The Anti-Corruption & FCPA Compliance Committee, on November 30th, organized a hybrid committee meeting at Honeywell’s office in Gurugram. Ms. Komple Sharma, Director, AMCHAM, welcomed participants. Mr. Gaurav Ajmani, Chairperson – Anti-Corruption & FCPA Compliance Committee, AMCHAM and Associate General Counsel, Business Conduct & Ethics, Amazon Seller Services (P) Ltd. and Ms. Bhawna A. Ranganadhan, Co-Chairperson – Anti-Corruption & FCPA Compliance Committee, AMCHAM and Sr. VP & Deputy General Counsel, Legal Compliance, Genpact gave opening remarks and set the scene for the meeting. It was followed by a presentation on the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023, an overview and its impact on businesses, by Mr. Nitin Shah, Partner – Digital Consulting, KPMG in India. The presentation covered the act’s journey from 2017 till date, definitions and scope of key stakeholders, evolved role of a data principal, penalties to data principal, legal grounds of processing data, impact of DPDPA on investigations, data breach and obligations and rights of a data fiduciary, amongst others.

AMCHAM’ Hyderabad Chapter Sports 2023 commenced on September 16th in Hyderabad with 24 member companies participating in the 11 disciplines of cricket, basketball, football, throwball, volleyball, badminton, table tennis, tennis, carom, chess and athletics. The games are scheduled to go on until December 17th. Wells Fargo emerged the winner of basketball with ADP as runner-up. Wells Fargo was the winner of volleyball with AMD as runner-up. For throwball, Providence emerged as the winner with AMD as runner-up. In football, ADP was the winner while Synchrony was the runner-up. The other sports activities would be held across November and December.

AMCHAM conducted a virtual meeting on November 16th on the current issues affecting the IT industry. Members discussed several critical points related to the tech industry. The Import Authorization System faced issues with clarity, raising concerns about its impact on the industry. Questions were posed about the lack of industry consultations, the specifics of restrictions, and the identification of the nodal department. The geopolitical landscape also brought attention the worries of cloud companies about infrastructure gaps as a result of procurement policies affecting operational continuity. The industry expressed its scepticism about relying on the Data Protection Act, and concerns emerged over Non-Personal Data Governance, particularly regarding requests for personal data from consultancies and big tech. The looming Digital India Act, anticipated in January or February 2024, was highlighted as a potential development in the near future.

AMCHAM’s Eastern Region Executive Committee held their 4th meeting on November 16th in Kolkata. The meeting was hosted by Mr. Atanu Mukherjee, Chairman – Eastern Region, AMCHAM. With the unfortunate passing earlier this year of esteemed member Mr. Sudipta Sen, President and Head of India, TCG Digital Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Mr. Debjyoti Gupta, Chief Technology Officer, TCG Digital Solutions Pvt. Ltd. was welcomed to the Eastern Region Executive Committee in his place. Discussions focused on finalizing a few forthcoming interventions and strategies on how to enhance the visibility of AMCHAM in the region. Members shared the following themes as focus areas — application of AI in different sectors, digital carbon footprints and diversity and inclusion. On December 6th, the Eastern Region would hold a roundtable discussion on the application of OpenAI in the education sector, in collaboration with the Higher Education Department, Government of West Bengal with Mr. Larry Nelson, GM Education Asia, Microsoft as the keynote speaker at the session. AMCHAM would be planning other sessions on digital carbon footprints and D&I. The meeting concluded with thanks to the Chair.

Under AMCHAM’s Infrastructure and Smarts Cities Committee, the Data Centres Working Group held a meeting on November 16th virtually. Mr. Rajesh Dhar, Chairman – Infrastructure and Smarts Cities Committee, AMCHAM welcomed members. Mr. Vivek Dahiya, Managing Director, Head – Data Centre Advisory Team, Asia Pacific, Cushman & Wakefield enumerated the focus of the working group and the way forward.

AMCHAM organized a virtual interaction with members from the Electronics Manufacturing Committee and ICT Committee on IPEF with Mr. Jonathan Heimer, Honorary National Executive Board Member, AMCHAM and Minister Counselor for Commercial Affairs, U.S. Embassy on November 7th. AMCHAM had previously created a position paper on IPEF Pillar 2 and Pillar 3 recommendations for the Government of India. Mr. Naveen Tandon, Co-Chairman – Electronics Manufacturing Committee, AMCHAM and Head, Policy & Strategy, Apple led discussions which centered on fostering sustainable development through the IPEF agreement. Mr. Jonathan Heimer expressed gratitude for AMCHAM’s initiative and informed that the recommendations have been shared with the U.S. Department of Commerce head office in DC. AMCHAM shared that while the Government of India has yet to formally respond to the recommendations, they have been received and accepted by Ministry officials.