Dr. Ajay Kumar, Secretary Defence Production, met with AMCHAM’s Defense Committee members at his office. Key points of discussion were offsets, strategic partnerships, increase in ease of doing business and DTTI. The AMCHAM team was led by Mr. Phil Shaw, Chairman – Defense Committee and NEB Member, AMCHAM and Chief Executive, Lockheed Martin India and Mr. Michael Koch, Co-Chairman – Defense Committee, AMCHAM and Vice President – South Asia, International Business Development, Boeing International Corporation. The forum is working on reverting to him with position papers for submission on the points discussed.

On 26th February 2018, members of AMCHAM’s Medical Devices Committee and Pharmaceuticals Committee met with Mr. Darrel Ching, Principal Commercial Officer, U.S. Embassy. The meeting was held at the Boston Scientific office in Gurgaon and chaired by Mr. Prabal Chakraborty, Chairman – Medical Devices Committee, AMCHAM and Vice President and Managing Director, Boston Scientific India.

The objective of the meeting was to brief Embassy officials on the recent developments in the medical devices and pharmaceuticals sectors and to get their guidance on the way forward. Members of the medical devices industry highlighted some of the challenges in terms of the recent decision by the Government of India on capping of the price of coronary stents and further reducing the prices of drug eluting stents. Other issues included the public procurement order and trade margin rationalization implementation. Industry also mentioned how new product launches and bringing innovative technologies to India could suffer. From the pharma side, the issues highlighted included patent linkages and price controls. Members also suggested to work with the government and advocate for implementation of the new pharmaceuticals policy and Universal Code for Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices (UCPMP).

Mr. Darrel Ching made a presentation on the advocacy by the Commercial Section of the Embassy and encouraged members to take their support for advocacy. He also informed that all the companies are going through a tough period and the Embassy had recently convened a roundtable involving other Embassies to find areas of common concerns.

On 23rd February 2018, the Annual Day of AMCHAM’s Hyderabad Chapter commenced with a welcome dance by the team from DST Worldwide services. This was followed by Dr. Kiranmai Pendyala, Chairperson – Hyderabad Chapter, AMCHAM, giving the welcome address and an overview of the activities of AMCHAM during the past year. She encouraged members to be actively involved in AMCHAM activities. Consul General Katherine Hadda, U.S. Consulate Hyderabad, spoke on the warm relationship between AMCHAM and the Consulate and also the strengthening of Indo – U.S. ties. Ms. Suchitra and Dr. Krishna Ella spoke on their journey in healthcare.

The winners and runners up of the various sporting events held during the period September 2017 to January 2018 received prizes from guests – Dr. Suchitra, Dr. Krishna Ella and Mr. Nimmagada Prasad. Mr. Shashi Reddy, Vice Chairman – Hyderabad Chapter, AMCHAM, thanked all the sponsors and the employees of the member companies (DST, CDK, AMD, SumTotal and Synchrony) for such wonderful performances. The evening concluded with a band performance by Synchrony Financial.

On February 21st 2018, a Defense Committee meeting was held at the BAE Systems India office. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Phil Shaw, Chairman – Defense Committee, AMCHAM and Chief Executive, Lockheed Martin India and Mr. Michael Koch, Co-Chairman – Defense Committee, AMCHAM and Vice President – South Asia, International Business Development, Boeing International Corporation.

Members were briefed on the meetings with Mr. Rajib Kumar Sen, Economic Advisor and In-Charge DOMW and Mr. Apurva Chandra, DG (Acquisition), MoD. Members discussed issues to be raised in the upcoming meeting with Secretary Defence Production, Mr. Ajay Kumar. Increase in ease of doing business, strategic partnerships and offsets were a few topics that were finalized and discussed at length.

On Tuesday, 20th February 2018, on the occasion of Magnetic Maharashtra Convergence 2018: Global Investor Summit, AMCHAM in partnership with the U.S. Consulate General Mumbai, organized a ‘U.S. – India Trade Roundtable’ chaired by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Mr. Devendra Fadnavis and U.S. Consul General Edgard D. Kagan.

The 40 member delegation of U.S. companies was led by Consul General Edgard D Kagan. CG Kagan began his welcome remarks by congratulating the Hon’ble CM on the successful launch of Magnetic Maharashtra! He thanked CM Fadnavis on the opportunity and complimented him on his promising interactions with U.S. companies which provided a platform to learn of the state government’s vision, policy and projects as well as share issues/challenges and success stories of U.S. companies operating in the state. This address was followed by introductory remarks by Mr. Arun Kumar, Vice Chairman – AMCHAM and Chairman and CEO, KPMG in India, Mr. Mahesh Krishnamurti, Chairman – Western Region, AMCHAM and Managing Director, RGP and Mr. Pradeep Lankapalli, Managing Director, South Asia, Thomson Reuters. Senior leaders of Jacobs Engineering India Pvt. Ltd., John Deere India Pvt. Ltd., Citibank, Kimberly-Clark Hygiene Products Pvt. Ltd., Ecolab and Corning India, addressed the Hon’ble Chief Minister by sharing their specific industry issues, suggestions on ease of doing business, as well as success stories of their experience in Maharashtra.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis began his address by welcoming the U.S. Consulate and U.S. industry. Through his address he stated that the Government of Maharashtra engages dynamically and progressively across industries. Acknowledging the inputs shared by the industry, he stated that the issues brought forth are not just of the individual company but of the industrial and business ecosystem as a whole and will be actioned upon by his team. The interactive and engaging session concluded with Consul General Kagan thanking the Chief Minister and U.S. industry representatives.

Mr. Debdas Sen, Chairman – Eastern Region, AMCHAM, chaired the Executive Committee meeting on February 20th, 2018 in Kolkata. The focus of the meeting was forthcoming events through April 2018. He also updated members on events that the region had hosted or participated in since the last meeting held in November 2017. He said the region had done a record number of high level focused events and that all the events were very well attended. He mentioned the signature event on inclusive growth with the former President of India, Dr. Pranab Mukherjee, Annual Get-Together where a number of IAS officers and IPS officers attended provided members an opportunity to interactive with government officials in a social setting, the Bengal Global Business Summit and U.S. Ambassadors interactive session with AMCHAM members, in partnership with BCCI, which received wide media coverage. He also updated members on the session AMCHAM organized in partnership with the ICT Division of the Government of Bangladesh on February 15th, 2018. He said that this was the first time that the region had hosted an event of this nature and said that member companies who participated found it very helpful and useful. The ‘On the Spot Budget Analysis 2018’ was also held.