MERCHANTS’ CHAMBER OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY (Established in 1901)
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE FOR THE YEAR 2016-17
15B, Hemanta Basu Sarani, Kolkata 700001 Tel. : (033) 2248 1502 / 6329 / 3123, 2262 5070 (5 lines) Fax : (033) 2248 8657, Email : [email protected], Website: www.mcciorg.com MERCHANTS’ CHAMBER OF COMMERCE & INDUSTRY 15B, Hemanta Basu Sarani Kolkata 700001
Dated : 28th July, 2017
To ALL MEMBERS,
Dear Members,
The Committee has great pleasure in presenting to you the report of activities for the year ending on 31 March 2017 in terms of Article 34 (C) of the Constitution. The Audited Statement of Accounts and Balance Sheet for the year are also enclosed.
Yours faithfully,
Hemant Bangur President
Ramesh Agarwal Senior Vice President
Vishal Jhajharia Vice President
Surendra Keyal Honorary Secretary
Rajaram Chowdhary Treasurer CONTENTS
Page No.
1. Committee for the year 2016-17 4
2. 115th Annual General Meeting 7
3. Interactive Sessions/Symposia/Workshops 19
4. MCCI Ladies Forum (MLF) 62
5. Other Important Events 67
6. Press Communique 72
7. Representations/Memoranda 78
8. Working of the Standing Committees 83
9. Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) 84
10. Other Activities of the Chamber 88
11. Advisory Council/MCC Foundation/Standing Committees 89
12. Affiliations 101
13. Representatives of the Chamber on Public Bodies 102
14. Meetings held during the year 103
15. Past Presidents 106 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry
MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE FOR THE YEAR 2016 - 17
President : Shri Hemant Bangur Senior Vice President : Shri Ramesh Agarwal Vice President : Shri Vishal Jhajharia Honorary Secretary : Shri Surendra Keyal Treasurer : Shri Rajaram Chowdhary
Hony. Member *Shri H. L. Somany
Trustees Shri A. R. Sonthalia : Shri B. K. Jhajharia Shri R. S. Agarwal : Shri Shrawan Kumar Todi
Past Presidents *Shri B. K. Swaika : Shri S. S. Sanganeria Shri M. C. Shah : Shri Amitav Kothari Shri Arun Kumar Churiwal : Shri Suresh Jhunjhunwala Shri S. S. Bagaria : Shri Birendra Agarwal Shri Ajay Kajaria : Shri Ravi Todi Shri Sushil Kumar Dhandhania : Shri Sunil Kanoria Shri K. B. Agarwala : Shri Aditya V. Agarwal Shri Santosh Saraf : Shri Atul Churiwal Shri Anupam Shah : Shri S. S. Beriwala Shri Deepak Jalan : Shri Sanjay Agarwal Shri Arun Kumar Saraf : Shri Manish Goenka Members of the Committee Shri Arun Kumar Agarwal : Shri Bharat Agarwal Shri Bijay Gujarwasia Agarwal : Shri Brij Bhushan Agarwal Shri Bhagwandas Agarwal : Shri Deepak Kumar Agarwal Shri Mahesh Kumar Agarwal : Shri Mahendra Kumar Agarwal Shri Manish Agarwal : Shri Niranjan Kumar Agarwal Shri Pradeep Kumar Agarwal : Shri Rakesh Agarwal Shri Ramesh Kumar Agarwal : Shri Ravi Agarwal
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Shri Sandeep Agarwal : Shri Shyam Agarwal Shri Arvind Agrawal : *Shri G.P. Agrawal Shri Abhishek Bagaria : Shri Surya Prakash Bagla Shri Manish Kumar Baid : Shri Pulkit Baid Shri Santosh Bajaj : Shri Sajan Kumar Bansal Shri Sunil Bansal : Shri Tushar Basu Shri Manoj Kumar Beria : Shri Lalit Beriwala Shri Vishnu Kumar Bhandari : Shri Vijay Singh Bhandari Shri Sanjay Bhalotia : Shri Arun Kumar Bhuwalka Smt. Mamta Binani : Shri Srinjoy Bose Shri Norat Mal Bothra : Shri H.P. Budhia Shri Pulak Chamaria : Shri Ravindra Chamaria Shri Gyanesh Chaudhary : Shri Sudeep Chitlangia Shri Arun Kumar Dalmia : Shri Arpit Dhandhania Shri Kaluram Dhariwal : Shri Kamal Kumar Dugar Shri Tulsi Kumar Dugar : Shri Alok Garodia Shri Devendra Goel : Shri Prahlad Roy Goenka Shri R.S. Goenka : Shri Amit Goenka Shri Girdhari Lal Goenka : Shri Sanjay Goenka Shri Kailash Chand Goyal : Shri Vivek Gupta Shri Chandra Kumar Jain : Shri Ravi Jain Shri Sanjay Jain : Shri Sanjay Kumar Jain Shri Srikant Jain : Shri Aditya Jajodia Shri Ajay Jalan : Shri Munish Jhajharia Shri Arun Kumar Jagtramka : Shri Srivatsa Kajaria Shri Nirmal Kaushik : Shri Bimal Kumar Kejriwal Shri Sharad Kumar Khaitan : Shri Rajendra Khandelwal Shri Manaswy Kothari : Shri Rishabh Kothari Shri Sanjib Kumar Kothari : Shri Smarajit Mitra Shri Banwari Lal Mittal : Shri Rajesh Mittal Shri Krishna Modi : Shri Ravi Modi Shri Prakash Kumar More : Shri Mahesh Pansari Shri Ashok Pareek : Shri Pawan Kumar Patodia Shri Sanjib Kumar Patwari : Shri Lavesh Poddar Shri Rajesh Poddar : Shri Subir Poddar Shri Sushil Poddar : Shri Sanjay Rasiwasia 5 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry
Shri Santosh K. Roongtaa : Shri Rahul Saraf Shri Samir Saraff : Shri Amit Saraogi Shri Neetish Sarda : Shri Sandeep Seksaria Shri Vicky Raj Sikaria : Shri Alkesh Sharma Shri Taranjit Singh : Shri Pradeep Kumar Singhania Shri Akhil Sonthalia : Shri Jyoti Vardhan Sonthalia Shri Kiran Kumar Sonthalia : Shri Sanjay Sureka Shri Rajeev Swaika : Shri Pawan Tibrewalla Shri Ashok Kumar Todi : Shri Pradip Kumar Todi Shri Adarsh Tulshan : Shri Sharad Verma Secretariat Director General : - Dy. Director General : Shri M.C. Das Asst. Director General : Shri S. Roy Asst. Director General : Smt. Munmun Banerjee Deputy Secretary : Shri Rajiv Mukerji Assistant Secretary : Smt. Haimanti Banerjee
* Since deceased
6 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry 115th Annual General Meeting
INAUGURAL SESSION
The 115th Annual Session of the Chamber was held with Shri Piyush Goyal, Hon'ble Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power, Mines, Coal and New & Renewable Energy Sources, Government of India on 02 October 2016 at Taj Bengal, Kolkata.
“MCCI is one the greatest Chambers in the country in terms of depth of leadership”, said the Hon'ble Minister, addressing the members. He mentioned about on the Prime Minister's Vision of sustainable and inclusive development of the economy covering even the poorest of the poor. The Hon'ble Minister was of the opinion that the concepts of National Manufacturing Policy, Energy Security & Energy Independence were absolutely in sync with the Satyagraha Mission of Bapuji. He also drew reference to the 100th birthday of Deen Dayal Upadhayay and Antyodaya Mission concerning financial and other inclusion of the poorest of the poor. He also referred to solar energy driven charkha for indigenous industries.
The Hon'ble Minister charted out the importance of having 1,75,000 Mw of Renewable energy by 2022. He spoke on the commitment to control carbon content on one hand and ensuring 40% of installed capacity through renewable energy by 2030, on the other. He felt that for renewable energy once the overheads were taken care of and capex done, the operating cost would be much less. He felt that renewable energy would be the preferred source, in course of time. Tariff of solar energy was around Rs. 4.5 to 5 per unit, he pointed out. He was hopeful that the state utilities would understand the advantages of renewable energy in the long term to which they would gradually switch over.
Regarding optimal utilization of resources like land and labour, the Minister pointed out that all old power plants had huge land, which could be used more efficiently. He urged on the use of barren and fallow land for setting up renewable power plants and felt that the land owners of such land should come forward for such projects.
Inaccurately set targets for power generation had led the public and the private sector to invest in excess capacity, Shri Goyal remarked. Currently, under NITI Ayog, the states would be empowered to set their own targets instead of the Centre. The focus now would be to increase production and replace imported coal with domestic fuel, he added. On coal auction under the new system, the Hon'ble
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Minister was emphatic that the coal bearing states, including West Bengal would have increased revenue, which could be used for development activities of the States.
Regarding carbon emission, he expressed concern that the capacity of carbon absorption had already been exhausted in the month of August, 2016 five months before the stipulated time. He also informed the members that the Paris Agreement would be signed by India this day only. On energy efficiency, regarding the Ujala (Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All) scheme launched in May 2016 for replacing bulbs by LED bulbs, the figure had crossed 16.7 cr., the target being 77 cr. by 2019, he informed the House.
Dwelling on the perspective on Swachh Bharat Mission initiated by the Prime Minister 2 years back on Mahatma Gandhi's birthday, Shri Goyal requested MCCI to take a prominent role in mobilizing the “Swacchagraha Pledge” amongst its members and the business community in general. He urged all the members to take this Pledge forward using social media. He spoke strongly about the growth potential of West Bengal and assured all help and support to the development process of the eastern region. He felt that it was time to bring back the old glory of Bengal and requested the members of MCCI to be at the forefront of rejuvenation.
Earlier, in his Presidential Address, Shri Manish Goenka spoke about the robust Indian macro- economic parameters against the background of sluggish global growth. He particularly mentioned about newly constituted Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) for monetary policy-making, National Manufacturing Policy as the most comprehensive and significant policy initiative, Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) bonds to turn around state discoms, supply & demand bottlenecks of coal sector, renewable clean and green energy forming the backbone for India's 'energy security' and 'energy independence' as envisaged by 2020 as also of growth parameters of industry friendly West Bengal.
The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks by Shri Hemant Bangur, Senior Vice President & President-Elect of the Chamber, who assured construction of 10,000 toilets in rural areas with the support of Members & Industry, in a true salute to Bapuji on his birthday.
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Business Session
Shri Manish Goenka, President, MCCI presided the Session.
Shri Surendra Keyal, Hony Secretary read out the Notice dated September 12, 2016 which informed all Members of the 115th AGM.
Agenda wise 5 resolutions were passed :
RESOLUTION NO. 1
RESOLVED that the audited financial statements of the Company for the financial year ended 31st March, 2016 including the audited Balance Sheet as at 31st March, 2016, the Statement of Income & Expenditure Account for the year ended 31st March, 2016 and the Report of the Auditor thereon be and are hereby adopted.
RESOLVED FURTHER THAT the Report of the Committee for the year 2015-16 be hereby adopted.
Proposed by : Shri M C Shah
Seconded by : Shri Suresh Jhunjhunwala
The Resolution was put to vote and carried unanimously.
RESOLUTION NO. 2
“RESOLVED THAT pursuant to the provisions of sections 139, 141 read with the Companies (Audit and Auditors) Rules, 2014 and other applicable provisions, if any, of the Companies Act, 2013 (including any statutory modification(s) or re-enactment(s) thereof for the time being in force) and pursuant to the resolution passed by the members at the 113th Annual General Meeting (AGM) held on 30th September, 2014, appointing M/s. K. Prasad & Co., Chartered Accountants, Kolkata (ICAI Firm Registration No. 303062E), as the Statutory Auditors of the Company, to hold office till the conclusion of the 118th AGM of the Company and pursuant to the recommendations of the Committee of the
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Company, the appointment of the said Statutory Auditors of the Company to hold office from the conclusion of the 115th AGM to the conclusion of the 116th AGM be and is hereby ratified and that the Committee be and is hereby authorised to fix such remuneration in consultation with the said Auditors.”
“RESOLVED FURTHER THAT the honorarium for the year 2016-17 shall be Rs. 20,000/- (Rupees twenty thousand) plus Service Tax and applicable Cess.”
Proposed by : Shri Santosh Saraf
Seconded by : Shri Anupam Shah
The Resolution was put to vote and carried unanimously.
ELECTION OF OFFICE BEARERS :
RESOLUTION No. 3
The Chairman mentioned that since the Annual Session would be held on 2nd October, the Agenda Item No. 3 of the AGM Notice regarding election of the Office Bearers and Members of the Committee would not be discussed at the ensuing AGM on 28th and would be adjourned till 2nd October, 2016.
“RESOLVED that Item No. 3 would be adjourned till 2nd October, 2016”
The Resolution was put to vote and carried unanimously.
SPECIAL BUSINESS :
RESOLUTION No. 4
“RESOLVED THAT the Budget of the Company for the financial year 2016-17 be and is hereby approved and adopted.”
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Proposed by : Shri B K Swaika
Seconded by : Shri Sanjay Agarwal
The Resolution was put to vote and carried unanimously.
SPECIAL RESOLUTION
CHANGE OF NAME
“RESOLVED THAT pursuant to the relevant provisions of Section 13 and other applicable provisions, if any, of the Companies Act, 2013 (the “Act”) and the Rules framed there under, (including any statutory modification(s) or re-enactment(s) thereof for the time being in force) of the Companies Act, 2013, the name of the Company be and is hereby changed from “MCC Chamber of Commerce & Industry” to “Merchants' Chamber of Commerce & Industry” and the name “MCC Chamber of Commerce & Industry” wherever it occurs in the Memorandum of Association of the Company be substituted by the name “Merchants' Chamber of Commerce & Industry”.
“RESOLVED FURTHER THAT Clause 1 of the Memorandum of Association of the Company be and is hereby altered by substituting the same with the following :
1. The name of the Association shall be Merchants' Chamber of Commerce & Industry.”
2. To reflect the change of name of the Company in its Articles of Association and in this regard to consider and, if thought fit, to pass with or without modification(s), the following Resolution as a Special Resolution :
“RESOLVED THAT pursuant to the relevant provisions of Section 14 and other applicable provisions, if any, of the Companies Act, 2013 (the “Act”) and the Rules framed there under, (including any statutory modification(s) or re-enactment(s) thereof for the time being in force) of the Companies Act, 2013, the name “MCC Chamber of Commerce & Industry” wherever it occurs in the Articles of Association of the Company be substituted by the name “Merchants' Chamber of Commerce & Industry”.
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Proposed by : Shri A R Sonthalia
Seconded by : Shri B K Jhajharia
The Resolution was put to vote and carried unanimously.
The Chairman congratulated Shri Hemant Bangur on his election as the President of the Chamber and expressed his satisfaction that he handed over the baton to such a dynamic person.
Shri Goenka said that although he could not attend many of the Chamber programmes due to business travel schedule, he had learnt a lot while working as the President. He thanked all Trustees, Past Presidents, Members of Committee, Chairmen and Co-Chairmen of Standing Committees, and members for their support, guidance and participation in various programmes held during the year. He also appreciated the dedication and hard work put in by the Secretariat to make all programmes and activities fruitful and visible. Shri Goenka felt that the Chamber would reach greater heights under the resourceful and dynamic leadership of Shri Hemant Bangur as the President.
Shri A.R. Sonthalia complimented the outgoing Team led by Shri Manish Goenka for their immense contribution. He hoped that the Chamber would receive active support from Shri Manish Goenka, as also from the EMAMI Group, which had given three Presidents to the Chamber. He extended hearty congratulations to the newly elected Office Bearers for the year ahead. He felt that the work for last year was really hard with limited resources at the Secretariat.
Expressing his appreciation on an eventful year of the Chamber, Shri B.K. Jhajharia thanked the outgoing Office Bearers Team led by Shri Manish Goenka. He also expressed his heartfelt thanks and appreciation for Shri R S Goenka, who used his good office in bringing Shri Piyush Goyal, a very high profile Union Minister for the 115th Annual Session. He wished the EMAMI Group further success in future. Shri Jhajharia congratulated the incoming Team under the Presidentship of Shri Hemant Bangur. He was hopeful that the Chamber would attain newer dimensions and greater heights under the dynamic leadership of Shri Bangur. He also put on record strong appreciation for the dedication and commitment of the Secretariat, particularly of Shri M C Das and Shri S Roy.
12 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry Newly Elected Committee
The Business Session was followed by First Meeting of the New Committee.
Shri Hemant Bangur, President, took the chair and welcomed all members present to the First Meeting of the New Committee. He thanked the Trustees, Past Presidents and Members for bestowing their confidence in him and electing him as the President. He sought co-operation, active support and guidance from all in carrying out the functions of the Chamber effectively and taking new initiatives in the Chamber.
Expressing his vision on making West Bengal the 1st Open Defecation Free (ODF) State in India, Shri Bangur pledged commission and construction of 10,000 toilets in rural areas of the state, in a true salute to Bapuji on his 147th birthday. He requested all the members to contribute in achieving this goal.
Shri A. R. Sonthalia, proposed the following names from the two specific categories of A & B for the year 2016 - 17 in terms of the said Article 13(c)(iii) of the Articles of Association of the Chamber.
Category A: Past Presidents : 1. Shri Mahesh Chandra Shah 2. Shri Sushil K. Dhandhania 3. Shri Kunj Behari Agarwala 4. Shri Aditya V. Agarwal 5. Shri Atul Churiwal
Category B : Other Members : 1. Shri Manish Goenka Immediate Past President 2. Shri Hari Prasad Budhia 3. Shri Srivatsa Kajaria Leave of Absence was granted to all members who could not be present at the Meeting.
The proposal was unanimously approved.
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The Chairman informed that in terms of Article 13(c)(iv) of the Articles of Association, the New Committee was required to nominate all Director Members as members of the Committee for the year 2016 - 17. He further mentioned that currently there were 97 Director Members, out of whom three members had been elected as President, Sr. Vice President and Vice President. As such, the remaining 94 Director Members would become ipso facto members of the New Committee, with all rights and privileges, subject to the payment of their annual subscription.
The names of 97 Director Members are noted below:- Sl. No. Name of Organisation Representative 01 Adhunik Corporation Ltd. Shri Mahesh Kumar Agarwal 02 Alloys & Metals (India) Shri Surendra Keyal 03 Auto Distributors Ltd. Shri Subir Poddar 04 Avenues 4 Education Pvt. Ltd. Shri Samir Saraff 05 Affinity Global Services Pvt. Ltd. Shri Sanjay Bhalotia 06 ASO Cement Limited Shri Sandeep Agarwal 07 Anmol Feeds Pvt. Ltd. Shri Amit Kumar Saraogi 08 Bengal Beverages Pvt. Ltd., Dankuni Shri Amit Goenka 09 Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd. Shri Alkesh Sharma 10 B. Ghose & Co. Pvt. Ltd. Shri Sharad Varma 11 Bally Exports Pvt. Ltd. Shri Arpit Dhandhania 12 Bansidhar Badridass Modi Pvt. Ltd. Shri Krishna Modi 13 BBA Infrastructure Ltd. Shri Arun Kumar Bhuwalka 14 Bengal Tools Ltd. Shri Ravi Todi 15 Bhandari Automobiles Pvt. Ltd. Shri Vijay Singh Bhandari 16 Century Plyboards India Ltd. Shri Sanjay Agarwal 17 Concast Ispat Limited Shri Sanjay Kumar Sureka 18 Celica Developers Pvt. Ltd. Shri Adarsh Tulshan 19 CKC Fragrances and Flavours Pvt.Ltd. Shri Rishabh Kothari 20 Calcutta Ferrous Limited Shri Bhagwandas Agarwal 21 Dhanwantary Medicare & Research Centre Pvt. Ltd. Shri Rajendra Khandelwal 22 EMAMI Limited Shri R.S. Goenka 23 Essel Kitchenware Limited Shri Kailash Chand Goyal 24 ECL Agrotech Limited Shri Santosh Kumar Roongtaa
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25 Forum Projects Pvt. Ltd. Shri Rahul Saraf 26 Great Eastern Appliances Pvt. Ltd. Shri Pulkit Baid 27 Great Eastern Trading Co. Shri Manish Kumar Baid 28 Gujarat NRE Coke Limited Shri Arun Kumar Jagatramka 29 Greenply Industries Ltd. Shri Rajesh Mittal 30 Ganesh Sponge Pvt. Ltd. Shri Surendra Kumar Dalmia 31 Golden Goenka Fincorp Ltd. Shri Girdhari Lal Goenka 32 Glaxo Finance Pvt. Ltd. Shri Kamal Kumar Dugar 33 Haldiram Bhujiawala Ltd. Shri Manish Agarwal 34 Happy-e-Zon Ltd. Shri Sushil Poddar 35 Hindcon Chemicals Ltd. Shri Sanjay Goenka 36 Infinity Infotech Parks Ltd. Shri Pulak Chamaria 37 Infinity Infotech Parks Ltd. Shri Ravindra Chamaria 38 India Forms Centre Pvt. Ltd. Shri Norat Mal Bothra 39 Jai Balaji Industries Ltd. Shri Aditya Jajodia 40 J.G. Hosiery Pvt. Ltd. Shri Sandeep Seksaria 41 Jupiter International Ltd. Shri Alok Garodia 42 Joonktollee Tea & Industries Ltd. Shri Hemant Bangur 43 JRK Stock Broking Pvt. Ltd. Shri Ravi Jain 44 JVS Securities Pvt. Ltd. Shri Jyoti Vardhan Sonthalia 45 Korp Resources Pvt. Ltd. Shri Prahlad Roy Goenka 46 King Chemicals Shri Sanjib Kumar Kothari 47 Lux Industries Ltd. Shri Ashok Kumar Todi 48 Lux Industries Ltd. Shri Pradip Kumar Todi 49 Lumino Industries Ltd. Shri Devendra Goel 50 Linc Pen & Plastics Limited Shri Deepak Jalan 51 Multiwyn Industries Pvt. Ltd. Shri Vishal Jhajharia 52 Mayur Ply Industries Pvt. Ltd. Shri Prakash Kumar More 53 Microsec Financial Services Limited Shri Banwari Lall Mittal 54 Meghalaya Cement Ltd. Shri Mahendra Kumar Agarwal 55 Neo Metaliks Ltd. Shri Ravi Agarwal 56 Phuguri Tea Estate Pvt. Ltd. Shri Abhishek Bagaria 57 Pulkit Veneer Mills Pvt. Ltd. Shri Pawan Kumar Patodia 58 Prestar Infrastructure Projects Ltd. Shri Kalu Ram Dhariwal
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59 Primarc Projects Pvt. Ltd. Shri Mahesh Pansari 60 Pratidin Prakashani Pvt. Ltd. Shri Srinjoy Bose 61 Plymex Timber Pvt. Ltd. Shri Srikant Jain 62 Pragya Mercantile Pvt. Ltd. Shri Tulsi Kumar Dugar 63 Rupa & Co. Ltd. Shri Ramesh Agarwal 64 RNA Capital Markets Ltd. Shri Niranjan Kumar Agarwal 65 R.Piyarelall International Ltd. Shri Ramesh Kumar Agarwal 66 R.S. Ispat Ltd. Shri Rakesh Agarwal 67 Rashmi Metaliks Ltd. Shri Sanjib Kumar Patwari 68 Sarda Plywood Industries Ltd. Shri Sudeep Chitlangia 69 SREI Equipment Finance Pvt. Ltd. Shri Sunil Kanoria 70 Singhania & Sons Pvt. Ltd. Shri Pradeep Kumar Singhania 71 Salasar Stock Broking Ltd. Shri Kiran Kumar Sonthalia 72 Shyam Steel Industries Limited Shri Shyam Sunder Beriwala 73 Saltee Infrastructure Ltd. Shri Surya Prakash Bagla 74 Sanmarg Pvt. Ltd. Shri Vivek Gupta 75 Supreme Wood Products Pvt. Ltd. Shri Manoj Kumar Beria 76 Sreerampur Steels Pvt. Ltd. Shri Pawan Tibrewalla 77 Shyam Ispat Udyog Shri Lalit Beriwala 78 Supertron Electronics Pvt. Ltd. Shri Vishnu Kumar Bhandari 79 Swadeshi Marketing Pvt. Ltd. Shri Sanjay Rasiwasia 80 Skipper Limited Shri Sajan Kumar Bansal 81 SREI Capital Markets Ltd. Shri Ashok Pareek 82 Shakti Logistics Pvt. Ltd. Shri Lavesh Poddar 83 Sudhir Chandra Sur Degree Engineering College Shri Taranjit Singh 84 Siddha Real Estate Development Pvt. Ltd. Shri Sanjay Jain 85 Shree Balaji Texpin Pvt. Ltd. Shri Bijay Gujarwasia Agarwal 86 Shyam Metalics & Energy Ltd. Shri Brij Bhushan Agarwal 87 Srijan Realty Pvt. Ltd. Shri Shyam Agarwal 88 Shakambhari Ispat & Power Ltd. Shri Deepak Kumar Agarwal 89 The Grob Tea Co. Ltd. Shri Pradeep Kumar Agarwal 90 T.T. Limited Shri Sanjay Kumar Jain 91 UAL Industries Ltd. Shri Arun Kumar Saraf
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92 Utkarsh Tubes & Pipes Ltd. Shri Sunil Bansal 93 Vikram Solar Private Limited Shri Gyanesh Chaudhary 94 Vedant Fashions Pvt. Ltd. Shri Ravi Modi 95 Vision Comptech Integrators Ltd. Shri Neetish Sarda 96 Wonder Images Pvt. Ltd. Shri Rajesh Poddar 97 Yaana Apparels Pvt. Ltd. Shri Ajay Jalan
The Committee approved and adopted the proposal unanimously.
