ‘Doing Business with Senegal’.

16.2.2016A press communiqué was made on Interactive Session with H.E. Mr. Hatem Tageldin, Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt to India on ‘India-Egypt Economic Bilateral Relations and Trade, Services & Investment Opprotunities’.

17.2.2016A press communiqué was made on Interactive Session with H.E. Mr. Niankoro Yeah Samake, Ambassador of the Republic of Mali to India on ‘Trade & Investment Opportunities in Mali’.

18.2.2016A press communiqué was made on Interactive Session with Mr. Ersin Karaoglan, President and Mr. Bulent Acikgoz, Vice President, TICCI along with a business delegation from Turkey. MCCI signed a MoU with TICCI to enhance bilateral cooperation between the two countries.

24.2.2016A press communiqué was made on Interactive Session with H.E. Shri Keshari Nath Tripathi, Hon’ble governor of West Bengal, Shri Ujjal Biswas Hon’ble Minister in charge of Technical Education and Training, Govt. of West Bengal, Prof. Ajoy Ray, Director of Indian Institutes of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST), Shibpur, Shri Vivek Kumar, IAS, Principal Secretary, Dept. of Higher Education in West Bengal and Prof. Om Prakash Sha, Dean, Continuing Education, IIT Kharagpur.

25.2.2016A press communiqué was made on the Rail-way Budget presented by Shri Suresh Prabhu, Railway Minister. The chamber considered this to be a balanced one.

25.2.2016A press communiqué was made on Interactive Session with H.E. Mr. Milan Hovorka, Ambassador of the Czech Republic along with Mr. Milan Tous, Head of Economic Section, Embassy of Czech Republic and Mr. Vladimir



Bomberovic, Project Manager, Export Strategy Department, Ministry of Industry and Trade, Czech Republic.

29.2.2016

A press communiqué was made on Union Budget 2016-17 where the chamber welcomed the major focus given by the Union Finance Minister on Agriculture, Infrastructure development, Skill development, besides others.

1.3.2016

A press communiqué was made on Symposium on The Union Budget 2016-17 with Prof. Anup K. Sinha and Prof. Mritiunjoy Mohanty, Prof. of Eocnomics, IIM Calcutta.

9.3.2016A press communiqué was made on Awareness Session with Dr. S.N. Nandi, Consultant of Quality Council of India on Lean Manufac-turing Competitiveness Scheme (LMCS) for MSMEs.

11.3.2016A press communiqué was made on Interactive Session with Mr. P. Kamalakanth, Executive Director of WBIDC Ltd and Mr. Vishambhar Saran, Hony Consul of Republic of Bulgaria in Kolkata.

16.3.2016A press communiqué was made with Shri K. Sanath Kumar, CMD, National Insurance Company Ltd. on the theme ‘Non Life Insurance – Prospects & Challenges’.

REPRESENTATIONS / MEMORANDA

Sl. Date Representation/Memorandum Representation / Memorandumsent No. sent to about

1.

2.

3.

4.

04.04.2015

22.04.2015

28.04.2015

18.05.2015

Shri Narendra Modi, Hon’ble Prime Minister of

India

Dr. Amit Mitra, Hon’ble Minister of Finance,

Commerce & Industries, GoWB

Shri S. Kishore, Principal Secretary, Commerce & Industries Dept., GoWB

Shri H.K. Dwivedi, IASPrincipal Secretary,

Dept of Finance & ExciseGoWB

Memorandum on incumbent labour laws was submitted

Requesting to consider investments made in Phase II (Rs. 140.35 crores) approved under the WBIS-2000 (Mega Project)

Requesting removal of Hydrogenated Edible Oil from the negative list of industries in The West Bengal State Support for Industries Scheme, 2013

Memorandum on Valuation of Property and Stamp Duty in Real Estate industry was submitted



Requesting permit for conversion of land into industrial plot for the manufacturing unit of ‘M/s Arunil Polycraft Pvt. Ltd.’

Requesting to restructure the West Bengal Land Reforms and Tenancy Tribunal (WBLRTT) to address inordinate delay in the settlement of disputes pertaining to land.

Requesting to examine the issue of imposing anti-dumping duty on Chinese Aluminium products, increase in the basic custom duty on Aluminium bare and pre-painted coils by 5 p.c. and re-instate the basic custom duty on import of Aluminium scrap.

Memorandum on Suggestions for Reforms in Railways was submitted

Requesting to intervene and address the unlawful rates charged at the Haldia port.

Requesting charge of Stamp Duty on Bill of Exchange payabale below three months

Requesting to reduce the basic custom duty on import of Aluminium Scrap

Requesting to issue clarifications dispensing with uploading of forms 15CA and 15CB by the importers of raw-materials and capital goods to resolve the issue.Requesting to address the inordinate delay in payment of refund of Electricity Duty even after the amount has been sanctioned

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

18.05.2015

20.05.2015

22.05.2015

6.06.2015

19.06.2015

07.07.2015

20.07.2015

18.08.2015

20.08.2015

Shri Angshuman Adhikary, WBCS (Exe), District Land &

Land Reforms Officer

Dr. Chandrima Bhattacharya, Minister of Law & Judicial (IC) and Health & Family Welfare,

GoWB

Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, Hon’ble Minister of State (I/C),

Commerce & Industry, GoI

Shri Suresh Prabhu, Hon’ble Minister of Railways, GoI

Shri Nitin Gadkari, Hon’ble Minister of Shipping, Road

Transport and Highways, GoI

Shri D. Purnachandra Rao, General Manager & Circle

Head, Corporation Bank

Shri Shaktikanta Das, IAS, Revenue Secretary, Dept. of

Revenue, Ministry of Finance, GoI

Mrs. Anita Kapur, Chairperson, CBDT

Dr. Amit Mitra, Hon’ble Minister of Finance, Commerce

& Industries, GoWB



14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

28.8.2015

03.09.2015

14.09.2015

29.9.2015

23.10.2015

23.10.2015

03.12.2015

Dr. Soumen Kumar Mahapatra, Hon’ble Minister of Water Resouces, Investigation &

Development, GoWB&

Shri Subrata Mukherjee, Hon’ble Minister of Panchayat, Rural Development & Public Health

Engineering, GoWB

Shri Kamalakanth, Executive Director, WBIDC

Top leaders of all major political parties

Smt. Anita Kapur, Chairperson, CBDT

Ms. Pragya S. Saxena, Joint Secretary (TPL-I), Tax Policy

Policy & Legislation, CBDT

Shri Amitabh Kumar, Joint Secretary (TRU –II), CBEC

Dr. Amit Mitra, Hon’ble Minister of Finance & Excise, Commerce & Industries, GoWB

Requesting to kindly address revival of closed industries and consider reviving the SSI unit of Neelachal Natural Resource Pvt. Ltd.

On a request from WBIDC, the Chamber submitted its views on the growing presence of e-commerce in India focusing on retail sector.

