AMCHAM’s Tamil Nadu Chapter organized a breakfast meeting on ‘Reimagining the Future of Airports – Modernization of Chennai Airport’ with Dr. Sharad Kumar, Director, Chennai Airport on December 29th in Chennai. Mr. Rajan Aiyer, Chairman – Tamil Nadu Chapter, AMCHAM welcomed members and introduced the speaker. The presentation highlighted some of the constraints of the Chennai airport such as the pandemic situations space, land constraints, air space congestion, sustainability and how the pandemic caused many airlines to shut down operations. The Chennai airport is sandwiched between the railway track and the GST road on the eastern side, the defense land on the western and southern side and the Adyar river on the west. The airspace constraints are due to the proximity of the Indian Air Force station in Tambaram, the Coast Guard that operates within the airport on the northern end and the Naval base at Arakonam.

The Airport Authority is making plans to overcome these constraints by enhancing the passenger experience through self bag drop counters, biometric identity management and baggage drop off kiosks. These would lead to check in bags from numerous remote locations, wayfinding mobile apps, and an app that would allow passengers to make in-flight food, beverage, and entertainment purchases. This would result in reducing or eliminating human-to-human contact. The contactless journey is key to restoring passenger confidence and fueling a quick resurgence in air travel, all possible with existing technology.

Making the most of airport infrastructure through multiple aircraft ramp system and by demolishing the old buildings and rebuilding with underground and overground space to keep the height restrictions thus reimagining infrastructure in the airport. It’s also possible to become a leader in airport sustainability by a provision of sufficient daylight using skylight and glass façade, provision of sewage treatment plant (STP), landscaping the front part as per GRIHA rating to achieve 4-star rating in 15 acres of exterior landscape to increase the catchment of surface run-off water and use of low-environmental impact and energy efficiency materials in building interiors. On the sustainability front, the airport plans to have RET’s (rapid exit taxiways) and link taxiways – for reducing carbon emissions.

The current airport has a cross runway which cannot be used during cross winds that blow. Only the main runway can be used for wide bodied aircraft and the cross-sectional runway can handle the narrow bodied or small aircraft. This is because the runway is built across the river and there are over 500 obstacles which prevent aircraft from using the entire length of the cross runway. The current handling capacity of the airport is 17 million passengers and with additional improvements it would increase to 35 million passengers.

On the architecture front, the new terminal would imbibe the waves of a Bharatnatyam saree of the dancer and a wave like pattern would adorn the roof. On the airside, the developments would include construction of 3 rapid exit taxiways (RET) and straightening of B-taxiway as parallel taxi track suitable for code – E aircraft, construction of R taxi track left out portion, N taxi track, reconstruction and strengthening of “H” “E” Taxi track and flood mitigation works. The Chennai airport has only 1,350 acres of land while Delhi has 5,000 acres and Bengaluru and Hyderabad have 4,000 acres of land respectively. So, a new airport site has been selected but it is still to be vetted by an external consultant, land is yet to be approved and would commence only by 2025. It would take another 10 years for the airport to be commissioned. The biggest hurdle in airport expansion in India is managing the local population and getting the geological surveys done before the land is acquired.

AMCHAM’s CSR Committee recently launched the Public Health Working Group, in partnership with USAID, which held its first meeting on December 22nd in hybrid mode with in-person participants at the BCG office in Gurugram. The objective of the group is to coordinate capabilities and assets for multiplied public health impact. Ms. Valerie Swope, Program Coordinator, AMCHAM welcomed participants. Mr. Ankur Malhotra, Co-Chairman – CSR Committee, AMCHAM and Director – Corporate Affairs & CSR, Hewlett Packard Enterprise India shared his vision of how corporates can come together to create a tangible impact in the lives of individuals. Mr. Arvind Kumar, Project Manager, Health Office, USAID/India shared an overview of USAID’s work in India over approximately 60 years, highlighting the Corporate TB Pledge and commitment to aiding in addressing public health challenges. Mr. Abhishek Gopalka, Managing Director & Partner, BCG, emphasized that in the new post COVID world there is a greater opportunity to bring the power of the public sector together to enhance public health in India.

Members shared about their past public health engagements and future public health interests. BCG gave a presentation on case studies and potential projects for collaboration. Participants chose to join one of the following breakout sessions for further brainstorming: (1) TB (2) women’s health and (3) continuum of care. Each group discussed synergies in member capabilities and shortlisted projects and innovations to collaborate on. Some of the points deliberated upon included the best geographic areas to focus on, training the trainers, TB screening, digitalization in healthcare, screening tourists in high altitude areas for comorbidities and how frontline workers were key agents of change for providing awareness in women’s health, among others. More than 20 members participated.