Taking up the agenda item on Election of Hony Secretary and Treasurer, the Chairman proposed re-election of the incumbents - Shri Surendra Keyal and Shri Rajaram Chowdhary, as the Hony Secretary and Treasurer, respectively, for the year 2016-17. The proposal was approved and carried unanimously.
The Chairman proposed the names of Shri R.S. Agarwal as Chairman and Shri B.K. Jhajharia as Co-Chairman for election to the Advisory Council for the year 2016-17.The proposal was approved and carried unanimously.
As per convention, Shri Hemant Bangur, President in office was nominated as Chairman of the MCC Foundation for the year 2016 - 17.
The Chairman then proposed the following Expert Bodies and Standing Committees, with the Chairman /Chairperson and Co-Chairman/ Co-Chairperson for each of them, for the year 2016-17.
Advisory Council, MCC Foundation & Standing Committees
Chairman Co-Chairman Advisory Council R.S. Agarwal B.K. Jhajharia
Merchants' Chamber of Commerce Foundation Hemant Bangur -
MCCI Ladies Forum (MLF) Seema Agarwal Prapti Jhajharia
17 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry Standing Committees
Chairman Co-Chairman 1. Agriculture & Food Processing Santosh K. Roongtaa Amit Kumar Saraogi 2. Banking, Finance & Insurance Sanjay Rasiwasia Smarajit Mitra 3. Capital Market Ashok Pareek Girdhari Lal Goenka 4. Coal Arun Kumar Jagatramka Kapil Thapar 5. Corporate Law & Governance Mamta Binani Poonam Chandra Tibrewal 6. CSR & Rural Development Rajendra Khandelwal Arvind Agrawal 7. Direct Taxes Arvind Agrawal Sanjay Bhattacharya 8. Education Samir Saraff Taranjit Singh 9. Foreign Trade Ramesh Kumar Agarwal Arpit Dhandhania 10. HRD & Entrepreneurship Tushar Basu Rajesh Jain 11. IT & Communication Vishnu Kumar Bhandari Sanjib Sanghi 12. Indirect Taxes, GST & State Taxes Arun K. Agarwal (a) Sushil K. Goyal Indirect Taxes & GST (b) Sanjib Kothari State Taxes 13. Industry Sunil Bansal Sanjay Kumar Jain 14. Infrastructure, Real Estate Sanjay Jain Ajay Jalan 15. Retail Trade & eCommerce Pulkit Baid Adarsh Tulshan 16. Membership Development Santosh K. Saraf Atul Churiwal 17. Power & Renewable Energy Gyanesh Chaudhary Sanjib Kumar Patwari 18. MSMEs Rishabh Kothari Akhil Sonthalia 19. Shipping & Logistics Lavesh Poddar Sharad Varma 20. Steel Lalit Beriwala Ravi Agarwal
There being no other business to consider, the meeting ended with a Vote of Thanks to the Chair.
18 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry INTERACTIVE SESSIONS / SYMPOSIA / WORKSHOPS
Special Session with Dr. Hasmukh Adhia, IAS Revenue Secretary, Government of India
The Chamber organised a Special Session with Dr. Hasmukh Adhia, IAS, Revenue Secretary, Govt. of India on 'Union Budget 2016-17 Impact on Indian Economy' at The Park, Kolkata on 9 April 2016 jointly with Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC). The Session started with a presentation of a welcome bouquet to Dr. Adhia by Shri Hemant Bangur, Sr. Vice President, MCCI. The welcome address was delivered by Shri Shiv Siddhant Kaul, President, ICC. In his address, he appreciated the steps taken by the Hon'ble Finance Minister in the Union Budget to boost the economic growth. The session was also addressed by Shri A.K. Singh, Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, Kolkata and Shri S.K. Panda, Chief Commissioner, Service Tax, Kolkata.
Dr. Adhia in his address said that on expenditure side, government has focused on growth and employment and on taxation issues attempts have been made to reduce litigation. He also highlighted on the Dispute Resolution Scheme as more than 3 lac tax cases are pending with the 1st Appellate Authority with a disputed amount being Rs.5.5/- lac crores. He also mentioned about a rationalization of penalties for under-reporting and mis-reporting of income by the assessee. Shri A.K. Singh requested the business community not to pay bribes to reduce corruption and Shri S.K. Panda invited the business community to come straight to him in case any genuine difficulty faced by them in smooth functioning of business.
Earlier, in his keynote address, Shri Hemant Bangur, Sr. Vice President, MCCI appreciated the growth achieved by India amidst global uncertainties, headwinds and deficit monsoon in two consecutive years. He expressed apprehension that targeted dis-investment of Rs.56, 000/- crores might not be achieved.
The Session concluded with a Vote of Thanks offered by Dr. Rajeev Singh, Director General, ICC.
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Interactive Session with Shri R.C. Meena, Director, Ministry of Corporate Affairs
The Chamber organised an Interactive Session with Shri R.C. Meena, Director, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Govt. of India on 6 June, 2016. Shri Sumit Binani, Treasurer, ICSI-EIRC, FCA, FCS, ACMA, MBA (IIM Cal) and Shri Siddhartha Murarka, Vice Chairman, ICSI-EIRC, FCS, LLB were also present as speakers.
According to Shri R.C. Meena, the National Company (NCLT) constituted under the Companies Act 2013 on 1 June 2016, is a quasi-judicial body that will adjudicate issues relating to companies in India.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Sumit Binani mentioned that the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has introduced new Companies (Auditor's Report) Order (CARO) 2016. As per the section 143 of the Companies Act 2013, every report of the auditor under this section should contain matters specified under applicable CARO. The CARO, 2016 contains 15 clauses, out of which some clauses have been carried forward from CARO, 2015.
Shri Murarka observed The Company Act Amendment 2015 is a welcome move. Relaxations in the regime governing related party transactions, limited access to strategic corporate resolutions, eliminating some procedural requirements (such as minimum paid-up requirement, use of common seal, etc) will surely ease some of the procedural compliances.
Earlier in his welcome address, Shri Santosh Roongtaa observed that India ranks 130 out of 189 countries in 'ease of doing business' as per World Bank and the current economic and regulatory environment in India is on the threshold of a major recast to improve upon its performance.
The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Shri Surendra Keyal, Hony Secretary, MCCI.
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Interactive Session with Shri Suresh Prabhu, Minister for Railways, Govt of India
The Chamber organized a meeting with Shri Suresh Prabhu, Minister for Railways, Government of India on 'Restructuring Indian Railways: Roadmap for Sustainable Development' on 9 June, 2016 at Hotel Oberoi Grand, Kolkata.
Addressing the members, distinguished guests and the media fraternity, Hon'ble Minister charted out the future growth path for Indian Railways. He felt that the next phase of economic development should focus strongly on transport development, which should comprise 11 - 12% of GDP. Referring to Indian Railways as the engine for future growth, he said that there would be an investment of around 140 billion dollars in the next 5 years. On his vision for Indian Railways by 2030, the Minister said that the most important benchmarks were: quality of services, passenger safety, a shift to clean energy, an increase in accountability. Stressing on the need to uplift railway infrastructure in West Bengal, he pointed out that a joint Board would be set up with the senior officials of the Centre and the State Government to monitor various ongoing projects in the state. He also proposed several joint venture projects in the state. The Railway Ministry had already signed MoU with Maharashtra, Odisha, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Chattisgarh and Karnataka, he added. Outlining his 3pillar strategy bringing in speed in transportation, speed in operation and transparency, he said that this would bring in paradigm changes in Indian Railways.
Shri Hemant Kumar, Member Mechanical, Railway Board mentioned about the huge requirement of 60,000 coaches and 2,40,000 wagons every year. Referring to high speed corridor, he spoke about redesigning of coaches to ensure speed. He also mentioned about joint venture projects with RITES and SAIL.
Shri A K Mittal, Member Engineering, Railway Board pointed out that the expenditure on new lines had been double this fiscal. He said that planned outlay had increased from Rs. 34,400 cr in 201516 to Rs. 49,950 cr. in 201617, out of which around Rs.4,000 cr allotted to projects in West Bengal.
Shri A K Goel, General Manager, Eastern, South Eastern and Metro Railway informed the House about various new initiatives like foot over bridges, doubling of railway lines and others. He also referred to a leaflet on “Ease of doing business IR's freight business segment', being released by the Ministry.
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Earlier, in his welcome address, Shri Manish Goenka, President MCCI mentioned about railways losing market share in passenger and freight transport in favour of roads over time. He was of the opinion that rationalization of the tariff structure by undertaking a review to evolve competitive rates vis-a-vis other modes of transport was important.
The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks by Shri Ramesh Agarwal, Vice President of the Chamber.
Symposium on 'Executive Coaching'
MCCI organised a Symposium on Executive Coaching with Prof. (Dr.) Abhishek Goel, Behavioral Science group, IIMC, Shri Nabendu Gupta, Co-Founder, NR Performance Edge, Dr. Ruma Basu Gomes, Management Consultant, and Shri Anamitra Chatterjee, Trainer and Faculty on 13 June, 2016 at the Conference Hall of the Chamber.
Prof (Dr.) Abhishek Goel, Behavioral Science Group, IIMC highlighted the difference between a coach and mentor a mentor teaches on broader scale while coach teaches specific skills, which can be more granular and operational. Sometimes mentor may not know what the mentee is thinking. Coaching is mostly required at the mid level management. The 1H5W ('How', 'What', 'Why, 'Who', 'Where', When') gives the best answers to effective coaching where the coach needs to know the exact things to be delivered. 'Who, What and Why' provides the Competency Framework and is a good starting point to coach.
Shri Nabendu Gupta observed the importance of celebrating success and developing listening skills. He highlighted the importance of 360 degree feedback system which changed his orientation towards his profession. Training is conditioned while coaching is customized. Certain skills like honesty, integrity and courage cannot be taught by the coaches. Professionalism actually can come out only when the entrepreneur is accountable.
Dr. Ruma Basu Gomes talks of the importance of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) based coaching where the interactions are based on clean language. NLP experts would rather use 'What-if's instead of 'Why' while questioning the coachee. NLP is accepted by the International Coaching Federation in present times. NLP coaching works through behavioral patterns and the idea is to delve deep within a person.
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Shri Anamitra Chatterjee highlights the importance of listening as well and talks of level 1, level 2 and level 3 listening. At level 1, the listener is aloof and just hears, level 2 involves engaging with information one can relate to and level 3 listening involves putting off the self tape while listening. At level 4, listening involves both verbal and non verbal communication. Asking and not telling is important to be effective executive coach. He gives an equation to relate trust with other factors -
Trust = [(benefit-cost) x intimacy]/ perceived risk.
Earlier, Shri Tushar Basu, Chairman, Standing Committee on HRD and Entrepreneurship, MCCI and Director, Analytic Consultants in his Welcome Address, explained that executive coaching, leadership coaching, emotional intelligence coaching, life coaching and NLP coaching are the modern day approach to coachee - led developmental activities. He requested the speakers to give their expert views on the subject.
The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Shri Samir Saraff, Chairman, Standing Committee on Education, MCCI.
Meeting with Shri Chaudhary Birender Singh, Hon'ble Minister for Rural development, Panchayati Raj, Drinking Water and Sanitation, Govt. of India
The Chamber organised a meeting with Shri Chaudhary Birender Singh, Hon'ble Minister for Rural development, Panchayati Raj, Drinking Water and Sanitation, Govt. of India on 'Sustainable Rural Development : Opportunities & Challenges' on 24 June, 2016 at its premises.
Addressing the members, distinguished guests and the media fraternity, Hon'ble Minister focused on the growth path for the rural sector in India. If India were to become a superpower, rural sector comprising 69% population could no longer be ignored, Shri Singh asserted. He pointed out that there had been considerable amount of shrinking of exports of late, to the tune of 4.15%. He felt that the growth in rural sector would be able to compensate for this shrinking of exports and finally would lead to growth in GDP. An increase in rural purchasing power would bring in many fold increase in the GDP growth.
Stressing on the importance of containing rural urban migration, the Hon'ble minister spoke
23 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry about creation of village clusters through Shyama Prasad Mukherji Rurban Mission (SPMRM). Each cluster would be created with a population of about 25,000 to 50,000 comprising several villages, an outlay of Rs. 75 to 150 cr. to be spent on each cluster. There would be around 300 clusters covering 6000 villages in 3 years, all over the country.
Regarding Swachh Bharat Mission target of making India Open Defecation Free by Oct 2019, the Minister informed the House that since its inception around 63,000 villages across the country had been ODF status. By the end of this year 160 districts across India would be ODF. He referred to an NSO survey stating that around 95.6% of toilets had been found functional. A World Bank loan of 1.5 bn dollar had been sanctioned for toilets. Villages performing well in sanitation would also be given awards, Shri Singh pointed out.
Earlier, in his welcome address, Shri Manish Goenka, President MCCI stressed on the importance of the growth of rural sector constituting 50% of national consumption and around 70% of India's populace. He observed that the renewed focus on rural sector in this year's Central Budget as one of the “nine pillars” would give new impetus to the growth prospects of this sector.
The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks by Shri Hemant Bangur, Senior Vice President of the Chamber.
Seminar on 'Global situation impacting local businesses even if there is no foreign trade connect'
The Chamber organised a Seminar on 'Global situation impacting local businesses even if there is no foreign trade connect' on 25 June, 2016 at its premises with the specialist speakers: Shri Nimesh Rathod, a thinking catalyst, a faculty, an accredited coach associated with International Coach Federation (USA) & a sensitizerBusiness Cycles and Shri Rup Narayan Bose, an author, a former banker, a faculty and a specialist speaker.
Shri Nimesh Rathod presented a Business Acumen development programme, named Econowise, a programme which had delivered powerful results across a huge spectrum of audiences from a Director of an MNC to an enthusiastic home maker.
Shri Rup Narayan Bose, in his deliberations, spoke about the era of early 1990s where
24 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry globalization and privatization were taking place and how life had changed since then. He also referred to global effects of 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, 1997-2001 Dot Com Bubble, 2000 Energy Crisis, Irish Banking Crisis, Greek Government debt crisis, Chinese stock market crisis and finally Brexit.
Earlier, in his welcome address, Shri Tushar Basu, Chairman, HRD & Entrepreneurship Standing Committee of the Chamber spoke about the consequences of globalization. It had become increasingly difficult to insulate the local markets from global trends, he added.
The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks by Shri Santosh Bajaj, Senior Committee Member of the Chamber.
Interactive Session with Mr. H. Sikapale Chinzewe, Charge d' affaires (Acting High Commissioner) of Zambia to India
The Chamber organised an interactive session with Mr. H. Sikapale Chinzewe, Charge d' affaires (Acting High Commissioner) of Zambia to India on 'Doing Business with Zambia' at the Chamber premises on 27 June, 2016. Mr. Namunda Lubinda Mwitumwa, Second Secretary (Immigration) and Mr. Arjun De, Hony. Consul General of Zambia in Kolkata also addressed the occasion.
Mr. Arjun De said that tourism is a growth industry as Zambia is one of the safest destinations in the world.
Mr. Namunda Lubinda Mwitumwa explained that Zambia has a liberal visa regime for businessmen and certain kinds of visas can be applied for by e-mail. An Investor's Permit can be bought for a minimum investment of $250,000 in a new company or $150,000 for joining an existing company.
Mr. H. Sikapale Chinzewe said that Zambia is part of the Southern African Development Community which it has 301 million people and a real GDP of $529 billion. Zambia stands at 96 out of 144 countries (7th in Africa) in terms of the Global Competitive Index. The country is 97th in the world (11th in Africa) in the World Bank's Global Competitiveness Index. Priority areas for Zambia include agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, infrastructure and energy. It suffers from a shortfall of energy, the bulk of which comes from hydro power. Energy, particularly renewable energy is a good area for investment. Tax incentives include zero corporate income tax for 5 years, zero tax-rate on dividend for 5
25 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry years and no import duty on equipment for 5 years.
Mr. Ramesh Kumar Agarwal, Chairman, Standing Committee on Foreign Trade, MCCI in his welcome address observed that Zambia is the world's fourth largest producer of copper. It has great potential in other mining activity and tourism as well.
The session ended with a hearty vote of thanks offered by Mr. Arpit Dhandhania, Co-Chairman, Standing Committee on Foreign Trade, MCCI.
Interactive Session with Shri Binod Kumar, IAS Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Government of West Bengal
In an Interactive Session held in the Chamber on 29 June 2016, Shri Binod Kumar, IAS, Commissioner of Commercial Taxes and Shri Adesh Kumar, Addl. Commissioner, of Commercial Taxes interacted with the members and highlighted on the reforms in finance and tax administration such as, an increase in the exemption limit for Professional tax from Rs.8,500/- to Rs.10,000/-. To bring down the litigation, the State government would not go for litigation when the disputed amount in appeal is less-than Rs.1 lac. The Settlement Commission has been proposed to be abolished w.e.f 1st July 2016. The Industrial Promotion Assistance Scheme ended on 31st March 2016 has been extended for a further period of three years.
He invited comments on the Model GST Law brought out in the public domain by the Union Finance Ministry recently. He has clarified that there will be also a negative list in GST. Shri Arun KumarSaraf, Immediate Past President of the Chamber felt that the schemes like 'buy one get one free' are likely to be costlier under the GST regime. He felt that Model GST is only suggestive for State governments and it is not clear what kind of amendments and variations would actually take place when it will be finalized by the State governments.
For compliance under GST for Centre, State and integrated GST registration would be burdensome at the initial stage. No exemption limit has been prescribed for e-commerce activities which are under the purview of GST also. It was felt that Service sector should take a serious look into their current transaction model as there will be a sea-change for transition into a multi-state registration and compliance landscape.
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Earlier, in his welcome address, Shri Arun Kumar Saraf, Immediate Past President of the Chamber requested Shri Kumar to allow manufacturers of e-facilities from day-one specially for importing capital goods and suggested that ITC should not be restricted if purchases are made from registered dealers and payments are duly substantiated.
The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Shri Sanjib Kothari, Co-Chairman, Standing Committee, on State Taxes, MCCI.
Meeting with Shri Sudarshan Bhagat, Hon'ble Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India
The Chamber organised a meeting with Shri Sudarshan Bhagat, Hon'ble Minister of State for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Govt. of India on 'Agriculture and Farmers' Welfare : The Road Ahead' on 9 July, 2016 at its premises.
Addressing the members, distinguished guests and the media fraternity, Hon'ble Union MOS focused on the growth path of agriculture in India. Shri Bhagat singled out the importance of increasing farmers' income as the most important driving force in agriculture these days. Most of the small farmers were debt ridden. He mentioned about initiatives of the Govt like Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana, soil health cards, organic farming and other to provide relief to the heavily debt ridden small farmers. He felt that initiatives like Pradhan Mantri Kissan Sinchai Yojana would try to bring in effective irrigation measures in agriculture.
