Breakfast Meeting on the Changing Landscape on Accounting for Leases 24th July 2018

American Chamber of Commerce in India
Apex Chamber of US Industry in India

Breakfast Meeting on the Changing Landscape on Accounting for Leases – 24th July 2018

AMCHAM’s Tamil Nadu Chapter breakfast meeting for July was held on the 24th in Chennai on the ‘Changing Landscape on Accounting for Leases’ featuring guest speaker Mr. Sandip Khetan, Partner, Assurance – EY. Mr. Sandip Khetan set the context for the meeting by saying that the international statutory bodies responsible for financial accounting have decided to put the leash on leasing. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India recently issued a new accounting standard – IndAS 19 on leases. The EY presentation detailed the various challenges and solutions in the new accounting standards that must be followed. The new leasing standards will pose a number of challenges for businesses with a substantial number of operating leases even before the effective date.

IFRS 16 – leases (applicable from January 1st, 2019) will change the accounting treatment of leases significantly and will require lessees to recognize assets and liabilities for most leases on their balance sheet at present value of lease payments. This will result in higher EITDA as the lease expense will now be split as amortization and interest cost in the statement of profit and loss.

The key challenge for lessees will be identifying all the lease arrangements that exist and gathering all the required data to get the leases to the balance sheet. The new standard will affect many activities across the organization like procurement, IT, internal audit and finance functions. Since inventory of all leases has to be created on transition, significant changes to systems and processes may be required. There are some impacts which cannot be quantified yet like changes to the tax treatment of leases until the tax department comes up with regulatory guidance.

The new lease standard under US GAAP (ASC 842) is also applicable from January 1st, 2019 for public business entities (January 1st, 2020 for other entities). The ‘Day 1’ accounting for leases under US GAAP (ASC 842 – Leases) is similar to IFRS 16 where most of the leases are recognised in the balance sheet. However, there are significant differences in ‘Day 2’ accounting. The major difference is that under ASC 842, lessee is still required to classify the leases as either operating lease or finance lease and the operating leases expense will continue to be straight lined in the income statement.

In a nutshell, the above changes will pose a significant challenge for companies reporting under both IFRS and US GAAP. In summing up, it is important for all corporate business houses to first get an inventory of all leases that they have, both financial leases and operating leases. This would be the first step and this is the biggest challenge. The meeting came to an end with an interactive session with all the participants.

Membership

By joining AMCHAM India, you become part of an active and dynamic Apex Chamber of U.S. Industry in India with a membership base of more than 400 American companies in India. AMCHAM is an important voice for policy advocacy, a critical source for business intelligence, a vibrant platform for networking and expanding your business.

Farewell to Captain Ogden, Chief, Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC), U.S. Embassy 29th June 2018

American Chamber of Commerce in India
Apex Chamber of US Industry in India

Farewell to Captain Ogden, Chief, Office of Defense Cooperation (ODC), U.S. Embassy – 29th June 2018

AMCHAM hosted a farewell get together for Captain Robert Ogden, Chief, Office of Defense Co-operation, U.S. Embassy and LCDR Jonathan Lohn, Office of Defense Co-operation, U.S. Embassy on 29th June 2018 in New Delhi. Many Defense Committee members were present to thank them for their support to AMCHAM during their posting in New Delhi and wish them the best for their future assignments.

Membership

By joining AMCHAM India, you become part of an active and dynamic Apex Chamber of U.S. Industry in India with a membership base of more than 400 American companies in India. AMCHAM is an important voice for policy advocacy, a critical source for business intelligence, a vibrant platform for networking and expanding your business.

Session on Immigration Laws with Deloitte 27th June 2018

American Chamber of Commerce in India
Apex Chamber of US Industry in India

Session on Immigration Laws with Deloitte -27th June 2018

The Hyderabad Chapter organized a session on immigration law with Deloitte at Westin Hyderabad on June 27th, 2018. Mr. Prakash Bodla, Vice Chairman – Hyderabad Chapter, AMCHAM, from UTC, welcomed the gathering and thanked Deloitte for hosting. Mr. Sethuraman Sudhakar of Deloitte Chennai, kicked off the session by running through the inbound Immigration laws, taxation, PF and the FRRO formalities. Later, Ratna and Ali touched on per diem and the taxation on the same for employees on outbound travel and what expenses can be claimed. The session concluded with a time of networking over high tea. The session concluded with a time of networking over high tea.

Membership

By joining AMCHAM India, you become part of an active and dynamic Apex Chamber of U.S. Industry in India with a membership base of more than 400 American companies in India. AMCHAM is an important voice for policy advocacy, a critical source for business intelligence, a vibrant platform for networking and expanding your business.