An appeal was made explaining the considerable benefits of GST Bill including simplification of indirect tax system, reduction of tax and faster economic growth, and requesting them to lend their whole-hearted support and influence to ensure that the GST Bill gets passed in the Winter Session of the Parliament. A Press Release was also issued on this appeal.

Requesting her to extend the due date of filing of returns by at least one month from 30 September 2015.

Pre-Budget Memorandum on direct taxes 2016-17 was submitted

Pre-Budget Memorandum on indirect taxes 2016-17 was submitted

Requested to extend time for adjustment of Industrial Promotion Assistance (IPA) and State Capital Investment Subsidy (SCIS) under WBIS-2004 against VAT liability, from 8 months to 2 years as a special case



for a member company, as there was inordinate delay in getting the subsidy due to delayed release of ‘No Due Certificate’ by the Directorate of Electricity Duty of the State Government.

Requested to revise the effective date for submission of Form 15CA and 15 CB from April 1, 2016 to 1 January, 2016

Requested him to ensure that GST is not introduced in the middle of the year as it would create a lot of complexities both for the business community and the government.

Requested to adjust the amount indicated in the company’s VAT audit against its excess Input Tax Credit which has been piled up enormously over the years.

Requested harmonisation of issuance of Certificate of Origin (CoO) by the authorized agencies.

Post-Budget Memorandum on Union Budget 2016-17

Secretary, Ministry of Steel and Joint Secretary, Ministry of

Commerce, GoI

Shri Najib Shah, Chairman of Central Board of Indirect Taxes,

Ministry of Finance

Shri Bhaskar Chakraborty, Sr. Joint Commissioner, Central Audit Unit, O/o the Commission-er of Commercial Taxes, GoWB

Shri Sanjay Kumar Chaurasia, Under Secretary to the

Government of India, Ministry of Commerce & Industry

Shri Atulesh Jindal, Chairman, CBDT

24.12.2015

11.1.2016

11.1.2016

22.2.2016

24.03.2016

21.

22.

23.

24.

25

WORKING OF THE STANDING COMMITTEEDirect TaxesThe Standing Committee on Direct Taxes met under the chairmanship of Shri Arvind Agrawal on 07 October, 2015 to consider and finalise the issues in area of Direct Taxes for inclusion in the Pre-Budget Memorandum for Union Budget 2016-17. Another meeting was held on 9 March, 2016 to consider and finalise issues in area of Direct Taxes for post-budget memorandum.

Education:The first meeting of the Education Standing Committee was held on 8 April 2015 to draw up the activities of the Committee for the current year. HR, IR, Quality & Enterpreneruship:The Standing Committee met on 28 August, 2015 under the chairmanship of Shri Tushar Basu. Suggestions to organize meetings on



Labour Laws, Enterpreneurship and HRD Performance Management were put forward by the Chairman. Initiative was taken by the Committee to maintain a database of HR Professionals. The Committee met again on 9 March 2016 to highlight the current HR issues/problems.

Indirect Taxes, GST & State Taxes:

The Committee also met at the Chamber on 07 October 2015 under the chairmanship of Shri Arun Kumar Agarwal to consider and finalise the issues in the area of Indirect taxes for inclusion in the Pre-budget Memorandum 2015-16 to be submitted to the Finance Ministry. The Committee met under the chairmanship of Shri Arun Kumar Agarwal on 12 November 2015 to consider the three reports on GST published by Central Board of Excise & Customs (CBEC) for comments. A Standing Committee meeting was held on 9 March 2016 to consider and finalise issues in area of Indirect Taxes for inclusion in the Post-Budget Memorandum 2016-17.

Infrastructure, Real Estate and Shipping & LogisticsA joint Meeting of the Standing Committees on Shipping & Logistics and Infrastructure & Real Estate was held on Friday, 20 November 2015 to discuss the issues to be taken up at the oncoming meeting with Shri Nitin Gadkari, Hon’ble Union Minister of Road Transport, Highways and Shipping.Membership Development:The Standing Committee on Membership Development met regularly under the Chairmanship of Shri Santosh Saraf and dealt with the issues of membership applications, new members, resignations and other related issues.Power & Renewable Energy, Industry and Steel :A joint meeting of the Standing Committees was held on 27 April 2015, to discuss the issues/problems faced by power intensive industries to be raised at the oncoming Seminar on ‘Vision for an Efficient Power Sector’. Members of the Ferro Alloy & Steel Producers were invited as well.

MCCI Ladies ForumSession with Dr Rajesh Venkatesh, Dental Surgeon, The Gentle

Dental Care, on ‘Love your Teeth – you only have one set’

MCCI Ladies Forum organized a Session with Dr Rajesh Venkatesh, Dental Surgeon, The Gentle Dental Care, on ‘Love your Teeth – you only have one set’ held on Monday, May 4, 2015 at MCCI Conference Hall.

Ms Saroj Saraf, Chairperson, MCCI Ladies Forum, at her welcome address highlighted – ‘Endocarditis’, ‘Cardiovascular Disease’, ‘Pregnancy and Birth’, ’Diabetes’, ‘Osteoporosis’ are few of the diseased conditions which may be affected by or which

may affect our oral health. She shared few tips to ensure gorgeous and happy and healthy gums which include ‘Going on a White Teeth diet’ – by brushing the teeth regularly, using good bleaching agent and brushing subsequent to the consumption of tooth-staining foods and drinks; ‘Humming while brushing the teeth’- to ensure two minutes are spent on brushing the teeth; ‘Drinking a Cup of Tea Everyday’ which will enable flavonoids and other ingredients in tea to prevent harmful



bacteria from sticking to teeth and block production of a type of sugar that contributes to cavities; ‘Eating tooth-cleaning foods’ like Apples, raw carrots, celery and (unsweetened) popcorn; ‘Hydrating’ by consuming plenty of water and fluids which whitens the teeth; and ‘Checking the freshness of Breath’ as smell in the breath is a precursor to teeth infection. Dr Rajesh Venkatesh enlightened the audience by

explaining the preference of Tooth Implants which last for 25 years over Bridges which last for 7-15 years and also detailed 98% efficacy of dentures as perfect replacement of natural teeth.

The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Smt. Seema Agarwal, Co-Chairman, MCCI Ladies Forum.

MLF and MCCI visit to Tata Medical CentreA six member MLF team met 36 Child

Cancer Patients and their families inside the Hospital Ward and Premashraya at TATA Medical Centre on August 8, 2015.

MLF donated a cheque of amount Rs 1.11 Lacs and Food and Stationery items Ms Saroj Saraf, Chairperson, MLF led the team. The donors include ‘UAL Industries’, ‘Rupa & Company Ltd’, ‘East India Holdings’, ‘Serampore Industries ‘McCoy Technorise Company’, ‘Santosh Commercial Corporation’, Pvt Ltd’ ,’Calcutta Iron Udyog’, ’Orion I.T. Parks’, ’A Jalan and Co’, ’Shrachi Group of Companies’, ‘Multiwyn Group of Companies’ , ‘Nippon Power Ltd’ and MCCI Secretariat.