Dr. Pradeep Kumar Mazumdar, Chief Advisor to the Chief Minister of West Bengal for Agriculture & Allied sectors spoke about the phenomenal growth of agriculture in West Bengal for the last 4 years. He said that against a national figure of 46%, the percentage figure for land under cultivation in West Bengal was 66%. To make farming more profitable by reducing cost of cultivation, agricultural machineries like Tractor, Power Tiller, Paddy Transplanter etc. had been distributed amongst about 2,85,000 farmers, he said. He also stated that 271 Custom Hiring Centers (CHC) had been set up throughout the state for letting out at nominal rent, costly and modern machinery like Combined Harvester, Paddy Transplanter, Potato harvester, Zero Tillage Machine etc. to small and marginal farmers.
Earlier, in his Welcome Address, Shri Anupam Shah, Former President MCCI said that
27 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry agriculture sector employed over 50% of the workforce but accounted for only about 13.7% of GDP. He also referred to the recent initiatives by the Central Govt. including proposal of doubling farmers' income by 2022.
The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks by Shri Sanjay Rasiwasia, Chairman, Agriculture & Food Processing Standing Committee of the Chamber.
Seminar on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in AYUSH
A Seminar on “Innovation and Entrepreneurship in AYUSH” was organized by the Chamber in association with ASSOCHAM on 12 July, 2016 at the Conference Hall of the Chamber.
While delivering the Special Address at the Inaugural Session, Swami Yadavendrananda, Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Golpark spoke about the lack of spirituality as the basic reason for human suffering. He felt that the Government of India should be given due credit for setting up AYUSH, as many diseases could be treated better by nonallopathic treatment.
Speaking on the wellness quotient of Tea, Dr. Biswajit Bera, Secretary, Tea Research Foundation spoke about the good effects of black tea. Although green tea had become very popular globally, black tea was as good in terms of its beneficial effects on human health, he asserted.
Stressing on an integrated system of treatment, Dr. G P Sarkar, President, Ayurvedic Drug Manufacturers' Association of India made an analysis of different systems : Allopathy vis a vis Ayurveda & Homoeopathy. While Ayurveda worked on the physiological plane, Homoeopathy worked on dynamic plane, he said. There were 3 Ayurvedic hospitals in West Bengal, none working well, he added.
Dr. Pawan Sharma, Vice President, Emami Ltd. felt that Homoeopathy was more popular in West Bengal than Ayurveda. There existed a lot of opportunities in Ayurveda, condition of which had deteriorated over time, in spite of the Government spending a lot. He urged on creation of entrepreneurship opportunities in Ayurveda, before MNCs started eyeing the sector.
Mr. Ravindra Khandelwal, Chief Operating Officer, Sanjeevani Ayush Care complimented the
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Union Government for its inclination towards alternative therapy. Referring to huge gap in the market for entrepreneurial activities, he pointed out that the Ayurveda sector was growing at a rate of 7% with Rs. 53 lakh crore global businesses.
Ms. Mousumi Nag, Mousumi Wellness Exports spoke about the recent tie up between United Nations and AYUSH, which showed global acceptance of this sector. She felt that side effects for homoeopathy and ayurveda medicine were less strong than those of allopathic medicines because of presence of bio & herbal chemicals than synthetic chemicals in the former.
Dr. P. Mohan Kumar, Adviser, National Tea Research Foundation, Tea Board analysed the importance of having black tea every day. Consumption of 37 cups of black tea would reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease to 58% and that of 78 cups would reduce the same by 68%, he added.
Earlier, in his welcome address, Shri Sanjay Rasiwasia, Chairman, Agriculture & Food Processing Standing Committee of the Chamber said that the future of healthcare in India lay in effective collaboration between allopathic physicians with that of naturopaths, ayurvedic and homoeopathic practitioners, yoga experts and massage therapy. The Summing up at the Inaugural Session was done by Smt. Shradha Agarwal, Co Chair, ASSOCHAM.
The Seminar ended with a warm Vote of Thanks by Shri Tushar Basu, Chairman, HRD & Entrepreneurship Standing Committee of the Chamber.
Interactive Session on "Draft Model GST Law"
The Chamber organised an Interactive Session on 'Draft Model GST Law' on 5 August 2016 at the Chamber. The Chief Guest was Shri J.K. Mittal, Senior Advocate of Supreme Court of India & Eminent Tax Consultant. Other speakers include Shri Arun K. Agarwal, Chairman of Standing Committee on Indirect taxes, GST and State taxes and Shri Sushil Kumar Goyal, Co-Chairman, Standing Committee on Indirect Taxes & GST, MCCI.
According to Shri J.K. Mittal, compliance burden is not going to be reduced under GST regime. For a company having 15 offices across states, compliance will be much more. In the Draft Model Law, assessment mechanism had not been explained.
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Earlier, Shri Arun Kumar Agarwal mentioned in his welcome address that GST is presumed to establish seamless flow of goods & services, but there may be issues in getting input tax credit seamlessly.
The session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Shri Surendra Keyal, Hony Secretary, MCCI.
Interactive Session on “Income Declaration Scheme”
The Chamber organised an Interactive Session on Income Declaration Scheme on 5 August 2016 at the Chamber. Chief Guest of the meeting was Shri Gopal Mukherjee, IRS, Member (Revenue), CBDT. Other speakers include Shri A.K. Singh, Principal Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, West Bengal & Sikkim.
According to Shri Mukherjee, IDS is an excellent opportunity for everybody to declare the undisclosed income and pay taxes of 30 p.c. and penalty of 7.5 p.c. beside cess of 7.5 p.c. as it would give full immunity from prosecution. The information furnished will not be shared and will be kept with the Principal Chief Commissioner level only.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri A.K. Singh mentioned that he would invite everyone to declare their full income earned but not shown in the past. Their contribution would be utilized in nation building.
Earlier in his welcome address, Shri Hemant Bangur, Sr. Vice President of the Chamber mentioned that for valuation of assets declared under the Scheme, Rule 11U read with rule 11UA of IT Rules 1962 would be more convenient from tax payers' point of view.
The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Shri Arvind Agrawal, Chairman, Standing Committee on Direct Taxes, MCCI.
Symposium on 'Leadership Coaching & Development'
The Chamber organised a Symposium on 'Leadership Coaching & Development' with Mr. Haider Aziz Safwi, Hon'ble Deputy Speaker, West Bengal Legislative Assembly (Chief Guest), Prof
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(Dr.) B.N. Srivastava, Organizational Behaviour Group, IIMC, Dr. Deepak Malhotra, Author & Head- HR, Srei Group Company, and Mr. Anamitra Chatterjee, Executive Coach on 6 August, 2016 at the Chamber premises.
Mr. Haider Aziz Safwi, Hon'ble Deputy Speaker of WB Legislative Assembly mentioned that a leader needs to have the key characteristics of charisma, good speaker and good listener. Good personality, good communication skill and generating trust are also important qualities of a leader. He spoke of getting immense satisfaction when the construction of the flyover of Uralpur could be processed. This bridge could be initiated after long wait. People have also got the stadium and super- specialty hospital of Uluberia. He also mentioned that industries are biggest generators of leaders. West Bengal would see more industries in next 2-3 years.
Prof (Dr.) B.N. Srivastava observed Coaching is about “Inspiring, Not Controlling”, “Developing Potential, Not Monitoring Performance”, “Influencing Without Authority”, “Mentoring Not Teaching”, and “Hand-Holding, Not Supervising”. He mentioned the importance of understanding feelings of a human beings rather than only focusing on skills and knowledge.
Dr. Deepak Malhotra mentioned that the right art of questioning can lead to proper coaching. He expanded the acronym LIST of the word “Listen” which ideally provides solution for leadership development L= Listen, I= Isolating core issues, S= Solve, T=Take feedbacks.
Mr. Anamitra Chatterjee highlighted that a coach needs to understand the coachee instead of just advising him. He needs to believe in the potential of the coachee. This is the difference of a coach from mentor who would just tell the candidate what to do to achieve what he wants.
Mr. Tushar Basu, Chairman, Standing Committee on HRD and Entrepreneurship, MCCI in his welcome address highlighted the basic requirements of leadership development and provided a background for the necessity of leadership coaching.
The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Shri Tushar Basu, Chairman, Standing Committee on HRD and Entrepreneurship, MCCI.
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Interactive Session with Shri M.T. Krishna Babu, IAS Chairman, KoPT
In an Interactive Session, organized by MCCI on 23 August, 2016, Shri M.T. Krishna Babu, IAS, Chairman, Kolkata Port Trust said that draft, dredging are the biggest challenges KoPT is facing, Rs.1,250 cr. Mechanization Project at Haldia has been taken up and Rs.250 cr. already allotted.
On the cost of dredging federal government has to share 85% of the dredging cost but this year Government of India has regretted and request has been made to GOI to reconsider. Now Eden Channel is being used, which will reduce cost by Rs. 200 cr. Floating cranes and jetties are being installed which will add flexibility. On development of Sagar Port, he said it is in a challenging location with connectivity problems and Government of India will spend around 10,000 cr. to develop road-rail connectivity including the Bridge on Muriganga River. When asked, whether Tajpur-Shankarpur Port would pose challenge to Sagar Port, he said a complimentarity has to be worked out otherwise SagarPort will not survive. Floating Jetty outside the lockgate area will be ready by March 2017. Transloading has been taken up by Jindal ITF and the cost structure are to be worked out as cost of trans- loading is found to be Rs.200 cr. extra compared to Dhamra Port. To accommodate this, KoPT has reduced charges by Rs.50 per tonne and Jindal ITF by Rs.140 per tonne. On Inland Water Transport 3 multi-model terminal will be developed at Haldia, Sahibganj and Varanasi.
Mechanization of KoPT will increase its capacity by 20 million at KoPT Complex and 60 million at Haldia Complex by 2025. KoPT has identified 420 acres of land for residential purposes to be developed on PPP mode with a lease for 99 years.
The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Shri Vishal Jhajharia, Chairman, Standing Committee on Shipping and Logistics, MCCI.
Interactive Session with Shri Ghanshyam Singh, General Manager, Eastern Railway on 'Eastern Railway Prospects & Challenges'
MCCI organised an interactive session with Shri Ghanshyam Singh, General Manager, Eastern Railway on 'Eastern Railway Prospects & Challenges' at the Chamber premises on 8 September, 2016. Shri S. Gehlot, Chief Operations Manager, Shri P. K. Sinha, Chief Commercial Manager and Shri Deepak Jha, Chief Freight Transportation Manager, Eastern Railway were also present.
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Shri S. S. Beriwala, Past President, MCCI in his welcome address enquired about the reasons for a reduction in freight loading and passenger growth in Eastern Railway. He also demonstrated interest about the target date for completion of the Eastern corridor of the dedicated freight corridor. There are frequent complaints about sub-standard food in Eastern Railway. What is the progress with getting rid of unmanned level crossings?
Shri Ghanshyam Singh said that 831 km of track will be electrified shortly and the balance will be electrified in the next few years thereby leaving hardly any unelectrified track. Eastern Railway has 51 km remaining as narrow gauge track, part of which will be converted in this fiscal year while the balance will be converted in the next fiscal. There were 61 unmanned level crossings in Eastern Railway at the start of the current fiscal year. Eight ULCs have already been converted while the balance will be converted by March 2017.
Eastern Railway registered a punctuality of 93.77 p.c. last month. It expects a slightly lower punctuality of 92 p.c. to 93 p.c. due to the rains in this month. With regard to encroachment, hawkers have been removed in Asansol Division. Cleanliness is a priority and Eastern Railway has in some cases mechanised cleaning like Northern Railway. ER is committed to providing passengers with quality food. If there is a complaint about food, ER makes every attempt to reach out to the complainer. Freight rates may have been retrospectively increased in a few isolated cases. These may be categorized as falling in the 'rarest of rare' cases.
Railways planned installation of 1,000 MW of solar power of which 2 MW planned in ER. 35 p.c. of stations in ER will be converted to LED this year, while the balance 65 p.c. will be converted soon. Among other achievements, one private freight terminal will come up shortly in Eastern Railway. It already conducts 79 p.c. of business by e-payment. ER has appointed 'Key Customer Managers' which is expected to improve customer satisfaction.
The session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks offered by Shri Rishabh Kothari, Chairman, Standing Committee on MSMEs, MCCI.
Meeting with Shri N K Singh, Former Member of Parliament and Chairman Fiscal responsibility & Budget Management (FRBM) Review Committee
The Chamber organised a meeting with Shri N K Singh, Former Member of Parliament and
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Chairman, Fiscal responsibility & Budget Management (FRBM) Review Committee on “What will it take for 10 percent Growth” on 13 September, 2016 at its premises. “If we grow at 10 percent for 10 years, we would still be a middle income country”, remarked Shri N K Singh, while addressing the members of the Chamber. As Head, FRBM Review Committee, he maintained that the Panel was examining the path ahead for debt sustainability and fiscal prudence, so that growth priority and macroeconomic stability could be balanced.
Shri Singh focused on the following ten parameters for this ten per cent growth : Rate of Savings, both Household and Corporate, Investment Rate, Improvement of Efficiency of Investment, and Foreign Trade Strategy. He urged on the importance of Trade treaties and Trade partnerships in this sector. India must try to become a member of APEC, he said. India currently needed 12 million new jobs per years, as every month 1 million new job seekers entered the job market. Focusing on the 'conundrum' of job market, he discussed in details the problem of jobless growth. While on the one hand, technology was needed to be embraced in order to enhance competitiveness, on the other technology, by itself was job displacing. He focused on raising the employment co-efficient. Shri Singh stressed on the need to impart knowledge of tomorrow, and not the knowledge of yesterday. The educational institutions, schools and colleges should be equipped with tools for modern education. Students should be taught to accept failure as much as success, he added. Agriculture & Industry Sectoral Growth: Contribution of agriculture over the years had decreased steadily. Agriculture contributing to only 13.9% of the GDP actually provided livelihood to 54.6% of the population, thus putting tremendous pressure over land. The challenge would be to take people out of agriculture to other diversified non-farm activities for a meaningful employment. In order to achieve 10% growth this synchronization was very important, he felt. He was in favour of a fiscal policy that would work in tandem with monetary policy to check inflation within a range and facilitate growth. The target of containing Inflation within 46% is extremely important. He mentioned that the jib of the RBI Governor would be to contain inflation within the targeted range. As the Chairman of FRBM Review Committee, Shri Singh would have to recommend fiscal policy in sync with monetary policy.
Earlier, in his welcome address, Shri Suresh Jhunjhunwala, Former President of MCCI focused on the recent growth-trend showing a slowdown in industry and manufacturing, fluctuating growth in agriculture raise doubts about achieving such the magic figure of 10%.
The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks by Shri Surendra Keyal, Hony. Secretary, MCCI.
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Special Session with Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal, Hon'ble Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs, Government of India
The Chamber organized a Special Session with Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal, Hon'ble Minister of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs, Government of India on 'Indian Economy : Current Trends & Road Ahead' on 18 September, 2016.
Dwelling on GST perspective, Shri Meghwal was emphatic on meeting the target date of 1st April, 2017. GST rates would be at par with the present rate of indirect taxes, he said. He stressed said that GST would bring in 'ease of doing business', benefit the manufacturing sector and thus would be absolutely in sync with Digital India, Startup India and other policies. Legal and procedural complications would be taken care of effectively, he urged. Although tax structure might be higher for services, this would benefit the entire country, particularly the manufacturing sector. There would be a slab structure for different products/services initially for the transitional period. There would also be product base and area base exemption.
Although petroleum and liquor would be kept outside the purview of GST initially, the same would be brought to GST, in course of time. Ideally, petroleum should be included in GST, as the concept of the new tax would be defeated without it, he felt. However, since the states feared revenue loss, the call would be taken after some time, he added.
If some states did not implement GST, then it would be taken as 'deemed implemented', he urged. He was of the opinion that West Bengal should ratify the GST Bill, as it would be benefitted more, being a Consuming State.
On inflation, the Hon'ble Minister strongly urged on keeping it with a level of around 4% for about the next 5 years, not to exceed 6% under any circumstances. He also spoke of a system monitoring CPI and WPI.
Earlier in his Welcome Address, Shri Hemant Bangur, Senior Vice President of the Chamber said that the 'Make in India' programme, designed to facilitate investment, foster innovation, enhance skill development, protect intellectual property and build best-in-class manufacturing infrastructure was a timely one.
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The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks by Shri Ramesh Agarwal, Vice President of the Chamber.
Seminar on 'Skill Development & Innovation - Key to higher Economic Growth'
MCCI-Don Bosco Technical Institute, Park Circus organised joint a Seminar on 'Skill Development & Innovation Key to higher Economic Growth' on 20 September, 11 a.m. at Don Bosco Auditorium, Park Circus. The Session was addressed by eminent guest speakers: Mr. Jonathan T. Ward, Principal Commercial Officer, U.S. Consulate General Kolkata, Swami Vedatitananda, Correspondent, Ramakrishna Mission Shilpamandira, Belur Math, Fr. A.M. Joseph, Executive Director, Don Bosco Tech, New Delhi, Prof. V.K. Tewari, Head, Agricultural and Food Engineering Dept. IIT, Kharagpur, Shri Kamal Agarwala, Chairman, NASSCOM Eastern Regional Council, Dr Subhrangshu Sanyal, CEO, IIMC Innovation Park and Shri Abhishake De Sarkar, Founder and Chairman, Advent Education Private Ltd.
Fr Jose Podimattam, Principal of Don Bosco Technical Institute (DBTI), Park Circus in his welcome address observed that with the overdrive on Skilling, many avenues are being opened and it is becoming too much commercialized.
Mr. Ward mentioned that most jobs in the US are created by small businesses rather than big corporate houses. So these small companies and startups are the key drivers of innovation and new growth.
Speaking on the occasion, Swami Vedatitananda mentioned the key challenges in developing skills to generate employment and entrepreneurship: 1)ITIs get permission to be set up in places which are remote and not connected with the industries, 2) there is hardly a reliable source of data which can predict exactly how many professionals the institutes need to produce to meet the industries' demand, and 3)sometimes students who start a business right after graduating are most likely not to succeed (instead a fresh graduate should gain work experience for around 5 years before venturing into his own business).
Fr. A.M. Joseph highlighted that there is a mismatch between supply and demand of skilled people. Vocational education is futile without partnering with the relevant companies. Therefore all the
36 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry stakeholders including students, parents, industry, schools and the government should be connected in order to upgrade the skill quotient of the nation.
Prof. Tewari observed that around 15 lac students appear for the IITJE Exam in a year and only 10,000 can be absorbed by all the IITs. The rest of the candidates also have enormous potential but they need the encouragement to apply the skills. Big Companies are not served by IITians, they would rather hire skilled people who can identify problems and solutions from their experience and practical know- how. Jobs can be created through innovation and creativity in rural areas.
Shri Kamal Agarwala observed that the education system is unable to keep pace with the industry which is why employment of engineering graduates is a problem. Skill makes a student unique. NSDC is formed to enable an eco system for skill development involving the government, NGOs and Employers.
Dr. Subhrangshu Sanyal said that entrepreneurial thinking is missing among the young minds. 'Invent' promotes/ encourages Social Entrepreneurship in Bengal where the output of businesses would impact the masses. He also mentioned 'Udyogita', a Central government initiative, which facilitates entrepreneurial skill development for all students. The utmost challenge may come from parents and family who usually prefer their children to do secure jobs rather than business.
Shri Abhishake De Sarkar mentioned that hiring the right kind of manpower is important to be successful in start ups.
Shri Hemant Bangur, Sr. Vice President, MCCI in his address enquired about the opportunities lying ahead for the students of technical education and their possible areas of contribution to the growth path of the economy.
Shri Samir Saraff, Chairman of Education Standing Committee, MCCI mentioned that each student can be a winner provided he/she recognizes his God-given talents, works hard to develop them into skills and uses these skills to accomplish his goals.
The Seminar ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks offered by Shri Samir Saraff, Chairman of Education Standing Committee, MCCI.
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Interactive Session with H E Mr. Thorir Ibsen Ambassador of Iceland to India
The Chamber organised an Interactive Session with H.E. Mr. Thorir Ibsen, Ambassador of Iceland to India on “Doing Business with Iceland” on Thursday, 22 September 2016 at 4 pm at its premises. Mr. Haukur Olofsson, Minister Counselor, Embassy of Iceland also attended the Session.
Addressing the members, the Ambassador pointed out that a Free Trade Agreement could be worked out between India and Iceland for furtherance of bi-lateral trade relations. He invited members for joint venture and enhanced business relations with Iceland.
Iceland, the land of natural beauty, volcanoes and plenty of fresh water was the most peaceful country in the world in 2016 as also the top travel destination for 2016 by CNN, he described. Owing to its strategic location, Iceland served as an important shipping hub catering to 500 million consumers in Europe and 350 million consumers in USA, he added.
His Excellency felt that although political and commercial relation between the two countries had been warm and cordial, trade relations were yet to pick up. He Excellency focused on the possibilities of opening up newer areas in bilateral trade, which included Hydro power and geo-thermal energy in India with technology from Iceland. He also mentioned about Food processing industries, including fish; Medical Equipments; Lifestyle products; Online Gaming; Biotechnology, including cosmetics and fresh water.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri P. Kamalakanth, IFS, Executive Director, WBIDC Ltd. urged that fishery and tourism were the two sectors that could enhance trade relation of Iceland with West Bengal, as people from the state were fond of both. Referring to the growth parameters of West Bengal, he mentioned about the high level of exports from West Bengal being to the tune of 8 p.c. of Indian national figure. Shri Kamalakanth invited the Ambassador to Bengal Global Business Summit, to be held in January 2017 to explore possibilities further.
Earlier, in his welcome address, Shri Ramesh Kumar Agarwal, Chairman, Foreign Trade Standing Committee mentioned about the bilateral trade figures. In FY 2015, Indian exports to Iceland being worth 18.55 million US$ while India's imports from Iceland were worth 4.25 million US$, he said.
The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks by Shri Arpit Dhandhania, Co Chairman, Foreign Trade Standing Committee of the Chamber.
38 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry Session with Shri Ashish Kumar Chauhan, Managing Director & CEO, Bombay Stock Exchange
The Chamber organised an Interactive Session with Shri Ashish Kumar Chauhan, Managing Director & CEO, Bombay Stock Exchange on “A Buoyant Stock Market is a Symbol of Economic Power” on Friday, 23 September 2016 at 4 pm at its premises.