AMCHAM’s Agriculture & Food Processing Committee held a virtual committee meeting on December 16th. Mr. Prashant Peres, Chairman – Agriculture & Food Processing Committee, AMCHAM and Managing Director – South Asia, Kellogg’s welcomed members. The committee did a status check on the compendium being prepared on the good work done by agriculture and food processing companies which is themed ‘Kissan to Kitchen: Sustainable Initiatives by Members of AMCHAM’s Agriculture & Food Processing Committee.’ Mr. Mukul Varshney, Co-Chairman – Manufacturing Committee, AMCHAM and R1-Director – Corporate Affairs, Media and Communications – India, Africa, SE Asia, Middle East, Asia Pacific, John Deere shared John Deere’s perspective around a sustainable supply chain – how they built it, challenges, best practices, intra industry integration, etc. The committee decided to conduct the next meeting in person. The meeting concluded with a vote of thanks by the chair.

AMCHAM’s Defense Committee organized a closed-door interaction with Mr. Terence Emmert, Principal Deputy, Deputy Chief Technology Officer for Mission Capabilities, Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, U.S. Department of Defense on December 13th at the Boeing office in New Delhi. Mr. Surendra Ahuja, Co-Chairman – Defense Committee, AMCHAM and Managing Director, Boeing India Defense welcomed participants, gave an overview of the U.S.-India defense partnership and highlighted the Indian government’s emphasis on self-reliance. Mr. Terence Emmert shared about the mission of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Research & Engineering, the commitment from the R&D community and ways to advance the U.S.-India defense partnership through efforts in the Joint Technical Group. There was a candid discussion with members on experiences and challenges to successfully feeding projects into a mechanism for co-development and co-production, positive indigenisation lists, the co-development process, industry trends and specific technology areas such as maritime security that have great potential, among other topics. From the U.S. Department of Defense, Mr. Robert Robinson, Office of Foreign Comparative Testing and Mr. Drew Brammer, Senior International Analyst, International Outreach and Policy, joined the session, along with officials from the Office of Defense Cooperation, U.S. Embassy.

AMCHAM’s Hyderabad Chapter, in association with EY, organized a session on DEI at the office of Carrier Technologies on December 7th in Hyderabad. Mr. Prakash Bodla, Chairman – Hyderabad Chapter, AMCHAM opened the session by welcoming participants and the Consul General. Ms. Jennifer Larson, Consul General, U.S. Consulate General Hyderabad, in her opening address mentioned the importance and relevance of DEI today. Ms. Alpana Dutta, Partner, Workforce Advisory EY & EMEIA Leader – Purpose, Culture and Leadership and Ms. Priyanka Gupta, Director, Workforce Advisory EY, Global Business Services Talent Leader, shared their views. A poll was conducted to check the top three challenges to an inclusive culture that each organization was actively addressing. Ms. Dutta discussed DEI opportunities and challenges that have cropped up with hybrid/remote work systems.

This was followed by a panel discussion with Mr. Deshant Kali, MD, Pepsico, Ms. Sharmila Khan, Director – Country HRBP, Micron Technology, Ms. Vasudha Bommireddy, VP Engineering, Providence India and Mr. Prakash Bodla, MD and VP Engineering, Carrier Technologies India Ltd. Panelists shared how the DEI strategy shifted to adapt to new ways of working and strategies beyond gender but extending to cultural and language barriers. Panelists discussed the unconscious bias that exists and how it needs to be consciously addressed. The key objectives aligned to business, how DEI has become a business imperative more than something that is regulatory or mandatory and how to leverage allyship to build a sustainable culture of DEI were highlighted.

AMCHAM organized a virtual interactive session on cyber security with Mr. G. Narendra Nath, National Security Council Secretariat (NSCS), PMO, Government of India on December 12th. Mr. G. Narendra Nath spoke about the various policy initiatives being undertaken by the government for cyber security. AMCHAM raised industry concerns regarding emerging security threats and suggested strategies to mitigate the same. Speakers included Mr. Bikram Bedi, Chairman – Cyber Security Committee, AMCHAM and Managing Director, Google, Mr. Amrit Deo Singh, Co-Chairman – Cyber Security Committee, AMCHAM and Senior Managing Director, FTI Consulting, Mr. Ripu Bajwa, Co-Chairman – Cyber Security Committee, AMCHAM and Director & General Manager, Dell Technologies, Mr. Harish Krishnan, Managing Director & Chief Policy Officer (India & SAARC), Cisco Systems (India), Mr. Raghavendra B.V., National Head, Cyber Transformation, KPMG, Mr. Sandeep Aurora, Director, Government Affairs & Public Policy, Microsoft India and Ms. Valsa Williams, Industry Consultant.