Ms Dionne Sequeria, Programme Manager, TATA Medical Centre explained TATA Medical Centre is a 167 bedded hospital with 12 bedded dedicated pediatric ward with a plan to expand it to 250 bedded ward in future. 600 Cancer affected children from Kolkata, visit TATA Medical Centre on an average every year. Patients from India and overseas, especially Bangladesh, Bhutan also visit the hospital. 80% of Child Blood Cancer patients are fully cured. ‘Bone Marrow Cancer’, ‘Eye

Cancer’ are the other varieties of cancers for Kids. TMC does memorial service to pay respect to the lives lost during treatment. Majority of the patients belong to the Low Income Group and they are fully treated at a subsidized rate as required. Industrialists and Celebrities are donating handsome amounts which cover the expenses of the low income group patients.

In line with Hope Lodge in the US run by American Cancer Society, Premashraya – a shelter, has been built 500 metres from the hospital currently with 60 Child Cancer patients and their families. St Jude India Child Care Centre-a Mumbai based NGO runs the Children’s Unit of Premashraya. They provide training to Children and their parents to keep them active. The First two floors of the shelter are being dedicated to the child cancer patients and 340 more families would occupy the rest of the premises in future. TATA is providing the basic amenities like electricity, cooking arrangements at a very nominal rate to the families at the shelter.

MLF is planning to visit TATA Medical Centre and donate and engage with child patients on a regular basis



MCCI –MLF Divine Session with His Holiness Morari Bapu,Renowned Exponent of Ram Charit Manas

The Chamber in association with MCCI Ladies Forum organized a Divine Session with His Holiness Morari Bapu, Renowned Exponent of Ram Charit Manas, who addressed on the theme ‘True Meaning and Understand-ing of Ram Rajya in Today’s Context’ on Sunday, October 4, 2015, at Nazrul Mancha, Kolkata.

Smt Saroj Saraf, Chairperson, MCCI Ladies Forum, welcome the His Holiness Morari Bapu with a bouquet.

Shri Arun Kumar Saraf, President, MCCI welcomed all by saying by Ramarajya, he did not mean Hindu Raj, but he meant Divine Raj, the Kingdom of God. For him Rama and Rahim are one and the same deity and he acknowledged no other God but the one God of truth and righteousness. He also added that Ramarajya is undoubtedly one of true democracy in which the poorest citizen could be sure of swift justice without an elaborate

and costly procedure.

Shri Bapu said ‘Satya, Prem and Karuna are the three Pillars of 21st Century Ramrajya and people need to Rachnatmak not Vachanatmak’. Bapu said that the Suryavansha Dynasty, which came to be known as Raghuvansha due to the fame and glory of legendary King Raghu was known as Ramrajya later on. It was due to the 12 years exile taken on by Shri Raam and the sad demise of his father King Dasaratha that Ramarajya came into being. The Ideal State of Ramarajya which dreamt of by Mahatma Gandhi may not be quite relevant in the present context, but requires at least 10 p.c. changes in the society to make it happen in the present India.

The session ended with a hearty Vote of thanks from Shri Arun Kumar Saraf and it was well attended by Past Presidents of MCCI, Corporates and Ram Parivar and Media.



Memorandum of UnderstandingBetween

Turkish Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industryand

MCC Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Kolkata

This Memorandum of Understanding is signed between the two parties:

Turkish Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (TICCI), representing TUSKON (Turkish Confederation of Businessmen and Industrialists) in India, with registered office at 33

Shakespeare Sarani, 2B, 2nd Floor, Kolkata/India – 700017

And

MCC Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI), incorporated under Section 25 of The Indian Companies Act 1956, with registered office at 15B, Hemanta Basu Sarani, 2nd Floor Kol-kata – 700001.

This is an Agreement of Cooperation for the promotion of trade and business between India and the Republic of Turkey, in so far as this agreement does not affect international obligations or respective national business interests.

The general terms of the agreement are as follows:

ARTICLE I GENERAL PRINCIPLE

Both parties will exert their utmost efforts for the promotion of commercial and industrial relations between India and Turkey on the basis of cooperation and mutual benefits.

ARTICLE II TRADE AND INVESTMENT

(i) Both parties will encourage the exchange of trade missions and agree to support with all reasonable preparation, the business programs of the visiting delegations of the other party.

(ii) Both parties agree to support or co-sponsor, where appropriate, trade and investment seminars for the other party.

(iii) In the course of offering all reasonable assistance in respect of visiting trade missions, both parties will supply relevant market information, conducting business match-making and facilitating the introduction of visiting trade missions to representatives of relevant industries.



ARTICLE IIIEXHIBITIONS/TRADE FAIRS

(i) Each party agrees to render the support and assistance when one party holds exhibitions in the home market of the other.

(ii) Both parties agree to exchange relevant know-how and information, where appropriate, on organizing exhibitions and trade fairs.

ARTICLE IVINFORMATION PROTECTION AND CONFIDENTIALITY

(i) The receiving parties shall protect the information provided to it by using the same measures as the ones taken to protect its own information.(ii) Exchanged information shall not be sold or provided to a third party without the consent of the other party.

ARTICLE VTRADE ENQUIRY SERVICE

Both parties will exchange and answer trade and business enquiries from their respective home markets.

ARTICLE VIRESEARCH

Both parties agree to assist each other in the area of research on trade and investment by providing facilities and business contacts where appropriate.

ARTICLE VIIEDUCATION/TRADING

Both parties agree to cooperate in the education and training programs for human resources development when such programs are agreeable to both parties.

ARTICLE VIIILIAISON AND COOPERATION

(i) Both parties agree to nominate one representative within their respective organizations who will have the responsibility of coordinating the relationship between the two parties. (ii) Both parties agree to exchange staff members to promote cooperation and understand-ing when both parties deem it necessary to do so.



For MCCISd/-

Surendra Keyal

(Honorary Secretary)MCC Chamber of Commerce & Industry

For TICCISd/-

Ersin Karaoglan(President)

ARTICLE IXIMPLEMENTATION

This agreement shall enter into force on the date of its signature and will remain valid for two years.It will automatically be extended, by one year at a time, unless written notice is given by one party to the other for termination of this agreement not less than six months before the next date of expiration.It is understood that neither party is prohibited from entering a like agreement of cooperation with other parties at any time.As a token of agreement to the aforementioned, MCCI and TICCI through their duly authorised representatives, sign the MOU at Kolkata on 18 February, 2016.