Addressing the members, Shri Chauhan stressed on creation of more confidence in the equity market in the country. The need of the hour was to create a trustworthy framework for flow of capital from savings to investment towards industry. He focused on a sound banking system coexisting in parallel with a good equity market. Banks had been preferred to equities as banking system considered as the intermediary system giving protection during the downside, seldom failed. The notion amongst the middle class regarding stock market providing risk capital being 'the bad boy', should change, he felt.
Shri Chauhan pointed out that capital formation and job creation were the two important parameters affecting the growth process. While Indian savings rate was currently as high as 30 p.c. of GDP, the stock market was only worth Rs. 50 lakh cr. India needed a lot of manufacturing capital, to be in sync with Start-up India and Digital India and others to mobilize youth energy to create jobs. India was the only young country driven by technology with huge demographic dividends, he added.
Although India stood 2nd as the most speculative country in the world only after Korea, stock market operations should go far beyond speculative activities. The actual objective was to raise capital for funding developmental activities. He mentioned that trading formed only a part of stock markets operations. He wanted BSE to be an “investment exchange” and not a “speculative exchange”.
Earlier, in his welcome address, Shri Ashok Pareek, Chairman, Capital Market Standing Committee raised the point whether Stock Market buoyancy was the real indicator of Economic Growth in India. The corporate bond market was also in a nascent stage. He also pointed out that while India's household savings was one of the highest in the world at 30 p.c., only a little over 2 p.c. of Indian population was involved in primary and secondary markets. In order to sustain India's high growth path, capital market needed to play a major role, he felt.
The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks by Shri Kamal Nayan Jain, Co Chairman, Capital Market Standing Committee of the Chamber.
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Interactive Session with Dr. T.C.A Anant, Secretary, Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation and Chief Statistician of India
MCCI organised an Interactive Session with Dr. T.C.A Anant, Secretary, Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation and Chief Statistician of India on the theme 'Measuring Economic Growth in India' on 26 September, 2016, 3:00 pm in the Conference Hall of the Chamber.
GDP estimate does not capture the overall assessment of social welfare. It does not include non- market activities. GDP growth rates should be compared only between economies of similar sizes and conditions. For instance the size of Chinese economy is larger than India. So their growth rates cannot be compared ideally. The new series of classification for GDP estimates consider the government category as general government (purely governmental role) and not an active participant in the economy. In the new series the corporate component also includes any entity which has the characteristic of a corporate one, i.e. it maintains complete accounts (treated as quasi corporate). When GST is in place, GDP calculation will improve. It will be able to capture the entire value chain. 60% of the estimate is contributed by the data from ASI (Annual Survey of Industries). There is scope for further improvement in the GDP measure used at present. Instead of using GDP at factor cost, the approach is based on value added estimations. Gross Value Added (GVA) at basic prices is considered. When production taxes less production subsidies are added to this, it gives GDP at market prices. GVA at basic prices has been adopted by the CSO.
Shri Hemant Bangur, Sr. Vice President, MCCI in his welcome address enquired about the factors which have increased the estimates of GDP despite the unmatched (not so high) growth in various real sectors, the reasons for delays in implementation of infra sector projects and different policy imperatives in the face of falling investments.
The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Shri Ramesh Agarwal, Vice President, MCCI.
Seminar on 'India's Coal Sector Vision 2020'
The Chamber organised a Seminar on 'India's Coal Sector Vision 2020' with Shri Anil Swarup, IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Coal, Government of India as the Chief Guest on 3 November, 2016. The Seminar was also addressed by Shri Rajeev Kumar, IAS, Secretary, Department of Commerce &
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Industries, Government of West Bengal and Shri Kapil Thapar, Executive Director, Fuel Management, CESC Ltd., RP-SG Group.
Shri Anil Swarup said that currently the supply side problems had been taken care of, the problem was more on the demand side. He was of the opinion that earlier all the problems were because of shortage in coal production. Currently, a fall in coal stock at the power plants was due to demand side constraints, rather than supply side problems, he observed. The Coal Secretary congratulated Coal India Ltd. (CIL) Team for a transparent process as also for record coal production over a period of 23 years. CIL had produced 32 Million Tonnes (MT) of coal more in 2014 - 15 over the previous year, the figure increased to 44 MT more in 2015 - 16, registering a growth of 9 p.c over 2014 - 15. He mentioned about 3 contributing factors leading to higher availability of coal, viz. Availability of Land, Environment & Forest Clearance and Evacuation of Coal.
Addressing the House, Shri Rajeev Kumar, IAS, Secretary, Department of Commerce & Industries, Government of West Bengal said that the state Government had adopted competitive bidding concessions on mine & minerals.
Shri Kapil Thapar, Executive Director, Fuel Management, CESC, RP-SG Group complimented the Coal Department and CIL for phenomenal level of production, linkage option of coal and noncoal sector, import substitution through rationalization of linkage as also CIL's commitment on quality. He, however, expressed concern on declining PLF. He stressed on a transparent Distribution Policy Framework.
Earlier in his Welcome Address, Shri Ramesh Agarwal, Senior Vice President of the Chamber said that India to reach the ambitious target of 1.5 BT of domestic coal production by 2020, the focus would have to be on maximum production efficiency as also huge investments in coal, power, steel, cement and infrastructure.
Shri Arun Kumar Jagatramka, Chairman, Coal Standing Committee, MCCI suggested for appointment of an independent regulator to oversee commercial mining by private miners and felt that violations should be dealt with certainty of punishment.
The Seminar ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks by Shri Vishal Jhajharia, Vice President of the Chamber, with special thanks for the Sponsors of the Seminar viz. Shyam Mineral, Shyam Steel Group; Adhunik Industries Ltd.; Gujarat NRE Coke Ltd. and CESC Ltd., RP-SG Group.
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Meeting with Ms. Sana Alshamlan, The National Initiative of Agricultural Development of Bahrain
MCCI organised a meeting with Ms. Sana Al Shamlan on Bahrain International Garden Show 2017 (BIGS 2017) at the Chamber premises on 22 November 2016.
Mr. Surendra Keyal, Hony. Secretary, MCCI in his opening comments said that India has good potential to showcase agri-based products, such as tea, jute and bamboo, at BIGS 2017.
Ms. Al Shamlan stated that she has come to meet with any potential companies in Kolkata who may be interested to expand their business in the region. In this regard, the Bahrain International Garden Show 2017 (BIGS 2017) which will be held from 22 February to 26 February 2017 in Bahrain is seeking participants from India. BIGS 2017 is related to agriculture and gardening with a focus on Food Security and Green Bahrain. She added that Bahrain needs advanced irrigation systems for saving water and it is offering good incentives for opening factories in Bahrain.
Ms. Al Shamlan stated that the organisers of BIGS 2017 will match visiting companies with local business partners. There will be four days for meetings between visitors and local people. About 38,000 people are expected to visit the Show. Visiting companies can directly sell their products to local people at the Show and buyers want to make spot purchases.
A Chamber of Commerce in Bahrain will meet with visitors from Chambers of Commerce in India in February 2017. It was suggested that the organisers provide a Special Package for visitors / exhibitors from the tea and diversified jute product industries of Kolkata. Ms. Al Shamlan was interested in tea and diversified jute products from West Bengal.
The cost of participating in BIGS 2017 is reasonable due to support from the Government of Bahrain. For the 'Shell Scheme', exhibitors will be charged Participation Fees of USD 93 per square metre for a minimum of 9 square metres. The cost for delegates will be about USD 2,500, all inclusive. Interested parties may register on-line for BIGS 2017.
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Session on Registration/Migration from VAT to GST Portal organised by MCCI
The Chamber organised a Session on Registration/Migration of the existing VAT dealers to GST Portal in collaboration with the Directorate of Commercial Taxes, Govt. of West Bengal on 3 December 2016 at the Conference Hall of the Chamber. The Session was well attended by members.
Smt. Nandini Ghosh, Sr. Jt. Commissioner of the Directorate addressed and interacted with the members and made a live presentation on the nitty-gritty of Registration/Migration of the existing VAT registrants on the GST Portal. The Session was chaired by Shri Sanjib Kothari, Co-Chairman of the Standing Committee on State Taxes.
Smt. Ghosh made a live presentation on the GST Portal and each & every item was explained to members and responded to all the queries raised by them. In West Bengal, the Registration process of the existing VAT dealers has started on 30 November 2016 and will be ended on 15 December 2016 along with some other States. However, the window will remain open till 31 January 2017 for those who would miss the chance.
The Directorate has already supplied the ID and Password for all the dealers who have registered upto September 2016 in their respective 'Dealers Profile' through which they have to log-in in the GST Portal for their registration. She also informed that GST system requires specific Java version which may be taken care of.
The GST Council has opened a Help Desk which may be contacted in case of any query at the Telephone No.0124-4688999 or e-mail may be sent to [email protected].
The Session was ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks by Shri Sanjib Kothari.
Interactive Session with Shri Nalin Satyakam Kohli, Advocate, Supreme Court of India & National Spokesperson, BJP
The Chamber organised an Interactive Session with Shri Nalin Satyakam Kohli, Advocate, Supreme Court of India & National Spokesperson, BJP on 'Fundamental Changes in Economic Effort' on 20 December 2016 at the Conference Hall of the Chamber.
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Addressing the house, Shri Kohli said that “India would emerge stronger globally, post demonetization”. He mentioned that India was moving fast towards complete digitization and there would be no stopping of India to become a one of the strongest economic power centers globally. He spoke about three cycles of life viz. a) cycle of survival with food, clothing & shelter; b) cycle of health & education and lastly c) cycle of empowerment. He noted that 3 p.c. of world population was actually truly empowered. Speaking on financial inclusion through Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), which had generated a deposit of around Rs. 37,000 cr. covering more than 25 cr. people, he said that direct benefit transfer had been successful in reducing leakages to a great extent. He also felt that the linking of PMJDY with Aadhar cards and mobile phones had been phenomenal in covering more than 85 cr. people.
On the impact of demonetization on Indian economy, Shrii Kohli mentioned that at least four quarters would be required to analyze the true and full impact of demonetization. Deposits of around Rs. 9000 cr. of old notes were recorded within five days, post demonetization, which increased around Rs. 13 lakh cr. as on date.
Earlier, in his welcome address, Shri Hemant Bangur, President MCCI said that against a backdrop that India might gradually move towards a double digit growth rate, the recent drive of demonetization and ceasing of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency notes as legal tender had stirred up the entire economy, causing much hardship for Micro & small units, real estate, jewellery, retailing, restaurants, logistics, consumer durables & luxury brands, cement, construction industry.
The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks by Shri Ramesh Agarwal, Senior Vice President of the Chamber.
Workshop on 'Use of Information Technology in GST’
MCCI organized a Workshop on 'Use of IT in GST' with CA Abhishek Agarwal, ACA, DISA and Siddhartha Haldar, Business Manager, Tally Solutions Pvt. Ltd on 22 December 2016. The Session was chaired by Shri Sanjib Sanghi, Co-Chairman, Standing Committee on IT and Communication. Shri Sanghi gave brief introduction of the speakers and introduced the subjects. Agarwal explained in detail how the information technology will impact the GST system. He explained the need of upgrading the IT hardware and software to meet the GST requirement as it would necessitate the paper less submission of information in the form of returns. Those companies who are having pan-India presence have to take 37
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Registrations. In the current Indirect tax regime an assessee needs to file only two returns under Service tax, or/and four returns under VAT [WB]. If he is registered under Excise too, then more 12 returns are to be filed.
In the Upcoming Tax Regime GST, rather a business regime, every taxable person who gets registered needs to file 37 (for minimum) returns, until and unless registered under Composite Scheme (Section 8). These 37 returns can be extended to 61 returns annually depending on various other factors. One important thing is also to be considered is that Registration under GST will be state wise. So these returns are to be filed in all those states where assessee had taken registration. So, for an Example if an MNC is operating in all 29 states of the country, then it need to file 29X37=1073 returns annually. Shri Halder explained on how Tally is being tailored to meet the GST requirements. He also made live demonstration of the hidden power of the programme which was not commonly used / known by the users. Shri T.B. Chatterjee, well known taxation expert also interacted with the members.
The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Shri M.C. Das, Deputy Director General, MCCI.
Interactive Session with Shri Arun Tiwari, Chairman & Managing Director, Union Bank of India
MCCI organised a Session with Shri Arun Tiwari, CMD, Union Bank of India on 'Indian Banking: Towards 8 p.c. Growth' at the Chamber premises on 30 December 2016.
Shri Arun Tiwari, CMD, Union Bank of India stated that the condition of Indian banks reflects the state of the overall economy. So, if the economy is not doing well, the balance sheets of banks cannot look good. One problem area prior to demonetization was that the cash to GDP ratio at 12 p.c. in India was higher than that in other countries.
The economy has survived many momentous events of late. First, Brexit came as a shock. When Governor Rajan announced he would step down as Governor of RBI, everyone thought that the markets would then fall, but nothing happened. The electoral victory of President Trump was a huge surprise as he was an outlier as a candidate. The working age group constitutes a huge majority of the Indian population. Given India's population of over 1.2 billion, this jumbo sized Nation will remain on the tarmac for a long time, before it can take off. The Nation is at an inflection point as far as growth is
45 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry concerned. One problem that is affecting growth adversely is that, following demonetization, banks have the liquidity to lend, but not the capital on account of erosion of their net worth by NPAs. 65 p.c. of NPAs come from the infrastructure sector, such as power, metals, etc.
Shri Hemant Bangur, President, MCCI in his opening comments said the outlook for GVA growth for FY 2016-17 has turned uncertain due to the effects of demonetisation. There has been a huge surge in deposits at banks following demonetisation which is being tackled by the RBI.
The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks given by Shri Ramesh Agarwal, Senior Vice President, MCCI.
Interactive Session on “Information Era : Paradigm Shift'' with Shri Ajay Mittal, IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India
The Chamber organised an Interactive Session on “Information Era : Paradigm Shift'' with Shri Ajay Mittal, IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India on 30 December, 2016 at its premises.
Referring to technology as the prime mover in bringing about paradigm changes in the M & E sector, Shri Mittal mentioned about a complete switch over from analog to digitization of television channels. He said that initially the deadline got extended from 31st December, 2015 to 31st December, 2016, which further got extended to 31st January, 2017 in urban areas, and to 31st March, 2017 for rural areas, due to certain court cases.
Stressing on the importance of content and its quality in M & E sector, he was of the opinion that changes in lifestyle had brought in changes in content. He spoke about the need for skilled manpower, training & education for generation of quality content. He also expressed concern over lack of proper content for kids. He felt that 'disruption' in the society was required to disturb the state of equilibrium to bring in something new. With the advent of social media, media started feeling threatened and hence they adopted new technologies for further improvement and development.
Earlier, in his welcome address, Shri Hemant Bangur, President MCCI spoke about the enabling role of the Government to monitor information dissemination, filter information misuse and to
46 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry create convergence for all sections of media viz. electronic & print media, films & entertainment and social media.
The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks by Shri Vishal Jhajharia, Vice President of the Chamber.
Interactive Session with Mr. Craig L. Hall, Consul General of the United States of America in Kolkata
The Chamber organised an Interactive Session on 'Keys to Growing US India Commerce & Trade' with Mr. Craig L. Hall, Consul General of the United States of America in Kolkata and Mr. Jonathan T. Ward, Principal Commercial Officer, Consulate General of USA, Kolkata on 11 January 2017.
Addressing the members, Mr. Craig Hall said that the strategic interest of the US Consulate had been to promote and facilitate Indian investments to USA. The US Consul General mentioned that in 2015, India was USA's 11th largest trade partner having around 1.8 p.c. of total US trade and 18th largest export market for USA. Trade value increased from 19 billion USD in 2000 to 109 billion USD in 2015. Pointing out that Indo US trade had the potential of reaching 500 billion USD, he inquired if the Indian economic conditions were ready for this huge surge. The transition from 109 billion USD to 500 billion USD would mean that economic landscape of India would have to be totally different, he added.
Mr. Jonathan Ward elucidated that the major activities of US Department of Commerce was to get more investors from India to US, close the trade deficit for USA against India, increase trade in goods and services and to facilitate technology transfer. He requested the Chamber to identify Indian delegates to participate in various trade shows. The year 2017 had been made “Tourism Year” by both the Governments for promotion of bilateral tourism, he added. He also mentioned about a few areas like defense, power, restaurants that needed US partnership, with special reference to a 750 million USD investment project in Husk Power Systems in Bihar.
Earlier, in his welcome address, Shri Hemant Bangur, President MCCI spoke about the widespread apprehensions regarding the de-globalization trend as also the problems to be faced by the outsourcing industry in the context of the proposed changes in issuance of H1B visa by USA.
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Shri Ramesh Kumar Agarwal, Chairman, Standing Committee on Foreign Trade mentioned about the negative trade balance by US against India providing a huge scope for growth. He also spoke about important sectors like aviation, jewellery, services, IT software and others.
The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks by Shri Vishal Jhajharia, Vice President of the Chamber.
Interactive Session with Dr. M. S. Sahoo, Chairman, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India
The Chamber organised an Interactive Session with Dr. M. S. Sahoo, Chairman, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India on 'Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 An Insight' on 12 January, 2017.
Addressing the members, Dr. Sahoo termed the Code as “a Regulation for the Regulated, of the Regulated and by the Regulated”, involving 3 parties viz., the Debtors, the Creditors and Insolvency Professionals. The Code would give complete freedom to the creditors to take a conscious decision regarding liquidation of the concerned unit within the stipulated timeframe of 180 days, which could be extended up to another 90 days, on a one time basis, he noted. Focusing on the time parameter, he said that the Code aimed at time bound resolution for insolvency and exit as part of ease of doing business. Elucidating on the implications of the Code, Dr. Sahoo pointed out that the Code would give impetus for the debt market to develop, liquidity to go up and interest rates to be adjusted accordingly. Speaking on the role of Insolvency Professionals (IP), Dr. Sahoo mentioned about on line exams for Registration of IPs to handle the intermediation process with the Regulatory authority. 974 IPs had already been registered till now with the validity period of Registration being 3 years. He expressed satisfaction that the 1st IP Registration had been filed from Kolkata.
Shri Alok Dhir, Founder & Managing Partner, Dhir & Dhir Associates expressed concern over the short time line prescribed at each stage of the insolvency process and felt that these timelines needed a relook. He felt that a timeline of one month given to the IPs for the preparation of important documents like Information Memorandum (IM) would be too short, as the entire future of the concerned company would depend on it. He also felt that the appellate agency Debt Recovery Tribunal had been too overloaded with pending cases for such fast delivery.
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Shri Sumit Binani, Treasurer, ICAI (EIRC) spelt out the process of liquidation under the IBC provisions and felt that the liquidator would face a challenge in collecting information, ascertaining value and the procedures that needed to be developed for successful liquidation of a unit.
Earlier, in her Welcome Address, Smt. Mamta Binani, Chairperson, Standing Committee on Corporate Law & Governance of the Chamber, who chaired the Session, spoke about the key highlights of the Code.
Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks offered by Shri Sanjay Rasiwasia, Chairman, Standing Committee on Banking, Finance & Insurance, MCCI.
Interactive Session with Shri Pawan Kumar Bajaj, Managing Director & CEO, United Bank of India
MCCI organised a Session with Shri Pawan Kumar Bajaj, MD & CEO, United Bank of India on 'Indian Banking: Challenges Ahead' at the Chamber premises on 16 January 2017.
According to Shri Pawan Kumar Bajaj, the growth in GDP for the current fiscal is pegged at 6.8 p.c. to 7.1 p.c., without taking into account the impact of demonetization. Today, banks are flush with funds but they lack lending opportunities as core sector expansion is absent. Everyone is in a 'wait and watch' mode. With limited available lending opportunities, banks cannot replicate their previous credit growth rates of 18 p.c. to 20 p.c. Credit expansion for banks as of March 2017 is expected to be in the region of 7 p.c. to 8 p.c.
Today, banks are focused on recovery and recovery is mostly taking place in the small scale sector. Problem assets are not adequately getting resolved in the corporate sector. A good portion of lending to corporates took place through bank consortium and if some banks do not participate, recovery of a sick asset is not possible. Resolution is taking place in certain stalled projects, particularly in infrastructure.
Shri Bajaj stated that most of the rate cuts by the RBI are behind us. RBI has reduced rates by about 200 bps from the peak and most of the transmission has already taken place. The US Federal Reserve Bank may raise rates by 75 bps in 2017 which leaves the RBI with little elbow room for further rate cuts to prevent capital flight and preempt depreciation of the INR. At most, we may see another rate
49 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry cut by the RBI of 25 bps, and banks may transmit additional rate cuts of 10 to 20 bps.
Shri Vishal Jhajharia, Vice President, MCCI in his opening comments enquired if banks are considering extending credit to MSMEs at a lower rate of interest. Bad loans for banks have increased to 12.3 p.c. in September 2016 and gross NPAs amounted to over Rs 6.5 lac crores.
The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks given by Shri Sanjay Rasiwasia, Chairman, Standing Committee on Banking, Finance & Insurance, MCCI.
Symposium on Union Budget 2017 - 18
The Chamber organised a Symposium on Union Budget 201718 on 2 February, 2017 with Shri N K Poddar, FCA, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India, Shri R S Agarwal, Trustee and Former President of the Chamber and Joint Chairman, Emami Group of Companies, Shri Amitav Kothari, FCA, Former President of the Chamber and Managing Partner, Kothari & Co and Shri Arun Kumar Agarwal, Chairman, Standing Committee on Indirect Taxes, GST and State Taxes of the Chamber.
Shri N K Poddar complimented the Finance Minister for reducing the Corporate Tax on MSMEs to 25 p.c. but felt that the Budget was silent on Limited Liability Partnerships. Corporatisation of entities being high on priority, Partnership firms had been excluded from taking benefits, however, LLPs should have been treated at par with the companies, he said. Moreover, MAT for such units retained at 18 p.c. should also have been proportionately reduced.
Shri R S Agarwal felt that business community should be happy about the policy provisions in the Budget, as this was pro-development. He said that there would be more improvements in the economic system after the roll out of GST from 1st July 2017. He pointed out that the onus of the real estate business lay in going towards Tier II and Tier III cities, instead of concentrating on Tier I and Metros and also on creation of land banks.
