AMCHAM’s U.S.-India Travel & Tourism Working Group hosted an interaction with Mr. Philip Lovas, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Travel and Tourism, U.S. Department of Commerce, during his visit to Bengaluru on February 26th. The objective of the interaction was to have Mr. Lovas understand the Indian travel market for outbound travel to the U.S., consumer behaviour, issues and challenges faced by travel buyers and travellers from India to the U.S. Mr. Lovas also provided insights on the U.S. side of the travel and tourism partnership between the U.S. and India. The meeting was attended by companies like Hyatt, American Airlines, Fragomen, Marriott and others.

The Government has issued relevant notifications for the introduction of e-invoicing, which makes e-invoicing mandatory from April 1st, 2020 in respect of B2B transactions for any assessee whose turnover exceeds INR 100 crore and for B2C transactions for any assessee whose turnover exceeds INR 500 crore. This has a far-reaching impact for all businesses in excess of the turnover of INR 100 crore, irrespective of the sector in which the business operates.

This session comprised of KPMG senior indirect tax specialists who shared their insights on the implications of e-invoicing requirements and what U.S. businesses need to do to comply with these requirements followed by a live demo of how IRN/QR code shall be generated. AMCHAM partnered with KPMG to organize a session for member companies at the KPMG office on February 26th in Bengaluru. The session was attended by companies like MOOG, Accenture, Swagelok, Grant Thornton, GE and others.

AMCHAM’s Defense Committee leadership and senior defense committee members called upon Secretary Defence Production, Mr. Raj Kumar, at his office on February 26th. The Secretary shared his vision with the team on issues ranging from offsets (credits and multipliers), procurement and banking. The team offered to submit detailed notes on our recommendations for the department’s consideration.

On February 28th, AMCHAM’s Eastern Region hosted two sessions in Kolkata. In session 1 on the U.S. Department of State Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC), U.S. Consul General Patti Hoffman, U.S. Consulate Kolkata was the chief guest. CG Hoffman, in her opening remarks spoke about the value of OSAC to American business overseas highlighting its global reach for security professionals worldwide. She encouraged American businesses in Kolkata to become members of OSAC so that they could get the benefits of membership and receive the security updates issued by the U.S. government. The Regional Security Officer, Mr. Patrick Bashor, gave a presentation on OSCA. He mentioned that the U.S. Consulate was setting up a regional council in eastern India to service American business in the region and emphasized the need for companies to register. Mr. Subrata Bagchi, Chairman – Easter Region, AMCHAM and President, TCG Digital, gave the welcome address and Regional Director – Eastern Region, AMCHAM, Ms. Amada Director did the introductions.

Session 2 was themed ‘The Future of AI’ being such a pertinent topic in today’s world when man and machine confluence is no longer an imagination but a reality. Some of the eminent researchers and practitioners in the field of AI participated in the discussion: Dr. Sandipan Sarkar, Distinguished Engineer, IBM, Dr. Arpan Pal, Chief Scientist, TCS, Dr. Utpal Garain, Prof., Indian Statistical Institute, and Mr. Prasun Nandy, Partner and AI Leader, PwC. The speakers debated on the mindset of the organizations in India towards AI from the perspective of adoption, performance and risks. The discussions dove into the details of the current areas of AI application, the need for integration of machines/IoT to feed data, the necessity to develop technologies becoming less hungry for data and resources and finally a reality check on the journey of AI to its nirvana stage of ‘General Intelligence.’

During the Q&A session, some of the following questions were discussed: What drives us towards AI? Is it the pursuit of happiness? Is it the quest for immortality? How our relationship will change with machines as they become more intelligent? Would they ever be true sentient beings? Overall, the session had a great take away for all attendees in the field of AI, with a request from members to do a full day session on AI. Mr. K.P. Sengupta, Executive Committee Member – Eastern Region, AMCHAM and Co-Chairman, Data Core Systems, gave the concluding remarks and vote of thanks.

AMCHAM’s Karnataka Chapter partnered with member organization ChildFund India for a child led protection initiative under Khilta Bachpan campaign on Tuesday February 25th in Bengaluru. The child-led child protection initiative envisages empowering and educating children to keep themselves safe and defend their rights. CSR leads from member companies attended this event such as First American, Aryaka Networks and others.

To welcome U.S. President Donald Trump’s visit to India, AMCHAM in association with Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) organized a brainstorming session on the U.S.-India economic partnership on February 25th in New Delhi. The panel included Mr. Sanjay Chadha, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, Mr. Atul Dhawan, Honorary Secretary & Treasurer, AMCHAM and Partner, Deloitte, Prof. Anwarul Hoda, Chair Professor of ICRIER’s Trade Policy and WTO Research Program, Dr. Arpita Mukherjee, Professor, ICRIER and Ms. Ranjana Khanna, Director General CEO, AMCHAM. Dr. Rajat Kathuria, Director and Chief Executive, ICRIER was the moderator for the discussion.