OTHER ACTIVITIES OF THE CHAMBER

Participation in ASSOCHAM Managing Committee:Shri Sanjay Agarwal, Past President of the Chamber and Managing Director, Century Plyboards (India) Ltd represented the Chamber on the ASSOCHAM Managing Committee.Certificate of Origin :

The Chamber issued 6694 Certificates of Origin, 838 Invoices, 902 Shipping Documents and Agency Agreements during the period. In addition, recommendations for 218 Visa/Passports were also issued.

New Membership : The total number of members as on 31st March 2016 was 784, 39 new members were

enrolled during the year under review.Circulars and Trade Enquiries :The Chamber issued 160 circulars covering various subjects and also a number of Trade

Enquiries, which were received through various sources from within the country as well as from abroad. Inter-linkages with various trade and promotional bodies, professional organisations including Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) were strengthened to develop an information base at the Chamber in order to cater to the requirements of the members of the Chamber. It may also be mentioned that the various foreign diplomatic missions based in India had regular support in providing information resulting in meaningful business alliances.

Acknowledgments:The Committee would like to take this opportunity to offer sincere appreciation for the

cooperation received from various Departments of the Ministries of the Union and State Governments, Foreign Diplomatic Missions, International Organisations, Trade Bodies and Associations. The Committee is grateful to the Press who have always lent their support and focused on the activities of the Chamber in a big way.

The Committee would also like to put on record its high appreciation of the competent services rendered by the officers and staff of the Chamber.

Surendra KeyalHonorary Secretary



ADVISORY COUNCIL / MCC FOUNDATION /STANDING COMMITTEES

Advisory Council

Chairman Co-Chairman Shri R.S. Agarwal Shri B. K. Jhajharia

Members Shri A.R. Sonthalia Shri S.S. Bagaria Shri Arun Kumar Churiwal Shri Santosh Saraf Shri Kunj Behari Agarwal Shri Deepak Jalan Shri Shyamsunder Beriwala Shri Sanjay Agarwal Shri R.S. Goenka Shri Hemant Bangur Shri Arun Kumar Saraf Shri Surendra Keyal Shri Ramesh Agarwal Shri Manish Goenka

Shri Rajaram Chowdhury

Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce FoundationChairman

Shri Manish Goenka

Members Shri Sanjay Agarwal Shri S.S. Beriwala Shri Rajaram Chowdhary Shri Arun Kumar Churiwal Shri Deepak Jalan Shri B.K. Jhajharia Shri Surendra Keyal Shri Arun Kumar Saraf Shri Santosh Kumar Saraf Shri A.R. Sonthalia Agriculture & Food Processing

Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Sanjay Rasiwasia Shri Amit Kumar Saraogi

Members Shri Manish Agarwal Shri Sandeep Agarwal Shri Ajay Jalan Shri Ashish Jhunjhunwala Shri Dipjyoti Majumdar Shri Prateek Agarwal Shri Atul Churiwal Shri Prashant Jalan Shri Rishabh Kothari Shri Sudip Mullick Shri Santosh K. Roongtaa Shri Sudhir Satnaliwala

Shri B.K. Swaika



Special Invitees Shri Vinod Thacker Prof. S. Dattagupta Prof. B.C. Ghosh Shri Dipak Sen Mr. Taj Mohammad Shri Sanjay Gupta

Banking, Finance & Insurance

Chairman Co-Chairman Shri B.L. Mittal Shri Kailash B. Goel Members Shri Niranjan Kumar Agarwal Shri Ranjeet K. Agarwal Shri Vinay Agarwal Shri Shyam Lal Dokania Shri Mahesh K. Goenka Shri K.C. Goyal Shri Manish Jain Shri Manaswy Kothari Shri Murli Manohar Khemka Shri E.P. Kumar Shri Vijay Maheshwari Shri Rajesh Poddar Shri Mahesh Shah Shri Jyoti Vardhan Sonthalia

Shri B.K. Swaika

Special InviteesShri Biswajit Choudhuri

Capital Market

Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Ashok Pareek Shri Kamal Nayan Jain

Members

Shri Raj Kr. Agarwal Shri Pramod Kr. Drolia Shri V.K. Goyal Shri Ravi Jain Shri Bijay Murmuria Shri Naresh Pachisia Shri Ravindra Sanghai Shri Vikash Somani

Special Invitees Shri Mohit Bhuteria Shri Rajesh Chura Shri Dinesh Jain Shri Prashant Khandelwal Shri Sri Mohan Kothari Shri Rajesh Poddar

Shri Chandra Shekhar Sarda



Coal

Chairman Co-Chairman Shri A.K. Jagatramka Shri Mahesh Kumar Agarwal

Members Shri Ravi Agarwal Shri S.S. Bagaria Shri Santosh Bajaj Shri Manav Bansal Shri S.S. Beriwala Shri Vijay Shankar Beriwal Shri N.M. Bhartiya Shri K.C. Goyal Shri Suresh Jhunjhunwala Shri Bimal Kejriwal Shri Sanjib K. Patwari Shri Ramesh Saraogi Shri Naveen Somani Shri Pawan Tibrewalla

Corporate Law & Governance Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Santosh K. Roongtaa Mrs. Mamta Binani

Members Shri Rakesh Agarwal Shri Subodh Kr. Agrawal Shri Vinay Agarwal Shri Tushar Basu Shri N.K. Dujari Shri Kausik Ghosh Shri Joydeep Datta Gupta Shri Malay Kr. Gupta Shri S.M. Gupta Shri R.S. Jhanwar Shri A.K. Joshi Shri Sundeep Jhunjhunwala Shri Ashok Pareek Shri Ramanand Rustagi Shri Subhash Saraf Shri Narendra K. Shah Shri Sidhartha Sharma Shri Joydev Sengupta

Shri A.K. Somani

Special Invitees

Shri Arun Kumar Khandelia Smt. S.M. Kothari Shri Rajesh Poddar Shri Anjan Kumar Roy



Corporate Social Responsibility & Rural Development

Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Ravindra Chamaria Shri Rajendra Khandelwal

Members Shri Ramesh Kumar Agarwal Shri Sanjay Agarwal Shri V.K. Bhandari Shri S.S. Beriwala Shri V.S. Bhandari Shri Arun K. Churiwal Shri K.C. Dhingra Shri Manish Gourisaria Shri Deepak Jalan Shri Govind Jethalia Shri Suresh Jhunjhunwala Shri Prem C. Kankaria Shri Prakash K. More Shri Sushil Poddar Shri S.S. Sanganeria Shri Santosh Saraf Shri A.R. Sonthalia Shri Pawan Tibrewalla

Direct Taxes Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Arvind Agrawal Shri Sanjay Bhattacharya