Shri Amitabh Kothari pointed out that giving sops to MSMEs and rural sector meant that the Finance Minister accepted that demonetisation had affected these sector and growth was stunted. He felt satisfaction that treating housing as an infrastructure sector would have linkage effects on cement, steel and other sectors.
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Shri Arun Kumar Agarwal emphasized on the issues of Affordable housing, repeal of R & D cess, input credit for NBFCs. On GST, he said that administrative issues on GST and dual control needed to be sorted out as more than 85 p.c. assessees might go to states, leaving the Centre high and dry. Before GST roll out, unclaimed credit should be brought into the account for carrying forward, so that the same was not lost, he noted.
Earlier, in his Welcome Address, Shri Hemant Bangur, President of the Chamber said that the Finance Minister had adopted a very routine approach in presentation of his Budget without much direction to lift the economy from its present state of affairs.
The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks by Shri Ramesh Agarwal, Senior Vice President of the Chamber.
Symposium on GST
The Chamber organised a Symposium on GST on 8 February, 2017 at its premises. The Symposium was chaired by Shri Arun Kumar Agarwal, Chairman, Standing Committee on Indirect Taxes, State Taxes and VAT, who in his Welcome Address gave a brief outline of Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Addressing the members CA Abhisek Tibrewal, Faculty and Resource person on Indirect Taxes & GST, ICSI and ICAI said that GST would take care of Cascading effect of taxes, Complexity in determining the nature of transaction: sale vs. service and Lack of uniformity in provisions and rates. He explained about 101st Amendment of the Constitution of India w.e.f. 08.09.2016 regarding setting up of GST Council (GSTC) & its Secretariat was approved on 12.09.2016 with the Union Finance Minister as Chairman, Revenue Secretary as the ex-officio Secretary of GSTC and CBEC Chairman included as permanent invitee. Power to make laws with respect to GST, would be Concurrent with Centre and State in case of Intra-State Trade and exclusively with 'Centre' in case of Inter-State Trade & Imports. [Deferred date for Petroleum, high speed diesel, motor spirit etc.] Dual GST Model prescribed concurrent Governance of Centre as well as States, uniform policies all over the country with Model Law being basis for taxation for SUPPLY of Goods and / or Services with Seamless Credit flow, as promised, he noted.
“Returns, Payments and Impact of GST on an entity's Technology” by CA Shubham Khaitan,
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Partner, S. Khaitan & Associates, Faculty & Resource person on GST, ICAI, Kolkata. Failure to file Returns Notice issued under GSTR 3A require the defaulter to file the return within 15 days.
The Session ended with a Vote of Thanks by Shri M.C. Das, Deputy Director General of the Chamber.
Workshop on 'ITC & Valuation under GST'
The Chamber organized a Workshop on Input Tax Credit (ITC) and Valuation under GST on 11 February, 2017 at its premises. While delivering the Welcome Address, Shri Arun Kumar Agarwal, Chairman, Standing Committee on Indirect Taxes, State Taxes and VAT of the Chamber gave a brief outline of Goods and Services Tax (GST).
Addressing the members, CA Rohit Surana, Empanelled Faculty on GST in ICAI, Kolkata and Senior Partner, RSPA & Associates spoke about definition of Input, Input Services and Capital Goods under GST. Every registered dealer subject to such conditions and restrictions prescribed in the act is entitled to take credit of input on supply of goods or services to him who are used in the course or furtherance of his business and the said amount will be credited to the electronic credit ledger. The registered dealer should comply with the following to avail input tax credit: Tax Invoice, Debit Note or any other document prescribed in the act, Receipts of goods or services, the tax payment is made, and Return should be filed on or before 20th of every month.
Tax invoice means document showing the description, quantity and value of goods, the tax charged thereon and such other particulars as may be prescribed. When the person is liable for registration for the first time if the person applies for registration within 30 days then input tax credit can be taken in respect of inputs held in stock and inputs contained in semi finished or finished goods held in stock on the day immediately preceding the date from which he becomes liable to pay tax under provisions of this Act.
CA Harsh Gadodia, Empanelled Faculty on GST in ICAI, Kolkata and Partner, SBAC & Associates highlighted that value should be Transaction Value, i.e., Price actually paid or payable for the said supply of Goods/Services , if Supplier and Recipient Not Related. Price should be the Sole Consideration. Transaction value not restricted to price alone, it should include other items also as envisaged in sec 15(2).
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The Session ended with a Vote of Thanks by Shri M C Das, Deputy Director General of the Chamber.
Interactive Session with Shri Ashwani Kumar, Chairman & Managing Director, Dena Bank
The Chamber organized an Interactive Session with Shri Ashwani Kumar, Chairman & Managing Director, Dena Bank on “Indian Banking: Post Demonetisation” on 13 February 2017 at its premises.
“Demonetisation has been a Blessing in Disguise and there will be a Vshaped recovery post demonetization”, said Shri Ashwani Kumar, addressing the members. Although there were disruptions earlier, these would phase out in course of time and would not affect the growth path in the medium term. The basic purpose of demonetization, other than control of terrorism, was to improve tax compliance and to get more people into the tax net, he noted.
Shri Kumar spoke candidly about the acute shortage of manpower in his bank, which was true for all other banks also. He felt that although skilling of people was very important, however, work experience could not be replaced with anything. This challenge would be overcome with proper training and grooming of people, he noted. He also expressed happiness that the employees and staff of Dena Bank had worked efficiently with huge crowd at the bank branches, following demonetisation.
Shri Amitav Kothari, former President of the Chamber felt that NPA problem of the banks, particularly in Iron & Steel, Real Estate and MSMEs got aggravated in course of time, which required timely handling. Post demonetization, around Rs. 14 lakh cr. had been deposited till December 2016, he said. But after that there was no information from RBI, not even in the Budget 201718 Speech, about the actual amount of money that had been deposited in the banks in the form of old currencies.
Earlier, in his Welcome Address, Shri Ramesh Agarwal, Senior Vice President MCCI, mentioned about among others, issue of demonetization, priority lending towards MSMEs, problem of bad debts to be handled by banks and raising of capital to comply with BASEL III norms.
The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks by Shri Sanjay Rasiwasia, Chairman, Standing Committee on Banking & Finance.
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Seminar on Model GST Law
The Chamber, jointly with the Office of the Commissioner of Service Tax II, Kolkata, organized a full day Seminar on Model GST Law on 13 February, 2017. The objective of this Outreach Programme by the Commissionerate of Service Tax II, Kolkata, Central Board of Excise & Customs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India was to reach out to the business community to make them aware of the different provisions of GST.
Shri Partha Roy Chowdhury, IRS, Commissioner, Service Tax II, Kolkata, while inaugurating the Seminar said that GST had been based on the concept of “One India One Nation One Tax”, which would encompass all indirect taxes. He also gave brief details about the series of Outreach Programmes, which would be conducted at districts of West Bengal also.
Shri Arun Kumar Agarwal, Chairman, Standing Committee on Indirect Taxes & GST, MCCI gave a brief overview of Model GST Law. He spoke on Dual GST: CGST & SGST for intrastate activities and IGST for interstate activities and elaborated on the concept of 'supply', being the principal parameter in determining taxes.
Speaking on Return & Registration, Shri Ankan Bose, Supdt. LTU said Migration was the process of issuance of GSTIN (GST Identification Number) to existing taxpayers registered under Excise or Service Tax or State VAT for smooth rollout of GST. Any pursuit of diversified business within the same State i.e. Business Verticals, can be effected with a distinct GSTIN (where the 13th digit would vary).
Shri Ashok Das, Supdt, NACEN said that supply would mean a) Sale, Transfer, Barter, Exchange, License, Rental and Lease b) Importation of Services, c) Transaction between Agent and Principal and d) Deemed supplySchedule I. Imports would not be treated as supplies made in India and GST would be charged through a specific provision on import of goods and services.
On Input Tax Credit, Shri Debashis Guha Biswas, Supdt, Central Excise, Kol V said conditions to be fulfilled a person for availing ITC [Input Tax Credit]. A banking company or a financial institution including a non-banking financial company, engaged in supplying services by way of accepting deposits, extending loans or advances should have the option to either comply with the provisions of sub-section (2), or avail of, every month, an amount equal to 50 p.c. of the eligible input tax credit on inputs, capital goods and input services in that month. The option once exercised should not be 54 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry withdrawn during the remaining part of the financial year.
Shri Manas Bandopadhyay, former Assistant Commissioner spoke on Transitional Provisions, in brief. He said that GST would bring in total business transformation, hence it was important to understand these provisions to ensure that the proposed tax system took care of existing tax credits, payments, without any additional “Tax Cost”.
The Seminar ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks by Shri Sushil Kumar Goyal, Co Chairman, Standing Committee on Indirect Taxes, State Taxes & VAT of the Chamber.
Interactive Session with Shri R P Marathe, MD & CEO, Bank of Maharashtra
The Chamber organized a Interactive Session with Shri R P Marathe, MD & CEO, Bank of Maharashtra on “Revival of Indian Banking & Role of Banks” on 17 February 2017. Addressing the members, Shri Marathe said that “public sector banks should review their business models visavis private & foreign banks, in order to enhance their efficiency and profitability”.
The MD of Bank of Maharashtra informed the House that out of 6 banks that had been making losses, his was one of them. The incremental losses, however, were coming down from INR 391 cr. in Q1 FY 17 to INR 333 cr. in Q2 and further to 183 cr. in Q3, which showed that recovery had been stronger for the bank now, than in the past. Bank of Maharashtra now had a total business of INR 2.4 lakh cr. with INR 1.4 lakh cr. deposit and INR 1 lakh cr. loans, he noted. He said that 60 p.c. of the branches of his Bank were in the state of Maharashtra with no overseas branches and the Bank had been the Convenor of SLBC (State Level Banking Committee) in Maharashtra.
Shri Amitav Kothari, former President of the Chamber spoke about how to handle NPA problem, which was mainly due to certain sectors like Iron & Steel, Real Estate and MSMEs and got aggravated in course of time. After demonetization, banks had enough deposits of SBNs.
Earlier, in his Welcome Address, Shri Hemant Bangur, President MCCI, raised issues like NPA problem and bad debts of banks, demonetization, priority lending towards MSMEs, raising of capital to comply with BASEL III norms and low credit off take.
The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks by Shri Sanjay Rasiwasia, Chairman, Standing Committee on Banking & Finance.
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Interactive Session with Mr. Ma Zhanwu, Consul General for People's Republic of China in Kolkata
MCCI organised a Session with Mr. Ma Zhanwu, Consul General for People's Republic of China in Kolkata on 'Keys to Growing India-China Commerce & Trade' on 22 February, 2017 at the Chamber premises.
Shri Ramesh Agarwal, Sr. Vice President, MCCI in his welcome address mentioned India's growing trade deficits with China. He said that infrastructure will provide largest opportunities for growth of Chinese investors in India.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Ma Zhanwu observed that strong interactions have taken place over last 1000 years between China and India, especially West Bengal. Strong cultural ties with Bengal are promoted through International High Tech Cultural Device Cluster (TCDIC). This comprises popularization of the works of Tagore in China. 'Complete Works of Rabindranath Tagore' has been translated from Bengali to Chinese. Chinese doctors are skilled in acupuncture treatment which is highly demanded by Indians while India's Patanjali health products are popular in China. China has entered into agreement with India regarding manufacture of high speed trains. He had three propositions: 1) A China-India friendship Treaty would help in promoting feelings of trust and friendship. China does not see India as a threat and does not want to impose threat for the latter. 2) A Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between China and India could facilitate trade and commerce. 3) While China can support India in its Look East Policy, India can support China in The Belt and Road Initiative for greater interconnectivity.
The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks given by Shri Arpit Dhandhania, Co-Chairman, Standing Committee on Foreign Trade, MCCI.
Awareness Programme on “Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013”
The Chamber organized an Awareness Programme on “Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013” on 24 February 2017 at the Chamber premises. The programme was addressed by Smt. Sunanda Mukherjee, Hon'ble Chairperson, West Bengal Commission for Women, Shri M.S. Dwivedy, Hon'ble Member (Judicial), West Bengal Human
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Rights Commission and Shri Vishal Kedia, Consultant & Eminent Speaker.
Addressing the members, Smt. Sunanda Mukherjee said that “the Human Rights Commissions and the Commissions for Women are quasijudicial bodies with recommendatory powers and monitoring authorities. They are not sufficiently empowered to ensure justice for the victims”. Smt. Mukherjee was of the opinion that this Law had been a great leap forward where the employer had been given full responsibility to handle cases, which were actually HR issues. The Law had been enacted in 2013, after keeping it pending for 16 years. However, there had been widespread implementation lapses. Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) had not been constituted in many of the companies and the women victims had to face so much agony, as also fear of job loss.
Shri M S Dwivedy pointed out that there were 3 parts of the Law : Legislative History, the Law per se and practice & implementation. He said that sexual harassments at workplace were extremely sensitive in nature as they happened mostly within the four walls of office premises. He referred to the case of A K Chopra vs Apparel Export Promotion Council, in which the senior officer was dismissed. He also highlighted on sensitization of the personnel at the workplace, in addition to awareness programmes.
Shri Vishal Kedia mentioned that the Law had brought in a paradigm shift, so far as women safety was concerned. He, however, said that the enactment was more preventive than curative and it entailed only punishment in terms of fine and no imprisonment. He pointed out that the law was mandatory for all organisations irrespective of its constitution and would include Public Limited Companies, Pvt. Ltd. Companies, Limited Liability Partnerships, Partnership Firms, Trusts, Societies, Associations, Proprietorship and government departments and undertakings.
Earlier, in his Welcome Address, Shri Rishabh Kothari, Chairman, Standing Committee on MSMEs said that poor awareness levels among female employees on sexual harassment at workplace still prevailed and majority of them would still continue with their ordeal of suffering due to fear of professional victimization and loss of reputation.
The Seminar ended with a Vote of Thanks by Shri M C Das, Deputy Director General of the Chamber.
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Seminar on 'Sustainability of MSMEs in West Bengal : The Way Forward'
The Chamber organized a Seminar on “Sustainability of MSMEs in West Bengal : The Way Forward” on Friday, 03 March 2017 at 4:00 PM at its Conference Hall. Shri Kailash Chand Vaid, General Manager, Kolkata Regional Office, Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), and Shri Suresh Karmali, Zonal General Manager (SG) East, National Small Industries Corporation Ltd. (NSIC), Kolkata spoke on the occasion.
Shri Kailash Chand Vaid said that SIDBI complemented and supplemented efforts of banks/ Financial Institutions in meeting diverse credit needs of MSMEs, by way of Indirect / refinance to banks / Financial Institutions for onward lending to MSMEs as also Direct finance in the areas of risk capital, sustainable finance, receivable financing, service sector financing, etc.
Shri Vaid pointed out that direct financing of SIDBI had now reached Rs. 10,000 cr. level. Through direct and indirect finance, SIDBI has made cumulative disbursements of about Rs. 4.50 lakh cr. benefitting about 350 lakh persons, as on March 31, 2016, he added. On CGTMSE scheme for providing collateral loans to MSME, the amount of which had been increased from Rs 1 cr. to Rs. 2 cr., he said that loan sanction and disbursements varied from one bank to another. He felt that most of the banks were not ready to provide such loans due to lack of proper bankable projects as also rising NPAs.
Speaking on the contribution of NSIC in the MSME sector, Shri Suresh Karmali mentioned about various support given by the nodal body like bank credit facilitation, marketing assistance, raw material support at discounted prices, performance and credit ratings and others.
Shri Karmali was of the opinion that most of the benefits were being availed of in South India. The MSMEs of the Eastern Region, including West Bengal should come forward to take benefit of various schemes and facilities, he urged.
Earlier, in his Welcome Address, Shri Rishabh Kothari, Chairman, Standing Committee on MSMEs, MCCI said that in spite of immense potential of the MSMEs sector, the units always faced various challenges, including lack of adequate and timely capital infusion, lack of access to modern technology, lack of access to markets, poor infrastructure and others. The progress of MUDRA bank in West Bengal in the current financial year of 201617 as on 24.02.2017 showed that it had received
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27,54,412 no. of proposals with a total sanction of Rs. 7910.31 cr., out of which Rs. 7709.59 cr. were disbursed, he added.
The Seminar ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks by Shri Akhil Sonthalia, Co Chairman, Standing Committee on MSMEs of the Chamber.
Interactive Session with Shri Kishore Datta, Advocate General for West Bengal
The Chamber organised an Interactive Session with Shri Kishore Datta, Advocate General for West Bengal on “Role of Advocate General” on Tuesday, 07 March 2017 at 5.00 pm at its premises.
Addressing the House, Shri Kishore Datta said that Advocate General is the 1st Law Officer of the State. Primarily, the role of the Advocate General is to uphold the case of the State Government and to advise the State Government on legal matters, as and when sought. He iterated that the position of an Advocate General was a constitutional one, covered under Articles 165 and 177 of the Constitution of India. He mentioned that an Advocate General of a State could well be a private law practitioner, but he could never accept, by virtue of his position, any brief against the State Government. On a query, the Advocate General informed that High Court Legal Assistance Cell had been providing legal services free of cost to those who could not afford to pay hefty fees charged by a private lawyer. Advocate General, however, had no role to play in such cases, he clarified. On another query, he said that low ratio of LitigantJudge and poor infrastructure had contributed towards pendency of cases and delay in getting justice.
Earlier, in his Welcome Address, Shri Ramesh Agarwal, Senior Vice President of the Chamber raised a few queries regarding the role of the Advocate General.
The Seminar ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks by Shri Surendra Keyal, Hony. Secretary of the Chamber. Interactive Session with Shri Rajib Bhattacharya, Regional Provident Fund Commissioner (I), Kolkata
MCCI organised a Session with Shri Rajib Bhattacharya, Regional Provident Fund Commissioner (I), Kolkata on Thursday, 09 March, 2017 at the Chamber premises. Shri Paritosh
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Kumar, Regional Provident Fund Commissioner (II) (Pension), Kolkata made a Powerpoint presentation, outlining the details of Employees Enrolment Campaign 2017 launched by Employees' Provident Fund Organization (EPFO). Shri Bindu Bhusan, Assistant Provident Fund Commissioner (Compliance), Shri Abhijit Ghosh and Shri S.S. Saha, Enforcement Officers, EPFO, Regional Office, Kolkata were also present on the occasion.
Shri Ramesh Agarwal, Sr. Vice President, MCCI in his welcome address pointed out that only about 4 crores are active out of 15 crores members enrolled under EPF. He enquired about EPFO's attempt to address the coverage of casual and contract workers, incentives provided to the employers to promote employment and the possibilities to increase interest rate. He raised a concern regarding hike of wage ceiling for coverage under EPFO's social security schemes.
Speaking on the occasion, Shri Rajib Bhattacharya mentioned the voluntary scheme of the Employees Enrolment Campaign is in full swing and will remain effective till March 31, 2017. The deadline of the scheme might be extended by a month or two. Under the enrolment campaign, an employer, whether already covered or not, can enrol employees who remained outside the EPF ambit for any reason between April 1, 2009 to December 31, 2016 by making a declaration of such employees during the campaign period. Nationally, the EPFO has been looking to add one crore subscribers to its base of 4 crore. Inspectors will not go and verify the details given by the employers' declarations. If companies do not comply voluntarily within the deadline, there could be inspections and penalty imposed afterwards on those who remained outside the net.The EPFO intends to bring about more accountability and transparency and introduced UAN numbers to eliminate duplication of workers. Emphasis on 'Antodaya' will ascertain that the last person in the queue is enabled by the benefits. Kolkata has achieved 153% of their given target of 31000 enrolments in the Campaign till March 31, 2017 by achieving more than 79000 enrolments so far. Kolkata EPFO is targeting 1 lakh subscribers by March. The regional PF office currently has enrollment of 46 lakh subscribers. This has been possible with active participation and cooperation of the stakeholders.
The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks given by Shri Sanjay Rasiwasia, Chairman, Standing Committee on Banking, Finance & Insurance, MCCI.
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Interactive Session with Justice Dr. Satish Chandra, President, Customs, Excise, Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT)
The Chamber organized an Interactive Session with Justice Dr. Satish Chandra, President, Customs, Excise, Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) on “A Journey of Indirect Tax Towards GST”, on 22 March, 2017 at 4.30 PM at the Conference Hall of the Chamber. Shri S K Panda, Chief Commissioner, Service Tax, Kolkata also addressed the Session. Shri P K Chaudhary and Shri Devendra Singh, Members, CESTAT Kolkata were present on the occasion.
Addressing the House, Justice Dr Satish Chandra pointed out that since GST would be totally internet based & system driven, all the communications to the assessees would be made by email. In India, where only 6 p.c. of population paid Income Tax, 16 p.c. being conversant with internet and 25 p.c. of villages not being electrified till now, implementation would be a huge challenge.
He felt that the transitional phase would be very difficult for the small businessmen. Initially, they would have to hire professionals for meeting GST requirements, which would result in increase in overhead costs. He mentioned that in certain cases, particularly for food and medicine having expiry dates, input tax credit might not be available always. Referring to CESTAT, he said that serious efforts had been on to reduce pendency of cases and to resolve all the cases before the onset of GST. He noted that pendency had come down to 88,000 now from 1,04,000 in June 2016, when he took over the Tribunal as the President. Currently, disposal had been more than 100 per day. CESTAT had been making all attempts to clear the cases, despite shortage of funds and manpower resources, he added.
Shri S K Panda pointed out that out of 88,201 taxpayers registered with Central Excise & Service Tax in West Bengal, only 26.7 p.c. had migrated to GST till now. Last date had been extended till 31st March 2017, he added. He felt that there should not be too much of apprehensions, as the situation would improve by 1st July, after the rollout of GST. He said that the law had been made simple, migration easy and both front end and back end should work in tandem with each other. If the system and GST Network worked well, input tax credit (ITC) would be absolutely seamless and hasslefree. This would eventually bring down costs of products and prices.
Shri P K Das, Former Member CESTAT Kolkata said that CESTAT had played a very important role in adjudication and the whole industry & trade had been virtually dependent on the Tribunal for settlement of cases. However, there had been substantial deficit in the adjudication process, at times. He
61 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry was of the opinion that CESTAT being a matured body, should continue to function under GST in the same way. Departmental officers should be trained properly.
