With the health sector identified as a thrust area under the project boosting Uttar Pradesh’s economy to USD 1 trillion in the next 5 years and given the fact that UP is one of the largest consuming markets in India, AMCHAM organized an interactive session with government officials from Uttar Pradesh on January 25th to enhance health outcomes and attract investment in healthcare. Mr. Umang Chaturvedi, Chairman – Pharma Committee, AMCHAM and Head of Policy & International Affairs, Mylan, chaired the meeting. Key policymakers from the Government of UP included Mr. Alok Kumar, Principal Secretary – Department of Medical Education, Mr. Ravinder, Secretary – Department of Health and Family Welfare, Ms. Sangeetha Singh, CEO – Ayushman Bharat, UP, and Dr. G.N. Singh, Advisor. Members from MSD, India Medtronic, Boston Scientific, Baxter, Johnson & Johnson, and GE Healthcare shared their experience and perspectives and sought some clarification on market access to advanced technologies, investment environment for manufacturing and R&D, training and reskilling of healthcare professionals and partnering to develop health infrastructure. Almost 37 members participated this meeting. The team from Deloitte India, set the context during the session.

Officials requested American healthcare tech companies to plan for investment in UP in partnership and collaboration with the government. Proposed investment through standalone PPP model, specialized centres for cancer, technology enabled skilling, huge need of paramedical, nursing and doctors, state of the art institute and stimulators, training of manpower, value based procurement, accessibility and availability of pharmaceutical products, etc. were discussed. Deloitte would work with AMCHAM in identifying the top 10 disruptive ideas the members can take forward. Industry members were invited to attend the state investment summit scheduled for February 2023.

AMCHAM’s CSR Committee organized the 6th CSR Conference themed ‘The Future is Here: The Role of CSR in the New World’ on January 24th in New Delhi. The conference showcased best practices and explored deeper collaboration with all stakeholders in the CSR ecosystem. Ms. Ranjana Khanna, Director General CEO, AMCHAM, in her welcome remarks, emphasized the longstanding commitment of U.S. companies to CSR and shared about AMCHAM’s recently launched Public Health Working Group, in collaboration with USAID. Mr. Harish Krishnan, Chairman – CSR Committee, AMCHAM and Managing Director & Chief Policy Officer, Cisco Systems, India & SAARC set the scene for the conference by outlining the sessions and talked about the impact CSR has on society, effects of rapid digitalization and the need to scale up government collaborations for success. In the inaugural address, Mr. Praveen Kumar, Director General & CEO, Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs shared the rationale behind the requirement for corporate to spend 2% of profits on CSR and how CSR has become an effective tool for achieving SDGs targets. He talked about the importance of innovation, how CSR must be integrated in a company’s core business philosophy and the Ministry of Corporate Affairs’ National CSR Exchange Portal.

Ms. Veena Reddy, Mission Director, USAID/India, in a special address, commended the speedy response of U.S. companies during the COVID crisis, shared examples of contributions of AMCHAM members and announced that AMCHAM and USAID were expanding the existing MOU to include areas of collaboration in environment, financial inclusion, mitigating climate change, etc.  AMCHAM and USAID signed an updated MOU (view more details here). In a special address, Mr. Dominic Scott, Vice President, Government Affairs & Strategy, Asia-Pacific, Cisco Systems shared how globalization has spurred on the realization that corporates must be genuine partners in their local communities and encouraged organizations to consider creative ideas for solving new age challenges. He shared examples of the work that Cisco does through education and skilling, economic empowerment and meeting critical human needs. Mr. Ankur Malhotra, Co-Chairman – CSR Committee, AMCHAM and Director – Corporate Affairs & CSR, Hewlett Packard Enterprise India, complimented the Indian government on widening the CSR scope and pointed out the importance of collaboration between companies for greater social impact.