Members Shri Birendra Agarwal Shri Bharat Agarwal Shri D.N. Agarwal Shri Gaurav Agarwal Shri Manoharlal Agarwal Shri Naresh K. Agarwala Shri R.S. Agarwala Shri Rakesh Agarwal Shri S.N. Agarwal Shri Vishwanath Agarwal Shri G.P. Agrawal Shri Sanjay Bajoria Shri Tushar Basu Shri Manoj Beriwal Shri Paras Bohra Shri Indu Chatrath Shri Raja Ram Chowdhary Shri P.K. Dhelia Shri Shyamlal Dokania Shri Vinod Dubey Shri Prem C. Gupta Shri S.S. Gupta Shri Nirmal Kaushik Shri B.L. Kheria Shri Prithvi Raj Kothari Shri Yasaswi Kothari Shri Dipjyoti Majumdar Shri Mahesh Kr. Modi Shri Kishan K. Poddar Shri P.K. Roychowdhury Shri Ramanand Rustagi Shri S.S. Sanganeria Shri Sunil Surana Shri Vikash Surana Shri Miraj D. Shah Shri Pawan Tibrewalla

Special Invitees Smt. Nilima Joshi Shri P.D. Rungta

Shri Anand Tibrewal



Education

Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Samir Saraff Shri Taranjit Singh

Members Shri Sanjay Agarwal Shri Tushar Basu Shri S.S. Beriwala Shri H.K. Chaudhary Shri Shyam Lal Dokania Shri Saurav Jalan Shri Kishan Kejriwal Shri Smarajit Mitra Shri S.S. Sanganeria Shri Naveen Saraff Shri Anupam Shah Shri Miraj D. Shah

Special Invitees Rev. Abir Adhikari Swami Atmapriyananda Dr. Parasar Bandopadhyay Prof. Sonali Chakravarti Banerjee Prof. Ranjan Bhattacharya Rt. Rev. Ashoke Biswas Dr. Suborno Bose Prof. Dhrubajyoti Chattopadhyay Prof.Ranjan Das Dr. Suranjan Das Shri Supriyo Dhar Prof. Pradip Narayan Ghosh Prof. Kausik Gupta Shri N.K. Gupta Dr. Dipak Kumar Kar Prof. Anuradha Lohia Dr. Sugata Marjit Prof. Ashis Mitra S.J. Fr. Jose Padimattam, SDB Shri S. K. Pramanick Fr. John F. Rafi Rev. Dr. J. Felix Raj, S.J. Prof. Ajoy Ray Shri Goutam Roy Chowdhury Shri Satyam Roy Chowdhury Smt. Seema Sapru Rev. Dr. Xavier Savarimuthu, S.J Rev. Fr. Dominic Savio, S.J. Shri Hirak N. Sengupta Prof. Ashoke Ranjan Thakur

Shri Dharmen Trivedi



Foreign Trade

Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Ramesh Kr. Agarwal Shri Arpit Dhandhania

Members Shri Suresh Agarwal Shri Shrawan Kr. Agarwal Shri Pankaj Bajaj Shri Kanishka Bahety Shri Vishnu K. Bhandari Shri Arun K. Garodia Shri Sumit Goyal Shri Deepak Jalan Shri Ashutosh Jaiswal Shri Rishabh Kothari Shri Mahesh Keyal Shri Surendra Keyal Shri Srivatsa Kajaria Shri Hemant Marda Shri Pankaj Kr. Palriwala Shri S.K. Patwari Shri Rajat Sarawgi Shri Anupam Shah Shri Mahesh Shah Shri Pradeep Kr. Singhania

Shri Chirag Sheth

Special Invitees

Shri Ramesh Kr.Mittal Shri A.K. Mukhopadhyay Smt. Debdatta Nandwani Smt. Anima Pandey Smt. S. Pradhan Shri B. Rameshbabu Shri Vishnu Savadekar Dr. N.K. Soren

Shri V. Sraman

HRD & Enterpreneruship

Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Tushar Basu Shri Rajesh Jain

Members Shri Arvind Agrawal Shri Rajnish Agarwal Shri Arun Kumar Agarwal Shri Abhishek Bagaria Shri Manoj Kumar Beria Shri Gyanesh Chaudhary Shri Nivedan Churiwal Smt. Chaitali Das Smt. Ajapa Ghosh Shri Sugata Halder Shri Pawan Kumar Jalan Shri Nirmal Kaushik Shri Joydev Mukherjee Shri Sanjay Kr. Palriwala Shri Pawan Kumar Patodia Shri Santosh K. Roongtaa Shri Santosh Saraf Shri Sandeep Seksaria



Special Invitee Smt. Alpa Dey Shri Madhu Sundan Dutta Ms. Nishal Jain Shri Prakash Joshi Shri Debankur Majumder Dr. J.S. Sareen

Shri Prabal Sen

IT & Communication

Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Vishnu Kr. Bhandari Shri Prem C. Kankaria

Members Mr. Arif Ahmed Shri Hemant Chabria Shri Anish Chakravorty Shri Pulak Chamaria Shri Sanjay Chhajer Shri Alok Garodia Shri Ranjan Goenka Shri Puneet Keyal Shri Sumit Kothari Shri Tapas Sengupta

Shri K.L. Lalani

Special InviteeShri Nirupam Chaudhuri

Indirect Taxes, GST & State Taxes

Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Arun Kumar Agarwal a. Shri Sushil Kumar Goyal b. Shri Sanjib Kr. Kothari

Members Shri Birendra Agarwal Shri Manoj Agarwal Shri Rajesh Agarwal Shri Sandeep Agarwal Shri Mani Almal Shri S.S. Bagaria Shri Santosh Bajaj Shri B.M. Beriwala Capt. Pradeep Chakraborty Shri Narendra K. Chandak Shri R.D. Daga Shri Arpit Dhandhania Shri Shyam Lal Dokania Shri M.S. Goenka Shri K.C. Goyal Shri B.K. Jhajharia Shri Suresh Jhunjhunwala Shri A.K. Joshi Shri Prem Chand Kankaria Shri Mahesh Keyal Shri Surendra Keyal Shri Kishan Khaitan Shri Sumit Khowala Shri Rishabh Kothari Shri Kishan Poddar Shri Rakesh Poddar

Shri B.K. Swaika



Special Invitees

Shri Kamlesh Agarwal Shri Narayan Agarwal Shri Rajeev Kumar Agarwal Shri Pawan Kumar Agrawal Shri Achintya Bhattacharjee Shri Pulak Kumar Saha Shri Apoorva Salarpuria

Industry

Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Lalit Beriwala Shri Mahendra Kumar Agarwal

Members Shri Brij Bhushan Agarwal Shri Mahendra Kr. Agarwal Shri Mahesh Kr. Agarwal Shri Rakesh Agarwal Shri Ravi Agarwala Shri Sandeep Agarwal Shri Sanjay Agarwal Shri Shrawan Kr. Agarwal Shri Shyam Agarwal Shri Pankaj Bajaj Shri Manav Bansal Shri Pulak Chamaria Shri Gyanesh Chaudhary Shri Prahlad Roy Goenka Shri K.C. Goyal Shri Vivek Gupta Shri A.K. Jagatramka Shri Deepak Jalan Shri Munish Jhajharia Shri Srivatsa Kajaria Shri Bimal Kr. Kejriwal Shri Udvab Kejriwal Shri Rishabh Kothari Shri Prakash Kr. More Shri Sanjib Kr. Patwari Shri Mayank Poddar Shri Pawan Kr. Patodia Shri Sanjay Rasiwasia Shri Salil K. Sarkar Shri Sandeep Seksaria Shri Anupam Shah Shri Sanjay K. Sureka