Earlier, in his Welcome Address, Shri Hemant Bangur, President of the Chamber, expressed concern over pendency of cases and requested the Tribunal to dispose off all the cases before introduction of GST, which would indeed be a daunting task. He also mentioned that under GST, SMEs would be put on the same playing field with large industries, making things more difficult for the former.
The Session ended with a hearty of Vote of Thanks from Shri Arun Kumar Agarwal, Chairman, Standing Committee on Indirect Taxes, GST and State Taxes, MCCI, who also mentioned about a 5year time period for disposal of pending cases, in his brief address earlier in the Session.
MCCI Ladies’ Forum
Symposium on 'Role of Women's Empowerment in facilitating inclusive economic growth'
MCCI Ladies’ Forum and MCCI jointly organized a Symposium on 'Role of Women's Empowerment in facilitating inclusive economic growth' with Smt. Roopa Ganguly, Film Actress and Social Activist, Smt. Bratati Bandyopadhyay, renowned Elocutionist, Smt. Puja Goenka, Chairperson, YFLO and Smt. Yutika Sanganaria, President, Millennium Mams', on 20 June, 2016 at the Chamber premises.
Smt. Seema Agarwal, Chairperson, MCCI Ladies Forum in her welcome address observed the constraints faced by women in furthering their career after marriage and enquired how social organizations could come forward to represent their problem to the government.
Shri Ramesh Agarwal, Vice President, MCCI in his keynote address, mentioned that women tend to work more in less productive jobs compared to men and only around 20.5 p.c. women are in the organized sector.
Smt. Roopa Ganguly observed that a woman is truly empowered when she chooses to do all her household chores very happily. Reservations should be abolished and should be limited to only school
62 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry students' up to class 10-12. Smt. Ganguly stands for not taking any privilege (getting a job, etc) being a woman, nor being neglected for the reason. Poverty and hunger have to be erased in order to address women's empowerment.
Smt Bandyopadhyay mentioned different women centric poems by eminent poets like Rabindranath Tagore's Sabala and Chitranganda, Kazi Nazrul Islam's Nari (both woman and man have equal role to play in any achievement), Malabika Sengupta's Kathamanabi, Kabita Singha's Ami Shei Meyeti. The poems highlighted the status of woman's self respect.
Smt. Goenka observed that women's empowerment and economic development are closely related issues. YFLO attempts to strengthen women for socio economic development by promoting entrepreneurship and professionalism, creating socio-economic awareness and facilitating advancement through education, information and vocational training both at the grass root and executive level.
Speaking on the occasion, Smt. Sanganaria mentioned that Millennium Mams' was born in 1994 to impart financial education to women which helps them become financially independent, making them aware of opportunities, global economic scenarios and develop their personalities.
The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Smt. Prapti Jhajharia, Co-Chairperson, MCCI Ladies Forum.
Meditation Session
The Chamber organized a Meditation Session with MCCI Ladies Forum on 15 July 2016 with Swami Yadavendrananda, Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture and representatives from The Temple of Inner Wisdom.
We must see divinity in all people. Pure and unselfish love is difficult to attain. When you love a person, you become tolerant towards that individual. Out of love, comes respect for the person. Another outcome of love is that you are accommodating of others. Each and every faith is a path and it is a valid path.
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According to Shri Amit Doshi from Temple of Inner Wisdom, the later is guided by Master Minood. The objective of meditation is to be at peace. The Temple of Inner Wisdom follows breath meditation. The representatives of Temple of Inner Wisdom engaged the audience in breath meditation for 30 minutes with soothing background music.
Earlier in her welcome address, Smt. Seema Agarwal, Chairperson, MCCI Ladies Forum (MLF) mentioned that Meditation opens the heart, expands awareness and ensures wisdom. The purpose of meditation is to stop distractions and make our mind lucid.
The Session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Smt. Seema Agarwal, Chairperson, MCCI Ladies Forum (MLF).
Seminar on 'Empowering Women for Nation building and sustainable development'
MCCI-MCC Ladies Forum organized a Seminar on 'Empowering Women for Nation building and sustainable development' on 20 July, 3 p.m. at Taj Bengal. Dr. Shashi Panja, Hon'ble MoS, Women and Child Development & Social Welfare (IC), Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of West Bengal graced the occasion as Chief Guest. Smt. Sharmistha Mukherjee, Media Panelist, INC, Smt. Agnimitra Paul, Fashion designer and entrepreneur, Smt. Ushoshi Sengupta, Miss Universe India and founder, TES were also present and addressed the Seminar.
Smt. Seema Agarwal, Chairperson, MLF in her welcome address spoke of the empowered women we have today including our dynamic lady Chief Minister, Smt. Mamata Banerjee and several women entrepreneurs. She suggested more presence of women in the Parliament houses.
Dr. Shashi Panja in her address said that West Bengal's policy for Women Empowerment rolled out many supportive policies for them. One of the women oriented policies is the 50% reservation in the Panchayats. She mentioned the convergence of the 'Sabala' and Kanyashree scheme which is supposed to benefit the adolescent girls who are not otherwise privileged. The girls who availed Kanyashree could also enter the Sabala program which teaches them life skills and then they could gain from the much needed school education. Dr. Panja also mentioned the 'Swabalamban' program which is intended to empower the economically underprivileged women of rural areas and the state is working through NGOs to implement this.
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Smt. Sharmistha Mukherjee observed if there was an economic value for the domestic help provided by the women in household chores, then the nation's GDP would have gone up higher. Smt. Mukherjee also mentioned the poor implementation of the gender budget. The Women Reservation bill passed in Rajya Sabha and raised during the UPA I regime should be passed soon by the Lok Sabha. She suggested that smaller community based models of development could be developed and encouraged. Environment and eco-development are important and a holistic approach to development will automatically resolve the gender issue.
Smt. Sureka began her address with the words, “Birth was not our choice. Death is not our choice. But how we live the journey from birth to death is definitely our choice”. A woman performs multiple social roles as daughter, sister, wife and also functional roles of friend, philosopher and a manager. We need a 21st century mentality for women's participation in the economy.
Smt. Agnimitra Paul observed that discrimination against women begins at home where she has to face many restraints for being a woman. She also mentioned the importance of sanitation along with education because many rural schools lack in sanitation facilities which hinders girls from going to school.
Smt. Ushoshi Sengupta said that women are natural multi-taskers and more than gender equality it is important to understand that 'we are not here to compete with men; we are here to do what men cannot do '. Gender equality is not same as gender competition.
The session ended with a hearty Vote of Thanks offered by Smt Prapti Jhajharia, Co- Chairperson, MCCI Ladies Forum.
Session on Healthcare Awareness, 2017
MCCI - MCCI Ladies Forum (MLF) organised a Session on Healthcare Awareness on Thursday, 23 March, 2017 at the Chamber premises. Dr. Moon Chattaraj, Consultant-Dental Surgery and HOD, Dental Department of AMRI Hospitals, Dr. Anushree Agrawal, Consultant Orthodontist and Dr. Amish Shah, Consultant, Dental Surgeon and Implantologist at AMRI Hospitals addressed on Oral Health Awareness. Dr. Somdutt Prasad, MS (Cal), FRCS (Edin), FRCOphth (Lond), FACS (USA), CCST (UK), Eye Surgeon, AMRI Hospitals addressed on The Magical World of Retina.
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Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Moon Chattaraj informed that Root Canal Treatments (RCT) are now painless, done without medication and need just 10 minutes for one tooth if done with hard tissue laser. Cost would be Rs. 8000 per tooth. AMRI Hospitals has the highest number of implant cases in India. Implants are done within 3 hours and a patient takes 3 months for restoration. EMI facilities are also available. Cost of implants depends on materials used and could range between Rs.40,000- Rs. 1 lakh. The team at dental department of AMRI Hospitals, Kolkata has 51 dentists, specialized in different fields. They have a separate special dental treatment room for kids.
Dr. Anushree Agrawal, in her presentation, spoke of different kinds of braces with specific mention of lingual braces which are invisible ones and help in correcting smiles without the braces being noticed. Invisible aligners are also available for smile correction. She also informed that brushing techniques need to be correct and mentioned the availability of automated toothbrush for the same.
Dr. Amish Shah informed the members that dental implants are used to replace lost teeth, restore function, improve aesthetics and increase length of life. During a single bite, pressure exerted by the teeth is 540 pounds/square inch. Again for loose teeth, it becomes 50 pounds/square inch and for dentures it is around 25-37 pounds/ square inch.
Dr. Somdutt Prasad, in his presentation highlighted that the impact of diabetes on the eye, especially the retina, is bad. India has maximum number of patients with diabetic retina. So, with “bad disease, big numbers and bad companions like smoking”, the problem of the retina increases. In England and Wales, after carrying out national screening process for over 20 years, research shows there is no more blindness due to diabetic retinopathy among the working age populations in these regions. Diabetic patients should go through annual screening of their retina. Sudden loss of vision, visualization of cobwebs and flashes are early signs for retinal problems.
Smt. Seema Agarwal, Chairperson, MCCI Ladies Forum in her welcome address mentioned the need for prevention rather than cure and enquired about the practices which can help in sustaining better oral health and good vision.
The Session ends with a hearty Vote of Thanks from Smt. Prapti Jhajharia, Co-Chairperson, MCCI Ladies Forum.
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OTHER IMPORTANT EVENTS
Corporate Management Quiz 2016 with Quiz Master, Dr. Suman K Mukerjee. After a The Chamber organized the Corporate gruelling Q & A session, Ezii Grocery Management Quiz-2016 with Calcutta Club in represented by Rabi Sankar Saha and Sampad association with The Telegraph on Saturday, Mishra took the first place. The second place was 09.04.2016 at The Calcutta Club. The quiz taken by Srei Infrastructure Finance represented contest was attended by 55 corporate teams from by Arijit Hajra and Ketan Mukhija. The team different segments of corporate houses and comprising of Manish Kumar Shroff and Sarangi, industries this year. The Quiz provided an Chairman of Tea Board to a Seminar to be opportunity for corporate houses, professionals, organized by the Chamber for 'Restructuring Tea members, CA firms, management students and Production in West Bengal Road Ahead'. the City's elite to come together for an enjoyable day of intellectual stimulation and networking. Courtesy Call to Smt. Mamata Banerjee, The Quiz Contest was a great success and well Hon'ble Chief Minister, West Bengal attended by N. K. Dujari from Linc Pen & Plastics On 24.05.2016, Shri Manish Goenka, President came third. The first, second and third teams along with Shri Aditya V. Agarwal, Past received cash prizes of Rs 70,000, Rs 50,000 and President, Shri Vishal Jhajharia, Committee Rs 30,000, respectively. Member and Shri S. Roy, Asst. DG made a courtesy call to pay respect to Smt. Mamata Meeting with Shri S. Soundararajan, Director Banerjee, Hon'ble Chief Minister, West Bengal of Tea Development, Tea Board of India and congratulating on her historic victory in the On 27.04.2016, Shri Sanjay Rasiwasia, Assembly Election. Chairman, Standing Committee on Agriculture and Food Processing, and Shri S. Roy, Asst. DG Meeting with Dr. Partha Chatterjee, Hon'ble of the Chamber visited Tea Board to meet Shri S. Minister of Higher Education, School Soundararajan, Director of Tea Development, Education & Parliamentary Affairs, Govt. of Tea Board of India for inviting Shri Santosh West Bengal members, media friends and distinguished On 29.05.2016, Shri Samir Saraff, Chairman, guests. Eight finalists namely, Ezii Grocery, Srei Standing Committee on Education, MCCI and Infrastructure Finance, Linc Pen & Plastics, L&T Shri S. Roy, Asst. DG met Dr. Partha Chatterjee, Metallurgical & Material Handling, Hindustan Hon'ble Minister of Higher Education, School Motors, Edible Agro Products, EIRC of ICAI and Education & Parliamentary Affairs, Govt. of Desai Haribhakti & Co. were selected and they West Bengal and invited him for a Seminar on took centre stage in the evening for the final round Education during the month of July 2016.
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Meeting with Swapan Debnath, Hon'ble State of West Bengal. Minister of State for MSME & Animal Resources Development (IC), Govt. of West Meeting with Shri Jyotipriya Mallick, Hon'ble Bengal Minister for Food & Supplies, Govt. of West On 31.05.2016, Shri Rishabh Kothari, Chairman Bengal of the MSME, MCCI along with Shri S. Roy, On 06.06.2016, Shri Sanjay Rasiwasia, Asst. D.G met Shri Swapan Debnath, Hon'ble Chairman, Standing Committee on Agriculture & Minister of State for MSME & Animal Resources Food Processing, MCCI and Shri S. Roy, Asst. Development (IC), Govt. of West Bengal at DG met Shri Jyotipriya Mallick, Hon'ble Khadi Bhawan and submitted a Memorandum on Minister for Food & Supplies, Govt. of West 'Rising Bengal : Land of Opportunities for Bengal and submitted a Memorandum on 'Rising MSMEs' from the Chamber for kind Bengal : Land of Opportunities' on behalf of the consideration of the Hon'ble Minister. Chamber for kind consideration of the Hon'ble Minister. Meeting with Shri Purnendu Basu, Hon'ble Minister for Agriculture, Govt. of West Bengal Felicitation of Hon'ble Chief Minister of West On 02.06.2016, Shri Sanjay Rasiwasia, Bengal Chairman, Standing Committee on Agriculture & A joint Felicitation Programme was organized by Food Processing, MCCI and Shri S. Roy, Asst. 9 (Nine) Chambers of Commerce & Industry in DG called on Shri Purnendu Basu, Hon'ble Kolkata on 07.06.2016 at The Lalit Great Eastern, Minister for Agriculture, Govt. of West Bengal Kolkata to felicitate Smt. Mamata Banerjee, and submitted a Memorandum on 'Rising Bengal Hon'ble Chief Minister of West Bengal on her : Land of Opportunities' on behalf of the Chamber phenomenal successive victory in the recently for kind consideration of the Hon'ble Minister. held Assembly Election in the State. The programme was a huge success and well attended Meeting with Shri Moloy Ghatak, Hon'ble by her Cabinet colleagues, other Sr. Government Minister of Labour & Law, Govt. of West officials, and media friends. President, MCCI Bengal addressed the Session congratulating on her On 06.06.2016, Shri Sanjay Rasiwasia, resounding victory. Chairman, Standing Committee on Agriculture & Food Processing, MCCI and Shri S. Roy, Asst. Meeting with Shri Suvendu Adhikari, Hon'ble DG called on Shri Moloy Ghatak, Hon'ble Minister for Transport, Govt. of West Bengal Minister of Labour & Law, Govt. of West Bengal On 08.06.2016 Shri Manish Goenka, President, and invited him to the Chamber during July 2016 Shri Aditya V. Agarwal, Past President and his for a Session on the Labour related issues in the team (Emami group) along with Shri Lavesh
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Poddar, Committee Member, Shri Ashok Kumar 'MEET THE PRESS' Newly Elected Agarwal, Shri Navin Gupta, Shri Yogesh President Agarwal, and Shri S. Roy, Asst. DG called on Shri On 19.10.2016, the First Press Meet was held for Suvendu Adhikari, Hon'ble Minister for the newly elected President of the Chamber, Shri Transport, Govt. of West Bengal and submitted a Hemant Bangur, who is the Chairman of Memorandum on 'Rising Bengal : Land of Joonktollee Tea & Industries Ltd. He mentioned Opportunities for Transport Sector' on behalf of that the role of the Chamber was to give a the Chamber for kind consideration of the collective voice to its members to advance the Hon'ble Minister. The delegation also invited the interest of Trade and Industry. SMEs are having Hon'ble Minister for a Seminar on 'Development the highest rate of economic value addition of Transport in West Bengal Road Ahead'. (EVA). Given the global economic slowdown, the possibility of attracting large investment in Meeting with Dr. Gurudas Gupta, Director, the State at this juncture is not very likely, hence MDI, Murshidabad the chamber's aim is to develop a blue print to On 28.07.2016 Dr. Gurudas Gupta, Director, help accelerate development of SME sector in our MDI, Murshidabad visited with Shri Smarajit State and region. The introduction of the goods Mitra, member of Standing Committee on and services tax (GST) will structurally alter the Education, MCCI to discuss the potential of way business is done. The Chamber shall have developing the Entrepreneurship Development multiple thought shops on the impact and Cell (EDC) at MDI in association with the implications of GST, which shall culminate in Chamber. regional level conference to map the new profile of doing business under the GST. The way Meeting at WBIDC on Bengal Global Business forward for West Bengal should be to focus on Summit 2017 high value agriculture, horti-culture and On 16.09.2016 Shri Surendra Keyal, Hony. pisciculture activities so as to provide higher Secretary, MCCI and Shri Tushar Basu, return per acre of land and greater absorption of Chairman, Standing Committee on HRD & semi-skilled and unskilled work force in this Enterpreneurship, MCCI attended a meeting at segment. The abundant availability of resources WBIDC on Bengal Global Business Summit- namely Land, Water, Electricity and Labour 2017. The meeting was chaired by the Principal combined with relatively low cost of Capital at Secretary, C&I Department, Govt. of West present needs to be exploited to its full potential to Bengal, representatives from ICC, Bengal bring back manufacturing to this part of the Chamber, CII, ASSOCHAM, FICCI, country. NASSCOM and KPMG.
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Homage Meeting for Late Hira Lall Somany Association, East Zone, among others. A 2minute A Meeting was held to pay HOMAGE to the Late silence was observed as a mark of respect for the Hira Lall Somany, former President departed soul. ASSOCHAM and former President & Trustee of the Chamber, on 24.11.2016 at the Somany Homage Meeting for Late Gobind Prasad Conference Hall of the Chamber, which had been Agrawal named after him. The Late Hira Lallji's A homage meeting for Late Gobind Prasad innumerable achievements made his life Agrawal was organized by his son Shri Arvind memorable to all around him. The purpose of this Agrawal at Haldiram Banquets, 3rd Floor, 24, Meeting was to celebrate the life and Ballygunge Park, Kolkata 700 019 on 19 achievements of the Late Somany, who had deep January, 2017. The President, Sr. Vice President, links with the Chamber. A 2minute silence was Vice President along with Shri Surendra Keyal, observed to pay tribute to the departed soul. Shri Rajaram Chowdhury, Shri A.R. Sonthalia, Shri Suresh Jhunjhunwala, Shri S.S. Bagaria, Homage Meeting for Late Bijoy Kumar Shri K.B. Agarwala, Shri Santosh Saraf, Shri Swaika Arun Kumar Saraf and other Members paid A Meeting was held to pay HOMAGE to the Late homage to the departed soul. Bijoy Kumar Swaika, former President of the Chamber and a Member of the Committee, on Bengal Global Business Summit - 2017 30.12.2016 at the Somany Conference Hall of the The Summit held on 20-21 January, 2017 was Chamber. The Meeting was attended by inaugurated by H.E. Shri Pranab Mukherjee, distinguished members of the Chamber and Hon'ble President of India organized by the guests. The purpose of this Meeting was to Government of West Bengal at Milan Mela celebrate the achievements of the Late Swaikaji, Grounds, Kolkata. Shri Hemant Bangur, who was actively involved in Chamber activities President, Shri Ramesh Agarwal, Sr. Vice for more than 5 decades. The Late Swaikaji was President, MCCI along with Shri Surendra Keyal, the President of the Chamber in 197475 and had Shri K.B. Agarwala, Shri Santosh Saraf, Shri been a member of the Managing Committee of Arun Kumar Saraf and other members attended ASSOCHAM during 199495 to 20012002 from the Inaugural Session. On the second day of The Eastern India representing Trade. He was also the Bengal Global Business Summit 2017, two President/ Chairman of a few associations MOUs were signed by MCCI. First one was The including East India Oil Industry & Trade Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Association, Indian Council of Economic Affairs, Commerce & Industry (FBCCI), Dhaka, Calcutta, Central Organisation for Oil Industry & Bangladesh in order to promote trade & business trade, Bombay, Vanaspati Manufacturers' between India and the Bangladesh on basis of
70 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry mutual benefits and cooperation. The MOU was Mitra, Hon'ble Finance Minister, Govt. of West signed by Shri Abdul Matlub Ahmad, President, Bengal on 28 January 2017 at the Interactive FBCCI. The other one was with the Chamber of Session held at the Town Hall. Shri Ramesh Commerce and Industry in Katowice, Poland agarwal, Sr. Vice President, accompanied the with a view to strengthening friendly relations President. and promoting exchanges and cooperation in the spheres of trade, economy and technology Conference on 'Emerging Technologies and between Poland and India. The MOU was signed Application for Steel Making, Continuous by Mr. Tomasz Zjawlona, Vice President and Dy. Casting, Rolling & Finishing Mills' General Director at a special ceremony hosted by Poland delegation at ITC Sonar bangle, Kolkata. A Conference on 'Emerging Technologies and Following dignitaries from Poland delegation Application For Steel Making, Continuous were also present during the meeting: Mr. Casting, Rolling & Finishing Mills' was jointly Kazimierz Karolczak, Ambassador of Republic organized by MCCI and Steel & Metallurgy, a of Poland in India, New Delhi, Mr. Tomasz leading techno-commercial journal of the steel Wisniewski, Counsellor of Economic Co- and metal at The Gateway Hotel, Kolkata on 17 operation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Poland February, 2017. Shri Lalit Beriwala, Chairman, and Shri Mohan Goenka, Hony. Consul General Standing Committee on Steel, MCCI presided of Poland in Kolkata. Both the MOUs were over the Session. The Conference was well- signed by Shri Surendra Keyal, Hony. Secretary, attended by the members, guests and media MCCI on behalf of the Chamber. friends.
