AMCHAM’s Tamil Nadu Chapter organized a meeting on demystifying ESG on March 30th in Chennai. The meeting commenced with Mr. Rajan Aiyer, Chairman – Tamil Nadu Chapter, AMCHAM making opening remarks wherein he said that environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing refers to a set of standards for a company’s behavior used by socially conscious investors to screen potential investments and for businesses to do the right things to stay focussed on the three pillars of ESG. Environmental criteria consider how a company safeguards the environment, including corporate policies addressing climate change, for example. Successful businesses focus on three core essentials: people, process, and product. He emphasized that ESG frameworks were important to sustainable investing because they can help individuals or other corporations determine whether the company is in alignment with their values, as well as analyze the ultimate worth of a company for their purposes. The 5 main benefits for a business include: ESG offers a competitive advantage; attracts investors and lenders; improves financial performance; builds customer loyalty and makes company operations sustainable.

Mr. Sandeep Mohanty, Partner, PwC, through a presentation spoke about how ESG was a business imperative and how it helps in futureproofing the business. He elaborated on the evolution of sustainability focus and described the key milestones and motivation. He mentioned the three main thrust areas of the environmental pillar were climate change, pollution and waste, biodiversity and resource utilization. The next was the social pillar which encompassed human capital, social capital and market stakeholders. The governance pillar included independence/governance and ethical behavior. Mr. Mohanty shared about the status of ESG in major countries around the world including India. He said that governments were coming out with enablers while regulators were tightening compliance requirements and broke it down to two sub areas of essential indicators and leadership indicators. He added that climate-related physical and transition risks both affect performance and have financial implications. He spoke about how businesses can solve societal issues and that globally investors were adopting responsible investment principles. He emphasized that “a comprehensive, transformational ESG journey can unlock significant value.” The other areas he explained were material issues impacting business, material topics identification based on stakeholders expectation, an integrated ESG journey for future strategy, implementation and reporting.

The next speaker, Mr. Arun Rajagopalan, Partner, PwC, spoke on the reporting landscape and ESG ratings. He took members through the whole gamut of navigating the various compliances and frameworks in ESG reporting. He said that it was a continuously evolving ESG reporting ecosystem and gave an overview of the common ESG reporting agencies. He then dwelt on the framework and guidance for sustainability disclosures, industry focussed reporting requirements, business responsibility and sustainability reporting and gave examples of how this is being managed in the USA and India. He explained why ESG disclosures should be independently assured and what it means for business and stakeholders. He mentioned the commonly used assurance frameworks such as the International Standard on Assurance Engagements (ISAE) 3000, the ISAE 3410 which was released by the International Auditing and Assurance Board and the Standard on Sustainability Assurance Engagements (SSAE 3000) from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India. Within the non-financial information, the two levels were limited assurance and reasonable assurance. He mentioned that there are over 800 professionals in PwC engaged in ESG reporting work. The meeting came to an end with a Q&A segment. Mr. Rajan Aiyer summed up the session and made closing remarks.

AMCHAM, under the aegis of its HR Committee, organized the Future of Work conference on March 17th, 2023 in Gurugram. The conference began with Ms. Ranjana Khanna, Director General CEO, AMCHAM welcoming speakers and participants. She spoke about the theme – the 3C’s of change, collaboration, culture and how it addresses the twin challenge of transitioning into the hybrid world while maintaining culture. She also mentioned ‘challenge’ as the fourth C especially in the prevailing uncertain and dynamic environment. In her opening remarks, Dr. Kiranmai Pendyala, Co-Chairperson – HR Committee, AMCHAM and Human Resources – Corporate Vice President, India Technology Center, UPS, explained how change, collaboration and culture influenced by challenge define an organization’s overall environment. In the present times it is imperative for organizations to learn continuously, collaborate internally and compete externally. Mr. Philip D. Wilson, Senior Human Resources Officer, U.S. Embassy gave the special address. He complimented AMCHAM for selecting the theme at a very important juncture in time. He gave an overview of the U.S.-India relations and how its critical in promoting peace and prosperity in the region and rest of the world. He touched upon the HR regulatory framework followed at the Embassy and explained how telework has become an important aspect of their jobs.