Shri Ashok Kr. Todi



Infrastructure & Real Estate

Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Sanjay Jain Shri Munish Jhajharia

Members Shri Abhishek Agarwal Shri Arun Kr. Agarwal Shri Mahendra Kr. Agarwal Shri Sandeep Agarwal Shri Suresh Kr. Agarwal Shri S.S. Bagaria Shri Surya Prakash Bagla Shri Sanjay Bhalotia Shri R.S. Bhartia Dr. S.K. Bhattacharyya Shri Ravindra Chamaria Shri Gyanesh Chaudhary Shri Pradeep Chopra Shri Sushil K. Dhandhania Shri Pawan K. Dhoot Shri Shyam Lal Dokania Shri Rajeev Ginodia Shri Kailash Chand Goyal Shri Vivek Gupta Shri Chandra K. Jain Shri K.K. Jain Shri Ajay Jalan Shri Ankit Jalan Shri Pawan K. Jalan Shri Vishal Jhajharia Shri Srivatsa Kajaria Shri Sharad K. Khaitan Shri Prakash K. More Shri Manish Lakhotia Shri Subir Poddar Shri Aditya Mundhra Shri Sushil Poddar Shri Adarsh Tulshan Shri Samir Saraff Shri Apurva Salarpuria Shri Jyoti Vardhan Sonthalia Shri Raj Kr. Somani Shri Siddhart Tantia

Internal & Retail Trade

Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Pulkit Baid Shri Ravi Modi

Members Shri Aditya V Agarwal Shri Birendra Agarwal Shri Manish Agarwal Shri M.L. Bamalwa Shri Pulak Chamaria Shri Ashis Ganeriwal Shri Alok Garodia Shri Manish Gourisaria Shri Amit Goyal Shri Deepak Jalan Shri Saurav Jalan Shri Rajendra Khandelwal Shri Rishabh Kothari Shri Banwari Lal Mittal Shri Sanjay Rasiwasia Shri Pradeep Todi



Membership Development

Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Santosh Saraf Shri Atul Churiwal

Members Shri Sanjay Agarwal Shri S.S. Bagaria Shri Deepak Jalan Shri B.K. Jhajharia Shri S.S. Sanganeria Shri A.R. Sonthalia

MSMEs Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Rishabh Kothari Shri Akhil Sonthalia

Members Shri Dhruv Agarwal Shri Vikash Agarwal Shri Avinash Agarwalla Shri Manoj Agarwal Shri Rakesh Agarwal Shri Suresh Agarwal Shri Mani Almal Shri Bharat Bagla Shri Prateek Chaudhary Shri Arpit Dhandhania Shri K.C. Dhingra Shri Kaushik Ghosh Shri Devendra Goel Shri Prahlad Roy Goenka Shri K.C. Goyal Shri Prem Kumar Gupta Shri Vivek Gupta Shri Vikram Harlalka Shri Munish Jhajharia Shri Ashish Jhunjhunwalla Shri Suresh Jhunjhunwala Shri Srivatsa Kajaria Shri Prem Chand Kankaria Shri Ajay Laddha Shri Jaydip Mehta Shri Smarajit Mitra Shri Vinay Mohta Shri Sanjay Rasiwasia Shri S.S. Sanganeria Shri Nirmal Saraf Shri Rajat Sarawgi Shri Salil K. Sarkar Shri Miraj D. Shah Shri Ketan Shanghavi

Special InviteeShri Udit Prasanna Mukherjee



Power & Renewable Energy

Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Gyanesh Chaudhary Shri B.L. Chandak

Members Shri Mahesh Kumar Agarwal Shri Manish Beriwala Shri Kaluram Dhariwal Shri K.C. Dhingra Shri Alok Garodia Shri K.C. Goyal Shri Aditya Jajodia Shri Alkesh Sharma Shri Akhil Sonthalia Shri Naveen Somani

Special Invitees Shri R.N. Sen Shri Anil Mehta Shri Nadir R. Babaycon Shri M.R. Ghosh Dr. Kanak Mukhopadhyay Shri Dhruv Sharma Shri Ivan Saha Shri Saugata Datta Shri L. N. Mandhana Shri Arun Kedia

Shipping & Logistics

Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Vishal Jhajharia Shri Prakash K. More

Members Shri Brij Bhushan Agarwal Shri Ramesh K. Agarwal Shri Sanjay Agarwal Shri Sanjay Choudhury Shri Suresh Gupta Shri Vivek Gupta Shri Sanjay Jain Shri Ankit Jalan Shri Deepak Jalan Shri Pawan K. Patodia Shri Sanjay Rasiwasia Shri Santosh Saraf Shri Pradeep K. Singhania Shri Raj Somani

Shri Sharad Varma



Steel

Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Deepak K. Agarwal Shri Sanjib Kumar Patwari

Members

Shri Avinash Agarwalla Shri Brij Bhushan Agarwal

Shri G.K. Agarwal Shri Jugal Kr. Agarwal

Shri Manish Agarwal Shri Rajiv Agarwal

Shri Rakesh Agarwal Shri Ravi Agarwal

Shri Shankar Lal Agarwal Shri Tulsiram Agarwal

Shri Om Prakash Agarwala Shri Amit Agrawal

Shri S.S. Bagaria Shri Santosh Bajaj

Shri Manav Bansal Shri Ram Gopal Bansal

Shri Ram Kishore Bansal Shri Sunil Bansal Shri Lalit Beriwala Shri Vijay Shankar Beriwal

Shri Dinesh Kumar Bihani Shri Vinay Binani

Shri Prabir K. Chaki Shri Kumar Chand Chawla

Shri Ashok Chowdhary Shri Surendra K. Dalmia

Shri Dilip K. Didwania Shri Mukesh K. Dhandhania

Shri Alok Goyal Shri K.C. Goyal

Shri Anand Gupta Shri Ankit Gupta

Shri Avinash Ch. Gupta Shri Jag Mohan Gupta

Shri Prem Gupta Shri Anil Jain

Shri Bimal Kumar Jain Shri Aditya Jajodia

Shri B.P. Jalan Shri P.K. Jalan

Shri Punit Jatia Shri Aashish Jhunjhunwala

Shri Harmukh Rai Kanodia Shri Bimal Kr. Kejriwal

Shri Jitendra Kejriwal Shri R.S. Kejriwal

Shri Udvab Kejriwal Shri Ankit Keyal

Shri Mahesh Ch. Keyal Shri Surendra Keyal

Shri V.K. Khandelwal Shri Yogesh Khanna



MCCI Ladies Forum (MLF) Chairperson Co-Chairperson Smt. Seema Agarwal Smt. Prapti Jhajharia