Session 1: Future of Work – The Role of CSR was moderated by Mr. Srikrishna Sridhar Murthy (Krishna), CEO and Co-Founder, Sattva with Mr. Jaidev Murti, Managing Director, Accenture, Mr. Pranav Choudhary, COO, Dr. Reddy’s Foundation, Ms. Anubhuti Kaul Bhrany, Senior Director and Head – Government Affairs, India, Flex and Mr. Ashutosh Chadha, Director and Country Head Public Policy and Government Affairs, Microsoft. The discussion focused on long term sustainable skilling approaches, challenges to diversifying portfolios, leveraging volunteerism to enable last mile impact, the need to measure the larger economic impact of the skill gap and the role and evolution of technology in skilling.

Session 2: Opportunities for CSR in Urbanization was moderated by Ms. Aarti Mohan, Co-Founder and Partner, Sattva with Ms. Simran Thapar, Associate Director Human Resources, Carrier Airconditioning & Refrigeration Ltd., Mr. Srikanth Viswanathan, Chief Executive Officer, Janaagraha Centre for Citizenship and Democracy, Ms. Kanika Sabherwal, Company Secretary & Assistant Finance Manager, Smiths Detection Systems and Mr. Srinivas Ramanujam, Chief Executive Officer, Villgro. The session tackled challenges created by rapid urbanization, how governments recognize the need for partnering with private sector to provide basic amenities and infrastructure, challenges to investing CSR funds into cities, how vital it is to partner with municipalities, ways to enable more focus on urban solid waste management and urban affordable housing through CSR and allocating resources for system level change.

Session 3: The Role of Digital Platforms and Their Impact on the Social Sector was moderated by Mr. Manohar Sreekanth, Partner and CTO, Sattva with Ms. Rohini Kamath, Manager, India Cash Grant Program, Cisco India, Ms. Dipakshi Mehandru, Director, Government Affairs & Public Policy, Dell Technologies India, Ms. Kriti Mittal, Entrepreneur in Residence, Omidyar Network India and Mr. Satyam Gambhir, Co-Founder, Platform Commons. The discussion provided an overview of the digital public good landscape, funding trends, future needs, importance of regulation, governance dimensions of digital platforms and the need for public-private partnerships towards co-creating and co-funding.

Session 4: Next-Gen CSR Approaches to Adopt and Scale Innovations for Public Health Outcomes was moderated by Mr. Rohit Sahani, Partner, Social Impact Practice, BCG India with Dr. Namita Singh MD, Associate Director, Medical Affairs & Global Public Health, India/South Asia, BD, Mr. Nrip Nihalani, Director – Product Management, Plus91 Technologies, Ms. Tanu Arora, Sr. Regional Counsel, Sr. Director, Government Affairs, CSR Lead, Stryker India and Ms. Sangita Patel, Director, Health Office, USAID/India. The session explored where private sectors capabilities, assets and resources could be leveraged to bolster India’s public healthcare system. Ways for private sector capital to be mobilized towards public health via CSR, skilling of frontline healthcare workers, collaborative models to amplify CSR and the importance of trust, open communication and co-creation amongst all stakeholders was also discussed. An overview of AMCHAM’s Public Sector Working Group was shared.

The conference concluded with thoughts for the way forward from Mr. Ankur Malhotra, Co-Chairman – CSR Committee, AMCHAM and Ms. Meera Harish, Partner, Sattva. The importance of innovation, collaboration, and ability to prioritize and act quickly were emphasized. AMCHAM would work towards enabling a matchmaking system for civil society partners and corporates through presentations from organizations pitching their innovative CSR ideas and a compendium. Ms. Valerie Swope, Program Coordinator, AMCHAM emceed the event and closed the conference by thanking the esteemed speakers, engaging audience and valuable partners for the conference: Cisco (platinum partner), Viatris (platinum partner) and Sattva (knowledge partner).