President's visit to Town Hall for presenting Pre-Budget Memorandum Shri Hemant Bangur, President, MCCI presented the Pre-Budget memorandum before Dr. Amit
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PRESS COMMUNIQUE
19.05.2016 Management Consultant, and Shri Anamitra A press communiqué was made conveying the Chatterjee, trainer and Faculty at MCCI. Chamber's hearty congratulation for the resounding electoral victory of Smt. Mamata 20.06.2016 Banerjee as the Hon'ble Chief Minister of West A press communiqué was released on a Bengal. MCCI expressed confidence in her Symposium on 'Role of Women's Empowerment dynamic leadership, believing that a new era of in facilitating inclusive economic growth' with reforms and industrial growth will be ushered in Smt. Roopa Ganguly, Film Actress and Social the state. Activist, Smt. Bratati Bandopadhyay, renowned Elocutionist, Smt. Puja Goenka, Chairperson, 27.05.2016 YFLO and Smt. Yutika Sanganaria, President, A press communiqué was made on the swearing- Millennium Mams' held on 20 June, 2016 at in ceremony of Smt. Mamata Banerjee as Chief MCCI. Minister of West Bengal for the second time. The chamber pledged full cooperation and support to 24.06.2016 the Hon'ble Chief Minister and her Council of A press release was made on the State Budget for Ministers in their development initiatives. 2016-17 on 24 June, 2016. Shri Manish Goenka, President of the Chamber mentioned it to be a 09.06.2016 “people's budget” in all respects. He supported A press communiqué was made on a Special State's support to indigenous industry, Session with Shri Suresh Prabhu, Union Minister infrastructure and urban development and for Railways on 'Restructuring Indian Railways: extension of the Industrial Promotion Assistance Roadmap for Sustainable Development' at Hotel Scheme. Oberoi Grand, Kolkata on 9 June, 2016. Shri Prabhu charted out the growth path for Indian 25.06.2016 Railways in future. A press release was made on a Seminar on “Global situation impacting local businesses 13.06.2016 even if there is no foreign trade connect” on 25 A press communiqué was made on the June, 2016 at Chamber. Shri Nimesh Rathod, a Symposium on Executive Coaching with Prof thinking catalyst and Shri Rup Narayan Bose, a (Dr.) Abhishek Goel, Behavioral Science Group, banker, an author and a specialist speaker were IIMC, Shri Nabendu Gupta, Co-Founder, NR also present as speakers. Performance Edge, Dr. Ruma Basu Gomes,
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27.06.2016 July, 2016, with Dr. Shashi Panja, MOS, Dept of A press communiqué was made on an Interactive Women and Child Development & Social Session with Mr. Sikapale Henry Chinzewe, Welfare (IC) and Health and Family Welfare, Ambassador of Zambia to India on “Doing GoWB, Smt. Sharmistha Mukherjee, Media Business with Zambia” on 27 June, 2016 at Panelist, INC, Smt. Anupama Sureka, Chamber. Priority areas for Zambia include Chairperson, FLO, Smt. Agnimitra Paul, Fashion agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, Designer and Entrepreneur, and Smt. Ushoshi infrastructure and energy. Sengupta, Miss Universe India and founder, TES.
09.07.2016 29.07.2016 A press release was made on the meeting with A press release was made on an Interactive Shri Sudarshan Bhagat, Hon'ble Minister of State Session with Shri Binod Kumar, IAS, for Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Govt of Commissioner of Commercial Taxes and Shri India on 9 July, 2016 at Chamber. Dr. Pradeep Adesh Kumar, Addl. Commissioner, of Kumar Mazumdar, Chief Advisor to the Chief Commercial Taxes on 29 June, 2016 at Chamber. Minister of West Bengal for Agriculture & Allied Shri Binod Kumar invited comments on the sectors were also present on the occasion. Model GST Law brought out in the public domain by the Union Finance Ministry. 12.07.2016 A press release was made to cover a Seminar on 04.08.2016 “Innovation and Entrepreneurship in AYUSH” A press communiqué was made to reveal that Shri on 12 July, 2016 at the Chamber. Swami Manish Goenka, President of the Chamber on 4 Yadavendrananda from Ramakrishna Mission August, 2016, complimented the introduction of Institute of Culture, Golpark, Dr. Biswajit Bera, Goods & Services Tax (GST) and its usefulness in Secretary, tea Research Foundation, Dr. G.P. bringing the landmark tax reform which would S a r k a r, P r e s i d e n t , Ay u r v e d i c D r u g give an instant green signal to growth. Manufacturers' Association of India, Ms. Mousumi Nag, Mousumi Wellness Exports and 23.08.2016 others were present to address on the occasion. A press communiqué was organized by the Chamber on an Interactive Session with Shri M.T. 20.07.2016 Krishna Babu, IAS, Chairman, Kolkata Port A press communiqué was made on a Seminar Trust held on 23 August, 2016. The session organized by MCCI-MCCI Ladies Forum on discussed the challenges faced by KoPT and its 'Empowering Women for Nation Building and prospects. Sustainable Development' at Taj Bengal on 20
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31.08.2016 Iceland to India on “Doing Business with A press communiqué was made where Shri, Iceland” on 22 September, 2016 at MCCI. Manish Goenka, President of the Chamber mentioned he is pleased with the Supreme Court 23.09.2016 verdict on August 31, 2016 which set aside the A press release was made on an Interactive land acquisition by the West Bengal Government Session with Shri Ashish Kumar Chauhan, in 2006 asking it to take possession of the land Managing Director & CEO, Bombay Stock and distribute the same to original land owners Exchange on “A Buoyant Stock Market is a within 12 weeks. Symbol of Economic Power” on 23 September 2016 at the Chamber. 08.09.2016 A press communiqué was made on an Interactive 02.10.2016 Session with Shri Ghanshyam Singh, General A press release was made on 115th Annual Manager, Eastern Railway on the theme “Eastern Session of the Chamber with Shri Piyush Goyal, Railway Prospects & Challenges” on 8 Hon'ble Minister of State (IC) for Power, Mines, September, 2016 at MCCI. Coal and New & Renewable Energy Sources, Govt. of India as the Chief Guest on 2 October 13.09.2016 2016. A press release was composed on the meeting with Shri N.K. Singh, Former MP and Chairman, 03.10.2016 Fiscal responsibility & Budget Management A press communiqué was made on election of (FRBM) Review Committee on “What will it new President of the Chamber, Shri Hemant take for 10 percent growth” on 13 September, Bangur at the 115th Annual General Meeting of 2016 at MCCI. the Chamber.
18.09.2016 04.10.2016 A press release was made on a Special Session A press communiqué was made on Shri Hemant with Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal, Hon'ble Minister Bangur, President of the Chamber congratulating of State for Finance & Corporate Affairs, the newly constituted Monetary Policy Government of India on 18 September, 2016 at Committee (MPC) headed by Shri Urjit Patel, The Park, Kolkata. Governor, RBI on their first Monetary Policy on 4 October, 2016. 22.09.2016 A press release was made on Interactive Session 03.11.2016 with H.E. Mr. Thorir Ibsen, Ambassador of A press communiqué was made on a Seminar on
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“India's Coal Sector Vision 2020” with Shri Anil of the King of Bahrain, President of The Swarup, IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Coal, Govt. Consultative Council of the National Initiative of India as Chief Guest. for Agricultural Development at the Chamber on 22 November, 2016. 09.11.2016 A press communiqué was made where 24.11.2016 Merchants' Chamber of Commerce & Industry A press communiqué was made on a condolence welcomes the initiative of the Central meeting regarding death of Shri H.L. Somany, Government to withdraw Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 former President ASSOCHAM and former notes as announced by the Hon'ble Prime President & Trustee of the Chamber on 24 Minister on 8 November, 2016. November 2016.
14.11.2016 03.12.2016 A press communiqué was made on passing away A press communiqué was made on a presentation of Shri Hira Lall Somany, Chairman Emeritus of held at the chamber on Registration/Migration Somany Ceramics Ltd., and the well known from VAT to GST System in collaboration with manufacturer of ceramic tiles, sanitary ware and the Directorate of Commercial Taxes, Govt. of chrome fittings on 14 November, 2016 in New West Bengal. Delhi. 20.12.2017 17.11.2016 A press communiqué was made on Interactive A press release was made on the collaboration of Session with Shri Nalin Satyakam Kohli, Merchants' Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Advocate, Supreme Court of India & National Kolkata and MDI Murshidabad in area of Spokesperson, BJP on “Fundamental Changes in Entrepreneurship Development as the Economic Effort” and spoke on the impact of importance of entrepreneurship in fuelling demonetization. economic growth and generating employment held on 16 November 2016. 26.12.2016 A press communiqué was made on a condolence 22.11.2016 meeting regarding death of Shri Bijoy Kumar A press communiqué was made on an Interactive Swaika, Chairman & Managing Director, Swaika Session with Ms. Sana Al Shamlan, of The Vanaspati Products Ltd. National Initiative of Agricultural Development of Bahrain established by Her Royal Highness, 30.12.2016 Princess Sabeeka Bint Ibrahim Al Kharlifa, wife A press communiqué was made on an Interactive
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Session with Ahri Ajay Mittal, IAS, Secretary, 10.02.2017 Ministry of IT, Government of India on A press communiqué was made on the Chamber's 'Information Era: Paradigm Shift'. acceptance of Budget proposals for 2017-18 as presented by Dr. Amit Mitra, Hon'ble Finance 31.12.2016 Minister, Government of West Bengal. A press communiqué was made on Interactive Session with Shri Arun Tiwari, Chairman and 13.02.2017 Managing Director, Union Bank of India on A press communiqué was made on an Interactive 'Indian Banking : Towards 8 p.c. growth'. Session with Shri Ashwani Kumar, Chairman & Managing Director, DENA Bank on ' Indian 11.01.2017 Banking: Post Demonetisation'. A press communiqué was made on an Interactive Session with Mr. Craig L. Hall, Consul General of 14.02.2017 the United States of America in Kolkata and Mr. A press release was made on the Seminar on Jonathan T. Ward, Principal Commercial Officer, Model GST Law organized by the Chamber Consulate General of USA, Kolkata. jointly with the Office of the Commissioner of Service Tax II, Kolkata. 12.01.2017 A press communiqué was made on an Interactive 17.02.2017 Session with Dr. M.S. Sahoo, Chairman, A press communiqué was made on an Interactive Bankruptcy Board of India on 'Insolvency and Session with Shri R.P. Marathe, MD & CEO, Bankruptcy Code, 2016 - An Insight today'. Bank of Maharshtra on 'Revival of Indian Banking & Role of Banks'. 16.01.2017 A press communiqué was made on an Interactive 22.02.2017 Session with Shri Pawan Kumar Bajaj, Managing A press communiqué was made on an Interactive Director and CEO of United Bank of India on Session with Mr. Ma Zhanwu, Consul General for 'Indian Banking: Challenges Ahead'. People's Republic of China in Kolkata on 'Keys to Growing India-China Commerce & Trade'. 01.02.2017 A press communiqué was made as a reaction of 07.03.2017 Shri Hemant Bangur, President, MCCI for the A press communiqué was made on an Interactive Union Budget 2017-18. Session with Shri Kishore Datta, Advocate General for West Bengal on 'Role of Advocate General'.
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09.03.2017 President, Customs, Excise, Service Tax A press communiqué was made on an Interactive Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) on 'A Journey of Session with Shri Rajib Bhattacharya, Regional Indirect Tax Towards GST'. Provident Fund Commissioner (I), Kolkata. 23.03.2017 14.03.2017 A press communiqué was made on a session on A press communiqué was made to inform that Healthcare Awareness with Dr. Moon Chattaraj, 'MCC Chamber of Commerce & Industry' has Dental Consultant and Implantologist and HOD, now been named as 'Merchants' Chamber of Dental Department, AMRI Hospitals and Dr. Commerce and Industry'. Somdutt Prasad, Eye Surgeon, AMRI Hospitals. Dr. Anushree Agrawal, and Dr. Amish Shah, 22.03.2017 Dental Consultants of AMRI Hospitals were also A press release was made on an Interactive present. Session with Justice Dr. Satish Chandra,
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REPRESENTATIONS / MEMORANDA
Sl. No. Date Representation / Representation / Memorandum sent to Memorandum sent to
1. 22.04.2016 S h r i A r n a b K u m a r Requesting to relax restrictions on issue of C h o w d h u r y, G e n e r a l Ten Rupee Notes Manager, Issue Department, Reserve Bank of India
2. 10.05.2016 Director (Tax & Legislation) - Suggestions for the framework for III, CBDT Computation of Book Profit for levy of Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT) u/s.115JB of the Income-Tax Act, 1961 (Act) for Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) compliant companies in the year of adoption and thereafter
3. 11.05.2016 Dr. Hasmukh Adhia, IAS, Requesting that ‘Quoting of Permanent Secretary, Dept. of Revenue, Account Number of the Co-owners-HP of IT Ministry of Finance, Govt. of Returns’ may be made ‘Optional’ India and Shri Atulesh Jindal, Chairman, CBDT, New Delhi
4. 28.05.2016 S h r i A t u l e s h J i n d a l , Suggestions on the ‘Manner of determination Chairman, CBDT of Fair Market Value and reporting requirement for Indian concern – Indirect transfer, provisions – Sec.9(1) of the Income Tax Act. 1961’ with a request to give due consideration before finalizing of the rules for determination of fair market value.
5. 01.06.2016 Shri Swapan Debnath, Memorandum on ‘Rising Bengal : Land of Hon’ble Minister of State for Opportunities for MSMEs’ MSME & Animal Resources Development (IC), Govt. of West Bengal
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6. 02.06.2016 Shri Purnendu Basu, Hon’ble Memorandum on ‘Rising Bengal : Land of Minister for Agriculture, Opportunities’ Govt. of West Bengal
7. 06.06.2016 Shri Jyotipriya Mallick, Memorandum on ‘Rising Bengal : Land of Hon’ble Minister for Food & Opportunities’ Supplies, Govt. of West Bengal
8. 08.06.2016 Shri Suvendu Adhikari, Memorandum on ‘Rising Bengal : Land of H o n ’ b l e M i n i s t e r f o r Opportunities Transport, Govt. of West Bengal
9. 13.06.2016 Shri Binod Kumar, IAS, Memorandum for the State Budget, 2016-17 C o m m i s s i o n e r o f Commercial Taxes, GoWB
10. 22.06.2016 Shri H.K. Dwivedi, IAS, Requesting for appointment of officers at Principal Secretary, Dept. of Directorate of Electricity Duty Finance & Excise, Govt. of West Bengal
11. 04.07.2016 Shri Binod Kumar, IAS, Requesting for ‘Re-introduction of the C o m m i s s i o n e r o f facility for making yearly advance payment Commercial Taxes, GoWB of Profession Tax by Registered Employers’
12. 03.08.2016 Shri Tapan Ray, IAS, Requesting to exempt Section 8 Companies Secretary, Ministry of from CSR provisions Corporate Affairs, Govt of India
13. 10.08.2016 Ms. Rani Singh Nair, IRS, Seeking clarification on Income Declaration Chairperson, Central Board of Scheme, 2016. Direct Taxes
14. 22.08.2016 Dr. Rathin Chakravarty, Requesting to take suitable measures to Mayor, Howrah Municipal remove the water logging, ensure proper Corporation drainage and smooth movement of vehicles at Gaushala Road so that industrial activities
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in the area are not adversely affected.
15. 24.08.2016 Dr. Aruna Sharma, IAS, Requesting to ensure that export duty on iron Secretary, Ministry of Steel, ore is not removed. Govt of India
16. 04.10.2016 Dr. Krishna Gupta, I.A.S, Regarding adversely affected export cargo Principal Secretary, Dept. of shipments due to recent restrictions in traffic Commerce & Industries, in Kolkata Port & neighbouring areas Govt. of West
17. 14.10.2016 Shri Najib Shah, Chairperson, Requesting him to resolve the difficulties CBEC faced in submission of Service Tax Return for the Half-yearly period April-September 2016.
18. 20.10.2016 Shri Rasmi Ranjan Das, Joint Pre-Budget Memorandum 2017-18 on Direct Secretary, Tax Policy & Taxes Legislation, CBDT, Ministry of Finance, Govt. of India
19. 11.11.2016 Dr. Urjit R. Patel, Governor, Requesting to raise the limit of withdrawing Reserve Bank of India money as it would affect the business community where payment is made cash for wages in un-organised sector
20. 22.12.2016 Shri Arun Jaitley, Hon’ble Requesting action to resolve the issue of Minister for Finance & amicable settlement under the IDS, 2016. Corporate Affairs, Govt of India
21. 24.12.2016 Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal, Requesting action to resolve the issue of Hon’ble Minister of State for amicable settlement under the IDS, 2016. Finance, Govt. of India
22. 29.12.2016 Dr. Amit Mitra, Hon’ble Requesting to direct appropriate authorities Minister of Finance, Excise, to expedite the process of issue of Commerce & Industries, Registration Certificates (Part-I and Part-II) Govt. of West Bengal and Dr. to help entrepreneurs project brighter image Krishna Gupta, IAS, Principal of the state to the investors
80 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry
S e c r e t a r y , D e p t . o f Commerce & Industries, Govt. of West Bengal
23. 03.01.2017 Shri Arun Tiwari, Chairman Requesting appropriate action against parties & Managing Director, Union involved in a case of illegal mortgage of Bank of India immovable property.
24. 06.01.2017 Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal, Requesting necessary clarification and Hon’ble Minister of State for direction to law enforcing agencies for not Finance, Govt. of India and creating any hindrances on possession and Shri K.L. Maheshwari, movement of cash by IDS declarants who are P r i n c i p a l C h i e f i n possession of necessary proof of Commissioner of Income Declaration. Tax, West Bengal & Sikkim
25. 25.01.2017 Smt. Smaraki Mahapatra, Pre-Budget Memorandum, 2017-18 IAS, Commissioner of (Revised) Commercial Taxes, Govt. of West Bengal
26. 25.01.2017 Shri Ashok Das, Joint Requesting assistance in realization of export Secretary, Latin America & payments Caribbean Division, Ministry of External Affairs, GoI and Dr. Neena Malhotra, Joint Secretary, East & Southern Africa Division, Ministry of External Affairs, Govt. of India
27. 25.01.2017 Shri A.K. Bhalla, IAS, Requesting to take necessary action and note Director General of Foreign the change of name of the chamber from Trade, Ministry of Commerce MCC Chamber of Commerce and Industry to & Industry, Govt. of India Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
28. 27.02.2017 Smt. Smaraki Mahapatra, Pre-Budget Memorandum 2017-18: IAS, Commissioner of Addendum-2 Commercial Taxes, Govt. of
81 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry
West Bengal
29. 20.02.2017 Shri Sushil Chandra, IRS, Post Budget Memorandum 2017-18 Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes
82 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry
WORKING OF THE STANDING COMMITTEES
Agriculture & Food Processing The Standing Committee on Indirect Taxes, GST A meeting of the Standing Committee on & State Taxes had a meeting under Chairmanship Agriculture & Food Processing was held on 5 of Shri Arun Kumar Agarwal, Chairman, January 2017 at Chamber. Standing Committee on Indirect taxes, GST and State Taxes on 26 May, 2016 to draw up the programme for the current year. The purpose was CSR and Rural Development to consider and finalize the issues in the area of A meeting was held on 28 February 2017 under State taxes and duties for inclusion in the Pre- Chairmanship of Shri Rajendra Khandelwal to Budget Memorandum 2016-17 to be submitted to discuss the vision on making West Bengal an the Finance Minister of West Bengal. The Open Defecation Free (ODF) State and the need Committee met again on 12 August, 2016 to for construction of 10000 toilets in the rural areas consider and finalize the issues to be incorporated of the state. in the Memorandum on Model GST Law to be submitted to the Finance Ministry. Direct Taxes The Standing Committee on Direct Taxes had a MSMEs meeting on Union Pre-Budget memorandum on A standing committee meeting was held on 03 Direct Taxes for the year 2017-18 on 19 October March 2017 to draw up activity programme for 2016. The Committee met again on 7 February 2016-17, including Interactive Sessions, 2017 under Chairmanship of Shri Arvind Workshops and Seminars and to discuss Agrawal to discuss issues for Post-Budget implications of Union Budget 2017-18 on Memorandum on Direct Taxes for 2017-18. MSMEs.
Education Retail Trade & eCommerce The First Standing Committee meeting of the The First Meeting of the Standing Committee year was held under the Chairmanship of Shri was held under Chairmanship of Shri Pulkit Baid Samir Saraff on 21 June, 2016 to draw up the on 14 February 2017 to draw up activity for the activities for current year. A joint Session current year and discuss the implications of between MCCI and DBTI was proposed to be Union Budget 2017-18 proposals on Retail Trade held at DBTI's auditorium. & eCommerce.
HRD and Entrepreneurship Shipping & Logistics Meetings were held under Chairmanship of Shri A standing committee meeting was held on 22 Tushar Basu on 24 August, 2016 and 06 March, February, 2017 under chairmanship of Shri 2017 to explore possibility of symposiums, Lavesh Poddar to draw up activity programme for interactive sessions, training workshop on HR 2016-17, including interactive sessions, issues, networking, freelancing, arbitration etc. workshops and seminars and the implications of Union Budget proposals on Shipping & Logistics. Indirect Taxes, GST & State Taxes
83 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) Between India Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Merchants' Chamber of Commerce & Industry
The India Bangladesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Merchants' Chamber of Commerce & Industry, hereinafter referred to as the Parties, with the aim of increasing trade, economic, commercial, technological and friendly relationships between Bangladesh and India, believing that such objectives can only be achieved through closer cooperation and joint work,
HAVE AGREED AS FOLLOWS :
Article 1
The Parties shall participate within their capacity in promoting and creating new forms of regional economic cooperation.
Article 2
The Parties shall mutually assist their members and other companies and organisations within their region in:
√ establishing direct contacts and developing business relations,
√ seeking potential business partners as well as agents and distributors,
√ participating in fairs and exhibitions, symposia, seminars and other events which will take place within their territory and
√ providing appropriate information about legislation regarding foreign economic relations in countries, its own publications, or other information of mutual interest.
Article 3
The Parties shall provide each other with full information about commercial missions, informative sessions, market studies, foreign trade statistics, commercial opportunities or any other information 84 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry relevant to the other two parties.
Article 4
The Parties shall promote the joint organisation and participation of international trade seminars, informative sessions in their regions and the exchange of training specialists and of their personnel.
Article 5
The Parties shall assist associations, companies and other entities within their territory in finding potential business partners, agents, distributors or customers.
Article 6
They shall give each other full information about trade fairs and commercial missions in their territory. They shall also promote the joint organisation of these actions.
Article 7
The Parties shall exercise their obligations from the articles from 2 to 6 by means of the information exchange. Furthermore the associations, companies and organisations of each Party shall be able to use different services and facilities offered by the other Parties under the same conditions as the Party's members.
Article 8
Any modification of this Memorandum of Understanding must be agreed in writing by all three Parties.
