The first meeting of AMCHAM’s Manufacturing Committee under the chairmanship of Mr. Sanjay Koul, Chairman & Managing Director, Timken India Limited and co-chairmanship of Mr. Amit Bansal, Managing Director, Corning India, was held on 25th September at the BAE Systems (India) office in New Delhi. Ms. Ranjana Khanna, Director General CEO, AMCHAM, welcomed members and introduced the chairmen. Mr. Sanjay Koul gave a brief overview of the history of the committee. He stressed the importance of having a manufacturing committee meeting in different states to be able to meet with the government secretariats in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka, so that the AMCHAM manufacturing brand could be more identifiable. Mr. Amit Bansal emphasized that manufacturing is obviously a key focus for India with the ‘Make in India’ campaign, especially considering the economy is going downhill and the government is eyeing a stimulus package. As AMCHAM, it is an opportunity to tap into the stimulus and give inputs that American companies think would be good for India.

The committee prepared a presentation for the interaction with Secretary, DIPP and decided to create four sub groups to advocate for issues/challenges in the following areas: (1) Director General Foreign Trade (2) Public Procurement Policy (3) Pollution Control Board and (4) BIS. The committee also decided to have monthly conference calls and quarterly face to face meetings. The next meeting would take place in Chennai. The manufacturing committee brainstormed about organizing a half day program on manufacturing with key government stakeholders in January 2018.