(76 Members)

Shri Pankaj Lohariwal Shri Rajesh Mishra

Shri Sonal Mittal Shri Nirmalya Mukherjee

Shri Pankaj Kumar Palriwala Shri Sanjib Kumar Patwari

Shri Rakesh Poddar Shri S.S. Sanganeria

Shri Nirmal Saraf Shri Rajat Sarawgi

Shri Ashish Shah Shri Alkesh Sharma

Shri Amrik Singh Shri Sanjay K. Sureka

Shri Pawan Kr. Tibrewalla Shri Bipin K. Vohra



AFFILIATIONS

The Chamber is Affiliated with the following Organisations:

The Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India, New DelhiAll India Organisation of Employers, New Delhi

The following Organisations are affiliated with the Chamber:All India Wax Importers & Manufacturers Welfare AssociationAssociation of National Exchanges Members of India (ANMI), EIRCAssociation of Corporate Advisers & ExecutivesAsian Council of Logistics ManagementBengal Timber Importers AssociationCalcutta Motor Dealers’ AssociationCable TV Equipments Traders & Manufacturers AssociationComputer Association of Eastern IndiaFerro Alloys and Refractories Merchants’ AssociationGunny Traders AssociationIron Ore Exporters’ AssociationOutdoor Advertising AssociationSteel Re-Rolling Mills Association of IndiaTools & Alloy Steels AssociationThe Jute Balers’ AssociationViews Exchange Chartered Accountants Study Circle-EIRCWelfare Society for the Members of Jalan Industrial ComplexWest Bengal Paper Traders Association



REPRESENTATIVES OF MCCI ON PUBLIC BODIES (2015-16)

Public Bodies Representative

Steel Consumer’s Council Shri S. S. Beriwala for 2013-14 Shyam Steel Industries Ltd.

Board of Trustees for Shri Prakash K. MorePort of Kolkata Mayur Ply Industries Pvt. Ltd.

CESC Consultative Committee Shri Lalit Beriwala Director, Shyam Ispat Udyog

Regional Advisory Committee of Shri Arun Kumar AgarwalCentral Excise, Kolkata ARS Management Consultancy Services Pvt. Ltd.

Core Committee on Industry Shri Manish Goenka Emami Group of Companies

Divisional Railway Users’ Consultative Shri Surendra KeyalCommittee (DRUCC), Eastern Railway, Alloys & Metals (India)Sealdah

Divisional Railway Users’ Consultative Shri Santosh SarafCommittee (DRUCC), Eastern Railway, Road Cargo Movers Pvt. Ltd.Kharagpur

Divisional Railway Users’ Consultative Shri B.K. SwaikaCommittee (DRUCC), Eastern Railway, Swaika Vanaspati Products Ltd.Howrah

State Tax Consultative Committee Shri Arun Kumar Agarwal ARS Management Consultancy Services Pvt. Ltd.



Interactive Session with Shri U. C. Nahta, Member, Competition Commission of India on 'Good Corporate Gov-

ernance & Competition Compliance are Complementary''

Fourth Session of SME Knowledge Initiative

Interactive Session with Dr. Gautam Ray, Chief Commissioner, Customs, Central Excise & Service Tax, WB, Sikkim, Andaman & Nicobar on 'Changes in Central Excise &

Service Tax - Impact on Business'

Felicitation of 'Jewels of the East'

MLF Programme on ‘Love your TEETH - you have only one set’ with Dr. Rajesh Venkatesh, Dental Surgeon, The Gentle

Dental Centre

Session on 'Google Cloud Apps for Business'

Seminar on 'Vision for an Efficient Power Sector'

Interactive Session on 'Efficient Agri-Marketing can Empower Farmers of West Bengal' with Shri Arup Roy, Minister of

Agriculture Marketing, GoWB

Interactive Session on 'Vision for a Corruption Free India' with Shri Rajiv, Central Vigilance Commissioner

Function of MCCI Donation for Nepal Earthquake with H.E. Shri Chandra Kumar Ghimire, Consul General of Nepal in

Kolkata

Fifth Session of SME Knowledge Initiative on 'Financing MSMEs in West Bengal & Presentation by India Mart on 'How

India MART helps SMEs reach Global Buyers'

Interactive Session on 'India and Australia : Trading our way to Progress and Prosperity with H.E. Mr. Patrick Suckling, High

Commissioner of Australia

Interactive Session with Key-persons from the Distribution & Leadership Team of CESC

Meetings held during the year 2015-16

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

13.

21.04.2015

22.04.2015

27.04.2015

28.4.2015

04.05.2015

06.05.2015

08.05.2015

13.05.2015

14.05.2015

21.05.2015

02.06.2015

05.06.2015

09.06.2015



Felicitation & Interactive Session on 'Cooperative Federalism in India' with Shri Tathagata Roy, Hon'ble Governor of Tripura

Interactive Session on Indian Steel Industry & RINL - A Growth Story with Shri P. Madhusudan, CMD, RINL

Interactive Session on ‘Federal Structure of Governance is the Key to faster Urban Growth in India’ with Shri Babul Supriyo, Hon’ble Minister of State for Urban Development, Housing and

Urban Poverty Alleviation, Government of India.

Workshop on Recent Amendments to The Companies Act, 2013

Special Session on ‘Synergic Relationship between Kolkata Port & Inland Waterways’ with Shri Nitin Gadkari, Hon’ble Minister of Road Transport, Highways & Shipping, Government of India

‘South Eastern Railway and Metro Railway - Challenges of Modernisation and Expansion’ with Shri Radhey Shyam, GM,

S.E. Railway & Metro Railway, Kolkata

Awareness Programme on ‘Social Media and its impact on Youngsters’ with The Newtown School, Kolkata

MCCI Seminar on ‘Combatting Earthquakes Safely’

An Interactive Session on “India – A Beacon of Hope for Human Rights Activists” with Hon’ble Justice Shri Cyriac

Joseph, Chairperson, National Human Rights Commission

MLF and MCCI visit to Tata Medical Centre

Seminar on ‘Employability and Entrepreneurability – Opportunities & Challenges for Human Resource Development

in Current Economic Scenario’

Interactive Session on ‘Growth with ERP and Business Controls & Ready Reporting’ with Shri Jitendra Kulkarni, Founder &

CEO, Winspire Solutions, Singapore

Interactive Session on 'Role of Nationalised Banks in Driving Economic Growth' with Shri Sushil Muhnot, Chairman & Man-

aging Director, Bank of Maharashtra

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

20.

21.

22.

23.

24.

25.

26.

