Roundtable Discussion on GST – 19th December 2016

The AmCham Eastern Region and their knowledge partner, EY, hosted a roundtable discussion on GST at TCG office in Kolkata.

Mr. Dinesh Agarwal and Mr. Sidhartha Jain, Partners and Vijay Chhangani, Sr. Manager, attended the event from EY. Partners from EY updated the participants about the recent developments on the GST front and further steps for introduction of GST in India, which is expected to go live in second/third quarter of the coming year 2017. Various provisions of the revised model GST law, which has been issued by the government in the month of November 2016, and the proposed mechanism of tax credit ailment under the GST regime was also discussed, along with implications of the same on industry.

The interactive session generated a lot of queries which were explained in detail by the EY team. The session concluded with a vote of thanks by Mr. Joydeep Bhattacharya, COO, TCG Digital, who suggested that as the law is evolving and GST is going to be a reality in the coming year 2017, more interaction on GST is important and would be helpful for members to understand the implications and impact of the same on their respective businesses.

Defense Committee Meeting – 16th December 2016

AMCHAM’s Defense Committee members met on 16th December in New Delhi to finalize the documents on the “ease of doing business” in defense and “Make in India” in defense. The committee decided to quickly submit to the Hon’ble Raksha Mantri, Ministry of Defence, its recommendations on the strategic partner chapter of the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP). The committee also felt that it should leverage the very active AMCHAM Tax & Tariff Committee platform to submit issues relating to GST and customs to the Ministry of Finance.

Interactive Session with Richard Pearson, Business Development Officer for Asia at the Export-Import Bank of the United States – 16th December 2016

An interactive session was hosted by AMCHAM Eastern Region with Mr. Richard Pearson, Asia Officer for the Export Import Bank of the U.S. on 16th December in Kolkata. He was accompanied by Mr. Jonathan Ward and Mr. Arup Mitra from the U.S. Commercial Service in Kolkata. Mr. Pearson explained in detail the functioning of the bank and said that the bank stands as a guarantor for lenders who take an exposure on the borrower. There was a lively question and answer session and Mr. Pearson very clearly answered the questions raised.

Karnataka Chapter Members Dinner – 11th December 2016

AmCham’s Karnataka Chapter celebrated the chamber’s 25th anniversary with a dinner for CEOs of top U.S. companies on 11th December at the Ritz Carlton Ballroom. Heads of GE, Northern Trust, 3M, Saggezza, PwC, IBM, Adobe, Nike, HP, Goldman Sachs, Novell, UTC, Tyco, and EY were present on the occasion.

The Chairman of AmCham’s Karnataka Chapter and Managing Director of Synopsis India, Dr. Pradip Dutta, welcomed the attendees. Mr. Sonam Wangchuk (inspiration for the movie 3 Idiots) gave a speech on his work in the remote hill region of Laddakh. He talked on out-of-box CSR where money is not important. Vice Chairman of the Chapter and Managing Director of Saggezza India, Mr. Iqbal Sait, concluded with a vote of thanks.

The evening was sponsored by Saggezza India, Emirates, Paul John Whiskies and Big Banyan Wines. There were a host of games and prizes distributed. The highlight was a draw for an Emirates business class ticket to Dubai.

Annual Christmas Ball 2016 – 10th December 2016

AmCham organized its Annual Christmas Ball on 10^th December 2016 in New Delhi. Ms. MaryKay L. Carlson, Deputy Chief of Mission, U.S. Embassy, was the chief guest. The other senior Indian and U.S. Government officials who attended the Christmas Ball included Mr. Arun K. Singh, former Indian Ambassador to the U.S., Mr. Raghav Chandra, Secretary, National Commission for Scheduled Tribes, Mr. Rajiv Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, Mr. George Sibley, Minister Counselor for Economic, Environment, Science and Technology Affairs, U.S. Embassy, Mr. Patrick Santillo, Minister Counselor for Commercial Affairs, U.S. Embassy and Mr. Scott S. Sindelar, Minister Counselor for Agricultural Affairs, U.S. Embassy.

Mr. Pratyush Kumar, Chairman, AmCham and President, Boeing India, welcomed the participants and wished them Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. AmCham members, with their spouses, attended the fun filled evening. The Christmas Ball was sponsored by a large number of AmCham members.

Panel Discussion on the Impact of Demonetization on U.S. Investment – 9th December 2016

A panel discussion on the Impact of demonetization on U.S. investment was held on 9th December in Kolkata. The panelists were Mr. Roopen Roy, Ex – MD, Deloitte Touche, Dr. Bhaskar Banerjee, Ex – Senior MD, Duncan Group, Mr. Pallab Gupta, Head Taxation, ITC and Professor Alok Ray of IIM Kolkata. The panelists discussed various issues that has arisen from demonetization and the impact on the economy, the benefits of the country moving towards a “less cash” economy, the short and long term impact on growth and taxation. Mr. Joyeep Dutta Gupta acted as the moderator. The question and answer session was lively. The meeting was well attended.