Industry Briefing Post U.S.- India ICT Dialogue – 30th October 2019

A briefing with AMCHAM members post the U.S.- India ICT Dialogue (held on October 1st) was organized on October 30th at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi with Mr. Rob Garverick, Honorary USG Co-Chair ICT and Cyber Security Committees, AMCHAM and Minister Counselor for Economic Affairs and Environment, Science and Technology, U.S. Embassy. Mr. Som Satsangi, Chairman – ICT Committee, AMCHAM and Mr. Deepak Maheshwari, Chairman – Cyber Security Committee, AMCHAM, were present.

Mr. Rob Garverick provided inputs from the G2G meeting between the U.S. and Indian government and mentioned thematic areas such as cyber security, implementation of the Cloud Act and MLATs. For ICT, issues such as data localization were discussed, the committee thereby suggested to reach out to the standing committee of Data Privacy and suggest to meet the industry representatives for their inputs. Other topics such as 5G, capacity building initiatives, H1B visas, implementation of AI and IoT in India, were discussed. Mr. Garverick also mentioned that the Indian government would promote local R&D to promote innovation and development in India, such as creation of domestic AI centres. Mr. Som Satsangi raised the point of IP in India and it was decided that the issue would be raised during the committee meeting and the U.S. government would take it up during their G2G meetings. Mr. Deepak Maheshwari spoke of India’s stand at the UNGGE and other international forums for cyber security.

Interaction with Ms. Ellen Lord, Under Secretary of Defense (Acquisition & Sustainment), U.S. Department of Defense – 24th October 2019

AMCHAM’s Defense Committee members met with Ms. Ellen Lord, Under Secretary Defense, U.S. Department of Defense for an interaction on October 24th prior to the 9th U.S.-India Defence Technologies and Trade Initiative (DTTI) group meeting. It was encouraging to hear the commitment from the U.S. to strengthen its partnership with India while furthering military-to-military relationships and cooperation and the level of excitement on the prospects of the bilateral defense trade between the two countries expected to reach USD 18 billion by the year end from zero in 2008. The Strategic Trade Authority-1 status granted by the U.S. government helps U.S. companies to export a greater range of dual-use and high end technology items to India while providing India with greater supply chain efficiency leading to advancing the shared vision for the Indo-Pacific with defense rightfully becoming the most important segment of the U.S.-India business partnership. Ms. Ranjana Khanna, Director General CEO, AMCHAM, opened up the session followed by comments from Mr. Phil Shaw, Chairman, AMCHAM and National Executive, Lockheed Martin India. The opening remarks were given by Mr. Michael Koch, Chairman – Defense Committee, AMCHAM and Vice President – India, Boeing Defense, Space and Security, followed by special remarks from USD Lord, while the summing up of the session and closing remarks were given by Mr. Nik Khanna, Co-Chairman – Defense Committee, AMCHAM and Managing Director – India, BAE Systems.

Karnataka Chapter Executive Committee Farewell for Mr. Naresh Shah and Mr. Paresh Shah – 18th October 2019

AMCHAM’s Karnataka Chapter Executive Committee hosted a farewell dinner for Mr. Naresh Shah, Former President R&D at Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Mr. Paresh Shah, Former Director at Syniverse Technologies, as they stepped down from their posts as Executive Committee members of the Karnataka Chapter. The dinner was hosted by venue partner Conrad Bengaluru on Oct 18th.

Karnataka Chapter CEO Breakfast Series – New Business Models in Water as part of ‘Water Matters’ – 18th October 2019

AMCHAM’ Karnataka Chapter hosted the 7th edition of the monthly CEO breakfast mornings on October 18th, in partnership with the U.S. Consulate Chennai as part of the series titled ‘Water Matters.’ Water Matters is a collaborative project of the U.S. Consulate General Chennai, Care Earth Trust, the Smithsonian Institute and the Science Gallery, Bengaluru. The project aims to utilize different mediums to educate, advocate and support South India in addressing water challenges.

As part of the project, a session was held exclusively for AMCHAM member companies in Bengaluru where eminent speakers, Dr. Sudhir Murthy CEO, NewHub and Mr. Mehul Patel, Executive Director Operations, Orange County Water District, addressed the need for large corporations to develop fundamentally new approaches for transactions in water within operations, engineering and finance, thus meeting water quality targets. The session focussed on more intelligent approaches to directly connect water management practice to prosperity and was a futuristic view presented to businesses operating in Bengaluru. The event was well attended with representation from companies like U.S. Technology Solutions, IBM, Accenture, Nike, GE and others.

Signature Lecture Series: Insights on Advance Pricing Agreement (APA) Programs in India and the U.S. with Mr. Steven Wrappe, National Technical Leader, Transfer Pricing, Grant Thornton and Ms. Fatima Hunaid, Partner – Tax, Grant Thornton India LLP – 17th October 2019

Multinational companies doing business in India have for years faced extraordinary levels of transfer pricing litigation and controversies regarding cross border transactions between related parties. India’s tax administration launched an APA program in 2012, which has till date concluded 297 APAs, including 32 bilateral APAs with taxpayers from multiple industries. AMCHAM’s Karnataka Chapter, in partnership with Grant Thornton, on October 17th, as part of AMCHAM’s Signature Lecture Series, hosted guest speakers from Grant Thornton, Mr. Steve Wrappe, National Transfer Pricing Technical Leader and Ms. Fatima Junaid, Partner – Tax, to talk to AMCHAM member companies about the Advanced Pricing Agreement and how it impacts American companies doing business in India. Attendees were from MOOG, Synopsys, CBRE, Bank of America, High Peaks Software and others.

AMCHAM – ORF Roundtable on U.S.-India Defense Cooperation – 16th October 2019

AMCHAM and ORF jointly organized a roundtable on U.S.-India defense cooperation. The aim of the interaction was candid sharing of information and thoughts amongst officials from the Indian government, U.S. government, representatives of the armed forces, AMCHAM members and academia. The discussion focused on the upcoming dialogue at the next Defense Trade and Technology Initiative (DTTI) meeting to be held in the coming week. Roundtable participants discussed the bilateral defence trade relationship and deliberated how more opportunities for co-production and co-development of defence equipment could be created.

Mr. Sanjay Jaju, Joint Secretary (DIP), Ministry of Defence, Government of India, RDML Eileen H. Laubacher, Defense Attaché, U.S. Embassy, CAPT Daniel E. Fillion, Chief, Office of Defense Cooperation, U.S. Embassy, AVM Vikram Singh, Assistant Chief of Air Staff, Projects, Maj Gen A. K. Channan, ADG Army Design Bureau, Rear Admiral Sanjay Vatsayan, ACNS Perspective Planning, members of the National Security Council Secretariat and U.S. defense industry participants were present in the deliberations. Mr. Phil Shaw, Chairman, AMCHAM and Mr. Michael Koch, Chairman – Defense Committee, AMCHAM and Vice President, Boeing Defense, Space and Security, made remarks on behalf of the U.S. defense industry and highlighted the OEM perspective recommending win-win proposals for the overall success of DTTI for both government and industry. Mr. Sunjoy Joshi, Chairman, ORF, initiated the discussions by briefly outlining the U.S.-India defense relationship and Dr. Raji Rajagopalan, Distinguished Fellow, ORF, moderated the discussions.