Panel Discussion I: Hybrid Model Engagement in a Tech Enabled World had Dr. Kiranmai Pendyala, Co-Chairperson – HR Committee, AMCHAM and Human Resources Corporate Vice President, India Technology Center, UPS, Ms. Meenakshi Prabhakar, Director of Human Resources, Hyatt Regency, Dr. Rajita Singh, Chief People Officer, Kyndryl and Mr. Rajesh Varghese, Country Director, India, Pyxera Global as panelists. It was moderated by Mr. Vinay Arora, Senior Director, Head of Operations – Gurugram & Noida, S&P Global. The panel discussed WFH strategies, use of technology in the hybrid scenario, hybrid work transition process, challenges for the hospitality industry, employee engagement post COVID, gig economy, etc.

Panel Discussion II: D&I: Building an Inclusive Ecosystem was moderated by Mr. Apurv Amanesh, Director – North & East, SHRM India with panelists Ms. Shailja Palta, Employee Relations & Policies Director, Accenture India, Mr. Samrat Sarkar, Director – Human Resources, Boston Scientific India, Ms. Nishi Kulshreshtha Chaturvedi, VP, Human Resources, Coca-Cola India Pvt. Ltd. and Mr. Gaurav Dang, Vice President, Finance – Asia, Valvoline Lubricants. The panel shared their experiences and initiatives around D&I and how to foster a culture of diversity while creating more opportunities for inclusive growth. Speakers agreed the integration of DEI with business would bring an overall change in the ecosystem.

Dr. Kiranmai Pendyala, Co-Chairperson – HR Committee, AMCHAM and Human Resources Corporate Vice President, India Technology Center, UPS moderated the Panel Discussion III: From Moon Shots to Moonlighting. The speakers included Mr. Amit Vadera, Managing Director, Protiviti and Ms. Pooja Ramchandani, Partner (Corporate – Labour & Employment), Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co. The panel deliberated upon the concept of dual employment, triggers behind it, organizational response, legal opinion, remedial measure and case studies.

Panel Discussion IV: Building Leadership Capabilities and Pipeline featured speakers Ms. Minhye Seo, Director, Human Resources, South Asia, BD, Mr. Abhishek Misra, Head – Human Resources – India, Rockwell Automation and Mr. Raman Ahuja, Senior Director, S&P Global with moderation by Mr. Nishith Upadhyaya, Senior Director – Knowledge & Advisory Services, SHRM India, MENA & APAC. The session focussed on building sustainable leadership pipelines, succession planning, leadership styles, skilling and best practices.

As a prelude to the conference, AMCHAM invited entries for championing change and building culture under the individual category and best practices on organizational HR initiatives under the team category. The entries were judged on content, creativity and relevance. Under the individual category, Ms. Shalini S K, People Team South Asia, Synopsys India Pvt. Ltd. won. Under the team category, Cargill was the winner and R1RCM was the runner up. The conference was supported by S&P Global, Western Digital, Shardul Amarchand Mangaldas & Co. and PepsiCo.

On March 14th, AMCHAM’s Karnataka Chapter members from Wipro GE met with Ms. Gunjan Krishna Commissioner for Industrial Development & Director of Industries and Commerce, Government of Karnataka, at her office in Bengaluru. Key points related to ease of doing business and challenges were discussed during the course of the meeting.

AMCHAM organized a hybrid interaction with Mr. Nelson Cunningham, Vice Chair and Co-Founder, McLarty Associates on the U.S.-India partnership on March 13th at the Lockheed Martin office in New Delhi. Ms. Ranjana Khanna, Director General CEO, AMCHAM opened the meeting and introduced the speaker highlighting his rich experience in Washington. In his opening remarks, Mr. Partha Roy Chowdhury, Commercial Lead India, Lockheed Martin shared about the importance and success of the defense sector in the bilateral partnership. Mr. Nelson Cunningham, Vice Chair and Co-Founder, McLarty Associates gave an overview of the U.S.-India relationship and emphasized its durable framework and consistency despite very different Presidents and Prime Ministers over the last 2 decades. He talked about the bipartisan support in Washington on China and how India was a geopolitical anchor. Mr. Salil Gupte, Immediate Past Chairman, AMCHAM and President, Boeing India moderated Q&A with participants on various topics, including defense co-development, trade agreements, vibrancy of the QUAD, Russian, WTO and the Senate process for an Ambassador confirmation, among others.

A meeting of the Electronics Manufacturing Committee was held virtually on March 10th under the leadership of Mr. Naveen Tandon, Co-Chairman – Electronics Manufacturing Committee, AMCHAM and Head – Policy & Strategy, Apple India. Members discussed issues of concern including ease of doing business, taxation, enhancing the global value chain for telecom product companies, telecom security testing and education and skill development for electronics systems and manufacturing. After discussion, it was decided to take up the issues with relevant government departments.