12.06.2015

13.06.2015

15.06.2015

24.06.2015

24.06.2015

08.07.2015

11.07.2015

14.07.2015

15.07.2015

08.08.2015

12.08.2015

17.08.2015

19.08.2015



Interactive Session on 'Facilitating India-Vietnam Trade' with H.E. Mr. Ton Sinh Thanh, Ambassador, Embassy of the Socialist

Republic of Vietnam.

Session with Dr. Achyuta Samanta, Founder and Mentor, KIIT University and KISS, Bhubaneswar

Special Session on ‘Business Opportunities in Start-up Companies’ – A MCCI-NASSCOM Initiative

MCCI Debate on ‘eRetail Vs Brick and Mortar Retail’

Interactive Session on ‘Internet of Things (IoT)’

MCCI –MLF Divine Session with His Holiness Morari Bapu,Renowned Exponent of Ram Charit Manas

Interactive Session with A 7-Member Business Delegation from Taiwan

Interactive Session on 'Indo-German Trade Growth' with Mr. Olaf Iversen, Consul General, Federal Republic of Germany in

Kolkata

Interactive Session on 'SXC Vision 2020' with Rev. Fr. Dr. J. Felix Raj, S.J., Principal, St. Xavier's College, Kolkata and Shri R.S. Agarwal and Shri R.S. Goenka Joint Chairmen, Emami

Group of CompaniesSession on ‘Strengthening Communication Linkages in India –

Road Ahead’

114th Annual Session

Interactive Session on India-Philippines Bi-lateral Trade with H.E. Maria Teresita C. Daza, Ambassador of the Republic of

Philippines to India

114th Annual General Meeting

Special Session on 'Enhancing Connectivity across Eastern India – Key to Economic Growth' with Shri Nitin Gadkari, Hon’ble Minister of Road Transport, Highway and Shipping,

Govt of India

27.

28.

29.

30.

31.

32.

33.

34.

35.

36.

37.

38.

39.

40.

26.08.2015

03.09.2015

11.9.2015

21.9.2015

28.9.2015

4.10.2015

9.10.2015

13.10.2015

28.10.2015

31.10.2015

7.11.2015

7.11.2015

23.11.2015

1.12.2015



Interactive Session on Telecom Revolution in India - Vision 2020 with Shri R.S. Sharma, Chairman, Telecom Regulatory

Authority of India

Interactive Session on Power Procurement through Open Access in West Bengal

Interactive Session with Shri Manik Sarkar, Hon'ble Chief Minister of Tripura

Interactive Session on 'Status of the Indian Economy - Opportunities for accelerated growth' with Dr. Chandan Mitra,

M.P., Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce.

Interactive Session on ‘Department’s Perspective on Issues on Service Tax Compliance’ with Shri S K Panda, Chief Commis-

sioner of Service Tax, Kolkata Zone

Interactive Session on 'Exploring Opportunities : India-Kazakhstan Bilateral Trade' with H.E. Mr. Bulat Sarsenbayev,

Ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan to India.

Interactive Session with Shri Ashish Kumar Goel, General Manager, South Eastern Railway

Interactive Session on ‘Doing Business with Vietnam’

Interactive Session on 'Income Tax Settlement Commission-Provisions & Procedures'

Interactive Session on 'Brainstorming Session on GST'

Interactive Session on ‘Doing Business with Senegal’

Interactive Session on ‘India-Egypt Economic Bilateral Relations and Trade, Services & Investment opportunities’

Interactive Session with H.E. Mr. Niankoro Yeah Samake, Ambassador of the Republic of Mali

Interactive Session on ‘Doing Business with Turkey’

Education Summit on ‘Restructuring Education to Generate Employment & Higher Economic Growth’

41.

42.

43.

44.

45.

46.

47.

48.

49.

50.

51.

52.

53.

54.

55.

3.12.2015

15.12.2015

31.12.2015

13.1.2016

15.1.2015

18.1.2016

19.1.2016

25.1.2016

4.2.2016

5.2.2016

12.2.2016

16.2.2016

17.2.2016

18.2.2.16

24.2.2016



Interactive Session on ‘Doing Business with Czech Republic’

Symposium on The Union Budget, 2016-17

Awareness Session on Lean Manufacturing Competitiveness Scheme for MSMEs

Interactive Session with H.E. Mr. Petko Doykov, Ambassador of the Republic of Bulgaria to India

Interactive Session with Shri K. Sanath Kumar, CMD, National Insurance Company Limited

56.

57.

58.

59.

60.

25.2.2016

1.3.2016

9.3.2016

11.3.2016

16.3.2016



PAST PRESIDENTS* Shri Nanakram Sureka 1901-1920* Shri Tejpat Sanganeria 1921-1923* Shri Sadaram Kheria 1924-1936* Shri Radhakishan Sanganeria 1937-1947* Shri Gajanand Himatsingka 1948-1949* Shri Baijnath Sanganeria 1950* Shri Dharamchand Saraogi 1951* Shri Chouthmal Saraf 1952-1957* Shri Sawalram Goenka 1958-1960* Shri Beniprasad Dalmia 1961-1965* Shri Bhagwati Prasad Agarwala 1966-1967* Shri Bijay Singh Kothari 1968-1969* Shri Shree Niwas Dalmia 1970-1971 Shri Atmaram Kanoria 1972-1973 Shri Bijoy Kumar Swaika 1974-1975* Shri Doongar Mal Kothari 1976-1977 Shri Atmaram Sonthalia 1978* Shri Madan Lal Saraf 1979 Shri Hira Lall Somany 1980 & 1981 Shri Bimal Kumar Jhajharia 1982 & 1983 Shri Shyam Sunder Sanganeria 1984 Shri Mahesh Chandra Shah 1985 Shri Radhe Shyam Bhartia 1986 Shri Purushottam Das Tulsyan 1987-88 & 1988-89 Shri Amitav Kothari 1989-90 Shri Chandra Kumar Somany 1990-91 Shri Arun Kumar Churiwal 1991-1992 Shri Jay Prakash Tantia 1992-1993 Shri Suresh Jhunjhunwala 1993-1994 Shri Radhe Shyam Agarwal 1994-1995 Shri Sheo Shankar Bagaria 1995-96 & 1996-97 Shri Birendra Agarwal 1997-1998 Shri Ajay Kumar Kajaria 1998-1999 Shri Ravi Todi 1999-2000



Shri Sushil Dhandhania 2000-2001 Shri Sunil Kanoria 2001-02 & 2002-03 Shri Kunj Bihari Agarwala 2003-2004 Shri Aditya Vardhan Agarwal 2004-2005 Shri Santosh Saraf 2005-06 & 2006-07 Shri Atul Churiwal 2007-08 Shri Anupam Shah 2008-09 Shri Shyam Sundar Beriwala 2009-10 Shri Sudesh Sonthalia 2010-11 Shri Manish Goenka 2011-12 Shri Deepak Jalan 2012-13 Shri Sanjay Agarwal 2013-14 Shri Arun Kr. Saraf 2014-15* Since deceased