6th AMCHAM Healthcare Conference Committee Meeting 27th June 2018

American Chamber of Commerce in India
Apex Chamber of US Industry in India

6th AMCHAM Healthcare Conference Committee Meeting – 27th June 2018

The committee meeting was held at the office of West Pharma in Begumpet. The group discussed at length the panelists and key speakers. The theme of the conference would be ‘Changing Landscape in Healthcare: Challenges and Opportunities.’ The conference would be held on September 28th, 2018 at Ballroom, Westin Hyderabad.

Membership

By joining AMCHAM India, you become part of an active and dynamic Apex Chamber of U.S. Industry in India with a membership base of more than 400 American companies in India. AMCHAM is an important voice for policy advocacy, a critical source for business intelligence, a vibrant platform for networking and expanding your business.

Farewell Breakfast and Interactive Session with U.S. Consul General Craig Hall 26th June 2018

American Chamber of Commerce in India
Apex Chamber of US Industry in India

Farewell Breakfast and Interactive Session with U.S. Consul General Craig Hall – 26th June 2018

On June 26th, AMCHAM’s Eastern Region organized a farewell breakfast and interactive session followed by a fireside chat with the U.S. Consul General Craig Hall and Chairman – Eastern Region, AMCHAM, Mr. Debdas Sen on ‘U.S. – India Relations.’ Mr. Debdas Sen opened the session by speaking about the Consul General’s tenure in Kolkata and the region and asked him about his first impressions of Kolkata, his involvement with the city and its culture, and the CSR activity of the U.S. Consulate. Consul General Hall mentioned that the city and its people was one of the culturally richest and most diverse place he had been assigned to, that the warmth and affection he and his family received was unparalleled to any place he had served in.

He mentioned his interaction with the West Bengal Government was very good and always found them very helpful to work with. Apart from working with American business community he praised the work AMCHAM members were doing, not only in the region, but also pan India. He highlighted the work that the Consulate did touching upon the human rights and human trafficking that so many NGO’s were working on within the city. He spoke about the awareness programs with the LGBT community, amongst other programs, and cultural events that the U.S. Consulate was involved with. During the Q&A session he touched upon the much debated U.S. administration’s trade policy, regional conflicts and a host of varied questions.

Ms. Amada Kidwai, Regional Director – Eastern Region, AMCHAM, welcomed members and invited Mr. Gulshan Sachdev, NEB Member, AMCHAM, to give the welcome remarks. Mr. Surajit Banerjee, Mr. K.P. Sengupta and Mr. Dinesh Agarwal former Chairman – Eastern Region, AMCHAM, shared their experience of interaction with Consul General Hall. Mr. Ranjan Nandi, Executive Member – Eastern Region, gave the concluding remarks and thanked the Consul General for his support by participating in all AMCHAM’s initiatives and events in Kolkata.

Membership

By joining AMCHAM India, you become part of an active and dynamic Apex Chamber of U.S. Industry in India with a membership base of more than 400 American companies in India. AMCHAM is an important voice for policy advocacy, a critical source for business intelligence, a vibrant platform for networking and expanding your business.

Pharmaceuticals Core Committee Meeting 22nd June 2018

American Chamber of Commerce in India
Apex Chamber of US Industry in India

Pharmaceuticals Core Committee Meeting – 22nd June 2018

The core committee of AMCHAM’s Pharmaceuticals Committee met on 22nd June 2018 in the Johnson and Johnson office in Mumbai. The meeting was chaired by Mr. Sanjiv Navangul, Chairman – Pharmaceuticals Committee, AMCHAM and Managing Director, Janssen India. The meeting was attended by Ms. Jyotsna Ghoshal, Co-Chair – Pharmaceuticals Committee, AMCHAM and Executive Director – Public Policy and Corporate Affairs, MSD and Ms. Priya Hingorani, Vice President, Janssen.

The objective of the meeting was to brainstorm the issues/agenda to be taken up through AMCHAM in the coming year. The group deliberated the need to utilize the AMCHAM platform more effectively and discussed ways to make it more active. One of the primary action items was to work on increasing membership and participation in meetings. The committee would organize a brainstorming session with a larger group of members in July.

Membership

By joining AMCHAM India, you become part of an active and dynamic Apex Chamber of U.S. Industry in India with a membership base of more than 400 American companies in India. AMCHAM is an important voice for policy advocacy, a critical source for business intelligence, a vibrant platform for networking and expanding your business.