AMCHAM, in partnership with United Way Bengaluru, organized a vaccination drive on June 30th with vaccines supported by Swagelok, Opteamix, Radancy, Saggezza and CH Robinson. Over 600 people from underprivileged communities in Bengaluru were vaccinated.

On June 29th, AMCHAM organized a second interaction with Ambassador Arun Singh, Member, National Security Advisory Board (NSAB), PMO, Government of India, on High Technology. Ms. Ranjana Khanna, Director General CEO, AMCHAM, welcomed Ambassador Singh and other participants including Mr. Som Satsangi, Chairman – ICT Committee, AMCHAM and Managing Director, Hewlett – Packard Enterprise India, Mr. Amrit Deo Singh, Chairman – Cyber Security Committee, AMCHAM and Senior Managing Director, FTI Consulting, Mr. Ambrish Bakaya, Chairman – Infrastructure and Smart Cities Committee, AMCHAM and Director, Corporate Affairs, India, Hewlett-Packard India, Mr. Harish Krishnan, Chairman – CSR Committee, AMCHAM and Managing Director, Public Affairs & Strategic Engagements, India & SAARC, Cisco, Mr. KPM Das, National Cyber Security Officer, Cisco, Mr. Vivek Vasishtha, Executive Director & Country Leader – IBM India, Mr. Ripu Bajwa, Director & General Manager, Data Protection Solutions, India, Dell Technologies, Mr. Tabrez Ahmad, Group Director Government Affairs & Public Policy, Dell Technologies, Mr. Vivek Abraham, Regional Director, External Strategy, Salesforce – India and South Asia, Mr. Osamazaid Rahman, Associate Director, Government Relations, Honeywell, and Mr. Ankur Malhotra, Head, Corporate Affairs & CSR, Hewlett Packard Enterprise India. The meeting objective was to design a blueprint for recommendations in the U.S.-India partnership in high technology.

Ambassador Arun Singh said that emerging technologies such as quantum computing, cyber security, 5G-6G communications, biotechnology and space sciences own humongous opportunities in the U.S.-India partnership in high technology. He emphasized the revival of the High-Technology Cooperation Group (HTCG) was vital. Members highlighted that India is a brain of all the emerging technologies (AI, ML, 5G, quantum computing etc.) and R&Ds and operations of these technologies were happening in India. Trusted technology as key for all new technologies and creation of a capacity institutional mechanism was critically important. Some of the points of discussion included the need of skilling of cyber security professionals, how academia has to play a dominant role in India to achieve the next level of technological growth and with the right skill setups India can deep dive into quantum computing. The importance of designing a roadmap for fighting new and emerging cyber threats in the coming future, challenges in the public procurement portal, the lack of data storage causing challenges regarding digital infrastructure and how government structure for joint task force with industries must be encouraged, was discussed. Commercial and strategic operations in the U.S.-India cyber security collaborations, the importance of manufacturing supply chain networks in India and QUAD activities between both governments were mentioned. Ms. Ranjana Khanna, in her concluding remarks, mentioned that there were huge opportunities in emerging technologies that should be explored and utilized in the U.S.-India high technology space.

AMCHAM’s Karnataka Chapter held an Executive Committee meeting on June 25th. The focus of the discussion was Karnataka Chapter membership and updates on various AMCHAM activities during the recent lockdown. Discussions on engagement with the U.S. Consulate Chennai and the Government of Karnataka were discussed, along with organizing a knowledge sharing session on the ‘New Workplace – The Future of Work in Flexible Workspaces.’ The meeting was attended by members of the Executive Committee in Karnataka and another meeting was scheduled for mid July.

On 24th June, the Cyber Security Committee organized a meeting to introduce the new Secretariat lead for the committee. Ms. Ranjana Khanna, Director General CEO, AMCHAM, welcomed participants and introduced Mr. Sagar Raj Upadhyay, Manager, AMCHAM. Participants in the meeting included: Mr. Amrit Singh Deo, Chairman – Cyber Security Committee, AMCHAM and Managing Director, FTI, Mr. Kishore Balaji, Co-Chairman – Cyber Security Committee, AMCHAM and Director – Public Policy & Government Relations, Intel Technology India Pvt. Ltd., Mr. Ripu Bajwa, Director & General Manager, Data Protection Solutions, India, Dell Technologies, Mr. Vishak Raman, Director – Security Business India & SAARC, Cisco India and Ms. Udaya Arun, Director – Aerospace & Defense, AMCHAM. A roadmap for the committee and burning issues were discussed. Mr. Singh emphasized that a robust policy framework for cyber security and cyber security in critical infrastructure remains the need of the hour. Mr. Balaji stated that vulnerabilities/cyber threats of small medium businesses (SMB) were in dire states and needed to be addressed promptly and sincerely. Mr. Bajwa mentioned that with remote working and free innovations, data security has been compromised. Mr. Raman, in his deliberations, mentioned that there are ample frame work models to address cyber security concerns holistically, but the challenges remain with adoption by the organization, compatibility and simplicity of the frameworks. Ms. Khanna, in her concluding remarks, highlighted the key areas of concerns as financial sector, critical infrastructure and remote working conditions.

AMCHAM’s CSR Committee, in association with Sattva Consulting, hosted a webinar on June 21st to address some of these frequently asked questions. Ms. Ranjana Khanna, Director General CEO, AMCHAM welcomed participants and Mr. Harish Krishnan, Chairman – CSR Committee, AMCHAM and Managing Director, Public Affairs & Strategic Engagement, India & SAARC, Cisco Systems India, in his opening remarks mentioned the importance of vaccination and advocating for COVID appropriate behaviors. He acknowledged the work U.S. companies have been engaged in during the pandemic and touched upon the administrative procedures that the amendments have brought about regarding monitoring and implementation of projects.

The panel of experts included Mr. Jay Badola, Partner, Dua Associates, Mr. Nikhil Pant, Former Member of Ministry of Corporate Affairs (who played a key role in the formulation and nation-wide rollout of the CSR Law 2013) and Mr. Bobbymon George, Lead – Impact Measurement and Advisory, Sattva. The session was effortlessly moderated by Mr. Srikrishna Sridhar Murthy, CEO and Co-Founder, Sattva. With compliance and impact now linked, the discussion focused mainly on impact assessment and the panel addressed ambiguities around what can be included in the administrative budget cap, the applicability of the amendments, excessive and future CSR spend, the concept of ongoing projects, donations, annual action plans, definition of employee, postponement of projects due to COIVD, expansion of a company’s CSR Committee roles and capital assets, among others. The webinar had 70 participants and included a live Q&A portion. The session concluded with a vote of thanks from AMCHAM to the speakers for sharing their valuable expertise.

AMCHAM, in partnership with United Way Bengaluru, organized a vaccination drive for First American on June 21st-22nd. AMCHAM, in partnership with United Way Bengaluru, organized a vaccination drive sponsored by First American under the Vaccinate & Donate initiative where underprivileged communities of urban Bengaluru were vaccinated. Over 2,000 people were vaccinated through this initiative over two days.