AMCHAM, in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA), organized a two day master class on ‘Compliance for Global Companies in India’ on January 19th & 20th at Hotel Pullman, New Delhi. Dr. Niraj Gupta, Program Director, IICA welcomed participants. Mr. Praveen Kumar, DG & CEO, IICA, in his inaugural address, spoke about the compliance environment in India and enumerated the initiatives undertaken by the Government of India. He highlighted how the increased use of technology has helped in reducing frauds. Ms. Ranjana Khanna, Director General CEO, AMCHAM gave the program overview and stressed on the importance of compliance in organizations. Mr. Gaurav Ajmani, Chairman – Anti-Corruption & FCPA Compliance Committee, AMCHAM and Associate General Counsel, Business Conduct & Ethics, Amazon Seller Services explained the more about the committee and spoke on the importance of ethics and compliance. Day 1 covered an overview of structure and functioning of foreign companies in India, corporate compliances on financial statements and audit of accounts, compliance under Foreign Exchange Management Act 1999, SEBI LODR provisions related to UPSI/disclosure/insider trading and a brief on intellectual property rights, regulatory framework on POCA: anti-corruption enforcement and the role of investigative agencies in India, a case study approach. Day 2 covered regulatory framework on transfer pricing, direct and indirect tax, compliance under environmental laws, compliance on section 135 (corporate social responsibility), compliances related to board of directors and key managerial personnel and liabilities for non-compliances: key provisions and offenses and penalties. The master class ended with a certificate distribution ceremony.

AMCHAM Defense Committee members called upon Mr. T. Natarajan, Additional Secretary Defence Production, Ministry of Defence, Government of India on January 18th at his office in South Block, Ministry of Defence, New Delhi. Ms. Udaya Arun, Director – Aerospace & Defense, AMCHAM welcomed the Additional Secretary and briefly introduced AMCHAM while highlighting its activities across sectors with a focus on the robust aerospace and defense sectors. Mr. William Blair, Chairman – Defense Committee, AMCHAM and Chief Executive India, Lockheed Martin India presented the AMCHAM – KPMG report ‘Indo-US Defence Partnership, The Road Ahead’ to the Additional Secretary and shared highlights of the report. Members emphasized the presence of the U.S. defense industry in India and discussed challenges on co-development and co-production, new opportunities with Indian multi role helicopters, need for streamlining the valuation of transfer of technology credits and on building a mutually beneficial intellectual property program. A larger group meeting in coming months was proposed.

On January 17th, a meeting of AMCHAM’s Supply Chain and Logistics Committee was held in hybrid mode at the UPS Express office in Mumbai. The meeting commenced with opening remarks by Ms. Iram Siddique, Regional Director – Western Region, AMCHAM India. Through his welcome address, Mr. Praveen Gosain, Chairman – Supply Chain & Logistics Committee, AMCHAM and Director (Supply Chain India), Corning Technologies India briefly summarized the discussions held in the last committee meeting and the sessions that have been covered in the past year. He also highlighted the focus areas to be covered in the coming two months and invited suggestions from members to ideate on topics that would be of interest to them in 2023. During the discussion, members opined the need to have a session on Free Trade Agreement (FTAs), a representation to the government for effective implementation of the National Logistics Policy, risk management in supply chain and ESG. The meeting was concluded with closing remark from Mr. Praveen Gosain.

AMCHAM’s Defense Committee met on January 17th in New Delhi. The main topic of deliberation was Aero India 2023. Ms. Udaya Arun, Director – Aerospace & Defense, AMCHAM open the meeting with an update on recent interactions with USA pavilion organizers and shared details on the U.S. government officials expected to be at the show while the confirmed list from ODC was awaited. The committee was informed about multiple Team USA events planned on the side lines. Mr. William Blair, Chairman – Defense Committee, AMCHAM and Chief Executive India, Lockheed Martin India, Mr. Ravi Nirgudkar, Co-Chairman – Defense Committee, Managing Director – India, BAE Systems and Mr. Surendra Ahuja, Co-Chairman – Defense Committee, and Managing Director – India, Boeing India shared their thoughts and views on the events during the show. The committee deliberated on agenda points that could be presented to Mr. T. Natarajan, Additional Secretary Defence Production, Ministry of Defence for the upcoming meeting. Mr. Gaurav Mehndiratta, Co-Chairman – Defense Committee AMCHAM and Partner and Head – Aerospace & Defense, KPMG shared details on his earlier engagement with the Additional Secretary and supported the proposed approach with the focus on highlighting the aerospace and defense industry in India and future course of action.