The Memorandum of Understanding shall be effective after it is duly signed and it is valid until termination. The Memorandum of Understanding shall be automatically renewed every year, unless terminated by one party giving one month's notice to the other.
Article 9
The Memorandum of Understanding is in no way exclusive so that Parties remain free to make similar agreements with other institutions of their choice. 85 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry
This Memorandum of Understanding is drawn up in English in three original copies in the city of Kolkata, on 21st January 2017.
-Sd- -Sd- 3Abdul Matlub Ahmad, President Surendra Keyal, Hony Secretary The Federation of Bangladesh Merchants' Chamber of Commerce & Industry Chambers of Commerce & Industry
Memorandum of Understanding (“MOU”) Between Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Katowice, Poland and Merchants' Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Kolkata, India
The Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Katowice (CCI Katowice) and Merchants' Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI), Kolkata with a view to strengthening friendly relations between the two sides and promoting exchanges and cooperation in the spheres of trade, economy and technology between Poland and India, have concluded the present MOU to promote trade and economic cooperation in the following ways :
1. Through the exchange of information related to trade, economy and technology;
2. By providing each other with information about investment and cooperation opportunities in industrial, agricultural, commercial and infrastructure projects, as well as trade opportunities. The Parties will also provide assistance in identifying business partners;
3. Through the exchanges of visits and research by economic, trade and technical delegations in both regions;
4. By providing essential assistance to such delegations, especially in arranging appointments and business discussions for the relevant companies and organizations;
5. By organizing seminars on matters concerned with the economy, trade development and technology;
6. Through the co-sponsorship of economic, trade and technological exhibitions and displays; 86 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry
7. Through the provision of information about related companies and the introduction of legal and consultant services to each other;
8. By other activities related to the promotion of harmonious relations between the two Parties and the economic development and prosperity of the regions concerned.
The Parties agree on the need for regular liaison meeting to promote trade and economic development. Therefore, the Parties agree to meet regularly to discuss the execution of this MOU and to explore new areas for cooperation. In addition the Parties will correspond regularly to achieve the objectives of this MOU.
Both parties shall determine independently their budgets and expenses for performance of above listed activities and holding of joint sessions. Details about each activity should be settled beforehand through friendly consultation between the two sides.
The cooperation shall start from the date of signing this MOU and shall continue for a period of three years unless either party requests its termination by serving written notice to the other party six months prior to the date of expiration. The MOU was signed on 21st January 2017
For CCI Katowice For Merchants' Chamber of Commerce & Industry --Sd-- --Sd– Tomasz Zjawlong, Surendra Keyal Vice-President, Dy. General Director, Hony Secretary, CCI Katowice, Poland Merchants' Chamber of Commerce & Industry
87 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry OTHER ACTIVITIES OF THE CHAMBER
Participation in ASSOCHAM Managing Committee :
Shri S.S.Beriwala, Past President of the Chamber and Chairman, Shyam Steel Industries Ltd. represented the Chamber on the ASSOCHAM Managing Committee.
Certificate of Origin :
The Chamber issued 6667 Certificates of Origin, 852 Invoices, 777 Shipping Documents and Agency Agreements during the period. In addition, recommendations for 136 Visa/Passports were also issued.
New Membership :
The total number of members as on 31st March 2017 was 793, 31 new members enrolled while 22 members resigned during the financial year under review.
Circulars and Trade Enquiries :
The Chamber issued 142 circulars covering various subjects and also a number of Trade Enquiries, which were received through various sources from within the country as well as from abroad. Inter-linkages with various trade and promotional bodies, professional organisations including Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) were strengthened to develop information base at the Chamber in order to cater to the requirements of the members of the Chamber. It may also be mentioned that the various foreign diplomatic missions based in India had regular support in providing information resulting in meaningful business alliances.
Acknowledgments :
The Committee would like to take this opportunity to offer sincere appreciation for the cooperation received from various Departments of the Ministries of the Union and State Governments, Foreign Diplomatic Missions, International Organisations, Trade Bodies and Associations. The Committee is grateful to the Press who have always lent their support and focused the activities of the Chamber in a big way.
The Committee would also like to put on records its high appreciation of the competent services rendered by the officers and staff of the Chamber. 88 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry
Chairman Co-Chairman Shri R.S. Agarwal Shri B.K. Jhajharia
Members
Shri A.R. Sonthalia Shri Arun Kumar Churiwal Shri S.S. Bagaria Shri Sunil Kanoria Shri K.B. Agarwala Shri Santosh Saraf Shri S.S. Beriwala Shri Deepak Jalan Shri R.S. Goenka Shri Sanjay Agarwal Shri Arun Kumar Saraf Shri Hemant Bangur Shri Manish Goenka Shri Rajaram Chowdhury Shri Ramesh Agarwal Shri Vishal Jhajharia Shri Surendra Keyal
MCC Foundation
Chairman Shri Hemant Bangur
Shri A.R. Sonthalia Shri B.K. Jhajharia Shri Arun Kumar Churiwal Shri Santosh Kumar Saraf Shri Sanjay Agarwal Shri Arun Kumar Saraf Shri Ramesh Agarwal Shri Vishal Jhajharia Shri Surendra Keyal Shri Rajaram Chowdhary
Agriculture & Food Processing
Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Santosh K. Roongtaa Shri Amit Kumar Saraogi
Members
Shri Sandeep Agarwal Shri Atul Churiwal Shri Ajay Jalan Shri Prashant Jalan 89 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry Shri Ashish Jhunjhunwala Shri Rishabh Kothari Shri Dipjyoti Majumdar Shri Sanjay Rasiwasia Shri Sudhir Satnaliwala Shri B.K. Swaika
Special Invitees
Prof. S. Dattagupta Prof. B.C. Ghosh Mr. Taj Mohammad Shri Vinod Thacker Shri Dipak Sen Shri Sanjay Gupta
Banking, Finance & Insurance
Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Sanjay Rasiwasia Shri Smarajit Mitra
Members
Shri Niranjan Kumar Agarwal Shri Mahesh Kumar Goenka Shri Kailash B. Goel Shri Manaswy Kothari Shri Murli Manohar Khemka Shri E.P. Kumar Shri Vijay Maheshwari Shri Rajesh Poddar Shri Sanjib Kumar Kothari Shri Vineet Nahata Shri R.S. Agarwala Shri Prakash Chand Patni Shri Surendra K. Singhi Capital Market Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Ashok Pareek Shri Girdhari Lal Goenka Members Shri Raj Kr. Agarwal Shri Chandi Ghosh Shri Kamal Nayan Jain Shri Ravi Jain Shri Bijay Murmuria Shri Naresh Pachisia Shri Ravindra Sanghai Shri Vikash Somani Special Invitees Shri Rajesh Chura Shri Rajesh Poddar Shri Prashant Khandelwal Shri Mohan Kothari Shri Chandra Shekhar Sarda Shri Mohit Bhuteria Shri Dinesh Jain 90 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry Coal
Chairman Co-Chairman Shri A.K. Jagatramka Shri Kapil Thapar
Members
Shri Mahesh Kumar Agarwal Shri Ravi Agarwal Shri Purajit Roy Shri Santosh Bajaj Shri Lalit Beriwala Shri Vijay Shankar Beriwal Shri Suresh Jhunjhunwala Shri Bimal Kejriwal Shri Sanjib Kumar Patwari Shri Ramesh Saraogi Shri Naveen Somani Shri Pawan Tibrewalla
Corporate Law & Governance
Chairman Co-Chairman Smt. Mamta Binani Shri Poonam Chandra Tibrewal Members
Shri Manish Agarwal Shri Rakesh Agarwal Shri Subodh Kr. Agarwal Shri Vinay Agarwal Shri N.K. Dujari Shri Joydeep Datta Gupta Shri Malay K. Gupta Shri S.M. Gupta Shri R.S. Jhanwar Shri A.K. Joshi Shri Sundeep Jhunjhunwala Shri Ashok Pareek Shri Santosh K. Roongtaa Shri Ramanand Rustagi Shri Subhash Saraf Shri Narendra Kumar Shah Shri Sidhartha Sharma Shri Joydev Sengupta Shri A.K. Somani
Special Invitees
Shri Sandip Kejriwal Shri Arun K. Khandelia Shri S.M. Kothari Shri Rajesh Poddar
Corporate Social Responsibility & Rural Development
Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Rajendra Khandelwal Shri Arvind Agrawal
91 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry Members Shri Arun K. Agarwal Shri Deepak K. Agarwal Shri Mahesh K. Agarwal Shri Mahendra K. Agarwal Shri Sanjay Agarwal Shri Sunil Bansal Shri S.S. Beriwala Shri V.K. Bhandari Shri V.S. Bhandari Smt. Mamta Binani Shri Arun Kumar Churiwal Shri Manish Goenka Shri Sanjay K. Jain Shri Deepak Jalan Shri Govind Jethalia Shri Suresh Jhunjhunwala Shri Prem Chand Kankaria Shri Surendra Keyal Shri Smarajit Mitra Shri Sushil Poddar Shri Arun Kumar Saraf Shri Santosh Saraf Shri A.R. Sonthalia Shri Pawan Tibrewalla Shri Pradip K. Todi Shri Adarsh Tulshan Direct Taxes Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Arvind Agrawal Shri Sanjay Bhattacharya Members Shri Birendra Agarwal Shri Bharat Agarwal Shri D.N. Agarwal Shri Gaurav Agarwal Shri Manoharlal Agarwal Shri Naresh Kr. Agarwala Shri R.S. Agarwala Shri Rakesh Agarwal Shri Vishwanath Agarwal Shri Sanjay Bajoria Shri Manoj Beriwal Shri Paras Bohra Shri Indu Chatrath Shri Raja Ram Chowdhary Shri P.K. Dhelia Shri Shyamlal Dokania Shri Vinod Dubey Shri P.C. Gupta Shri S.S. Gupta Shri Jinesh Kumar Jain Shri Nirmal Kaushik Shri B.L. Kheria Shri Prithvi Raj Kothari Shri Yasaswi Kothari Shri Debapriya Goswami Shri Mahesh K. Modi Shri Kishan K. Poddar Shri P.K. Roychowdhury Shri Ramanand Rustagi Shri Sunil Surana Shri Vikash Surana Shri Miraj D. Shah Shri Pawan Tibrewalla 92 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry Special Invitees
Shri P.D. Rungta Ms. Nilima Joshi
Shri Anand Tibrewal
Education
Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Samir Saraff Shri Taranjit Singh
Members
Shri Sanjay Agarwal Shri Tushar Basu Shri S.S. Beriwala Smt. H.K. Chaudhary Shri Saurav Jalan Shri Kishan Kejriwal Shri Smarajit Mitra Shri Naveen Saraff Shri Anupam Shah Shri Miraj D. Shah
Special Invitees
Prof. Dr. Ashutosh Ghosh Prof. Anuradha Lohia Dr. Suranjan Das Prof. Kausik Gupta Prof. Ranjan Bhattacharya Prof. Ajoy Ray Swami Atmapriyananda Prof. Sonali Chakravarti Banerjee Shri Chinmaya Mukherjee Shri S.K. Pramanick Prof. V.K. Tewari Rev. Dr. J. Felix Raj, S.J. Rev. Fr. Dominic Savio, S.J. Dr. Dipak Kumar Kar Shri Hirak N. Sengupta Prof. Ranjan Das Mr. John F. Rafi Dr. Parasar Bandyopadhyay Prof. N.K. Gupta Prof. Ashis Mitra Prof. Pradip Narayan Ghosh Prof. Ashoke Ranjan Thakur Shri Dharmen Trivedi Smt. Seema Sapru Dr. Suborno Bose Shri Satyam Roy Chowdhury Rev. Abir Adhikari Shri Supriyo Dhar Rev. Dr. Xavier Savarimuthu, S.J. Fr. Jose Podimattam, SDB Dr. Subhrangshu Sanyal Swami Vedatitananda
93 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry Foreign Trade
Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Ramesh Kr. Agarwal Shri Arpit Dhandhania
Members
Shri Suresh Agarwal Shri Shrawan Kr. Agarwal Shri Pankaj Bajaj Shri Vishnu K. Bhandari Shri Arun K. Garodia Shri Arpit Dhandhania Shri Sumit Goyal Shri Deepak Jalan Shri Ashutosh Jaiswal Shri Rishabh Kothari Shri Mahesh Keyal Shri Srivatsa Kajaria Shri Surendra Keyal Shri Hemant Marda Shri Pankaj Kr. Palriwala Shri S.K. Patwari Shri Anupam Shah Shri Rajat Sarawgi Shri Pradeep Kr. Singhania Shri Chirag Sheth Shri Mahesh Shah
Special Invitees
Shri Ramesh K. Mittal Dr. N.K. Soren Shri Vishnu Savadekar Dr. V. Sraman Smt. S. Pradhan Shri A.K. Mukhopadhyay Smt. Debdatta Nandwani Smt. Anima Pandey Shri B. Rameshbabu
HRD & Industrial Relations
Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Tushar Basu Shri Rajesh Jain
Members
Shri Arvind Agarwal Shri Rajnish Agarwal Shri Arun K. Agarwal Shri Abhishek Bagaria Shri Nivedan Churiwal Smt. Chaitali Das Shri Ajapa Ghosh Shri Sugata Halder Shri Pawan K. Jalan Shri Nirmal Kaushik Shri Joydev Mukherjee Shri Pawan K. Patodia
94 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry Shri Santosh K. Roongtaa Shri Santosh Saraf Shri Sandeep Seksaria Shri J.S. Sareen Smt. Alpa Dey Shri Madhu Sudan Dutta Shri Prabal Sen Shri Nishal Jain Shri Prakash Joshi
Special Invitee Shri Debankur Majumder
IT & Communication
Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Vishnu Kr. Bhandari Shri Sanjib Sanghi
Members
Shri Arif Ahmed Shri Arvind Agarwalla Shri Neeraj Agarwal Shri Alok Garodia Shri Ranjan Goenka Shri Puneet Keyal Shri Sumit Kothari Shri K.L. Lalani Shri Puneet Keyal Shri Tapas Sengupta
Special Invitee Shri Nirupam Chaudhuri
Indirect Taxes, GST & State Taxes
Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Arun Kumar Agarwal a) Shri Sushil Kr. Goyal b) Shri Sanjib Kr. Kothari
Members
Shri Birendra Agarwal Shri Mahendra K. Agarwal Shri Manoj Agarwal Shri Rajesh Agarwal Shri Sandeep Agarwal Shri Mani Almal Shri Santosh Bajaj Shri Narendra K. Chandak Shri Girija Choudhary Shri R.D. Daga Shri Narendra Dhanuka Shri Pankaj Jhawar Shri Dilip Jhajharia Shri Suresh Jhunjhunwala Shri Prem Chand Kankaria Shri Mahesh Keyal 95 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry Shri Surendra Keyal Shri Kishan Khaitan Shri Rishabh Kothari Shri Maruti Maheswari Shri Kishan Maskara Shri Ghanshyam Saraf Shri Santosh K. Saraf Shri Anil Saraogi Shri Sukhbir Singh Shri B.K. Swaika
Special Invitees
Shri Ajay Agrawal Shri Harish Agarwal Shri Narayan Agarwal Shri Pawan K. Agrawal Shri Rajeev K. Agarwal Shri Sanjay Agarwal Shri Vikas Agarwal Shri Achintya Bhattacharjee Shri Pradip K. Das Shri Rajesh K. Dokania Shri Sanjay Gupta CA Tarun K. Gupta Mrs. Punam Kanodia Shri Sanjeev Killa Shri Lalit K. Modi Shri Saibal Mukherjee Shri Atanu Pahan Shri Vijay K. Patodia Shri Prakash Chandra Pincha Shri Anand Prakash Shri Ravi K. Sharma Shri Susanta K. Saha Industry
Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Sunil Bansal Shri Sanjay K. Jain
Members
Shri Bhagwandas Agarwal Shri Brij Bhushan Agarwal Shri Mahendra Kr. Agarwal Shri Mahesh K. Agarwal Shri Rakesh Agarwal Shri Ravi Agarwala Shri Sandeep Agarwal Shri Sanjay Agarwal Shri S.S. Bagaria Shri Pankaj Bajaj Shri Vishnu K. Bhandari Shri Lalit Beriwala Smt. Mamta Binani Shri Gyanesh Chaudhary Shri Amit Goenka Shri K.C. Goyal Shri A.K. Jagatramka Shri Deepak Jalan Shri Rishabh Kothari Shri Rajesh Mittal Shri Sanjib K. Patwari Shri Arun K. Saraf Shri Sandeep Seksaria Shri Anupam Shah
96 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry Shri Pradeep K. Singhania Shri Pradip K. Todi Shri Adarsh Tulshan
Infrastructure, Real Estate & Logistics
Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Sanjay Jain Shri Ajay Jalan
Members
Shri Arun Kumar Agarwal Shri Mahendra K. Agarwal Shri Sandeep Agarwal Shri Suresh K. Agarwal Shri S.S. Bagaria Shri Sanjay Bhalotia Shri R.S. Bhartia Shri Pulak Chamaria Shri Sushil K. Dhandhania Shri Pawan K. Dhoot Shri Shyam Lal Dokania Shri Tulsi K. Dugar Shri Kamal K. Dugar Shri Rajeev Ginodia Shri Sanjay Goenka Shri Kailash Chand Goyal Shri Vivek Gupta Shri Chandra K. Jain Shri Munish Jhajharia Shri Sharad K. Khaitan Shri Rajesh Kshetry Shri Manish Lakhotia Shri Aditya Mundhra Shri Avishel Paul Shri Adarsh Tulshan Shri Sushil Poddar Shri Apurva Salarpuria Shri Samir Saraff Shri Raj Kumar Somani Shri Siddhartha Tantia
Retail Trade & eCommerce Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Pulkit Baid Shri Adarsh Tulshan Members Shri Birendra Agarwal Shri Manish Agarwal Shri M.L. Bamalwa Shri Ashis Ganeriwal Shri Jyotinindra Ganguly Shri Alok Garodia Shri Manish Gourisaria Shri Deepak Jalan Shri Saurav Jalan Shri Rajendra Khandelwal Shri Rishabh Kothari Shri Banwari Lal Mittal Shri Ravi Modi Shri Sanjay Rasiwasia Shri Pradeep Todi 97 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry Membership Development
Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Santosh Saraf Shri Atul Churiwal Members
Shri A.R. Sonthalia Shri B.K. Jhajharia Shri S.S. Bagaria Shri Deepak Jalan Shri Sanjay Agarwal Shri Arun Kumar Saraf
Power & Renewable Energy
Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Gyanesh Chaudhary Shri Sanjiv K. Patwari
Members Shri B.L. Chandak Shri Mahesh K. Agarwal Shri Manish Beriwala Shri Kaluram Dhariwal Shri Alok Garodia Shri Alkesh Sharma Shri Akhil Sonthalia Shri Naveen Somani Shri Ivan Saha Shri Samujjal Ganguly Shri M. R. Ghosh
Special Invitees
Shri R.N. Sen Shri Brijesh Gupta Shri Bipin K. Vohra Shri Arjun K. Santhalia Dr. Kanak Mukhopadhyay Shri Dhruv Sharma Shri L.N. Mandhana Shri Arun Kedia
MSMEs
Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Rishab Kothari Shri Akhil Sonthalia Members
Shri Manoj Agarwal Shri Suresh Agarwal Shri Bharat Bagla Shri Mani Almal Shri Arpit Dhandhania Shri Sunil K. Bhoruka Shri K.C. Dhingra Shri Devendra Goel Shri Prahlad Roy Goenka Shri Vivek Gupta 98 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry Shri Munish Jhajharia Shri Anirudh Jhunjhunwala Shri Srivatsa Kajaria Shri Prem Chand Kankaria Shri Ajay Laddha Shri Smarajit Mitra Shri Vinay Mohta Shri Sanjay Rasiwasia Shri Nirmal Saraf Shri Sanjay Goenka Shri Sanjib K. Kothari Shri Shashikant Jhawar Shri Vikash Agarwala
Special Invitees
Shri Jitendra Agarwal Shri Jay Agarwal Shri Vijay Bharti Col. Sabyasachi Bagchi Shri Kailash Chand Vaid Shri Ajoy Bandopadhyaya Shri Subhrangshu Sanyal Shri Minal Shanghavi Shri Biswanath Bhattacharya Shri Hitangshu K. Guha Shri Naresh Kapoor Shri Sudhanshu Gaur Shri R.K. Khanna Prof. Ranjan Das Prof. Dr. Suman Mukherjee Shri Udit Prasanna Mukherjee Mr. Jonathan T. Ward
Shipping & Logistics
Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Lavesh Poddar Shri Sharad Varma Members
Shri Ashok K. Agarwal Shri Rajesh Agarwal Shri Rajesh K. Agarwal Shri Ramesh K. Agarwal Shri Ravi Agarwal Shri Sandeep Agarwal Shri Vijay Singh Bhandari Shri Manish Dutt Shri Amit Goenka Shri Vivek Gupta Shri Prakash K. More Shri Sushil Poddar Shri Santosh Saraf Shri Amit K. Saraogi Shri Pradeep K. Singhania Shri Raj Somani
Steel
Chairman Co-Chairman Shri Lalit Beriwala Shri Ravi Agarwal 99 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry Members
Shri Deepak K. Agarwal Shri Avinash Agarwalla Shri Brij Bhusan Agarwal Shri G.K. Agarwal Shri Jugal K. Agarwal Shri Rajiv Agarwal Shri Rakesh Agarwal Shri Shankar Lal Agarwal Shri Tulsiram Agarwal Shri Om Prakash Agarwala Shri Amit Agrawal Shri S.S. Bagaria Shri Santosh Bajaj Shri Manav Bansal Shri Ram Gopal Bansal Shri Sunil Bansal Shri Vijay Shankar Beriwal Shri Dinesh Kumar Bihani Shri Vinay Binani Shri Tapash Chatterjee Capt. Pradip Chakraborty Shri Prabir K. Chaki Shri Kumar Chand Chawla Shri Ashok Chowdhary Shri Dilip K. Didwania Shri Mukesh K. Dhandhania Shri Sanjay Goenka Shri Alok Goyal Shri K.C. Goyal Shri Anand Gupta Shri Ankit Gupta Shri Avinash Ch. Gupta Shri Jag Mohan Gupta Shri Prem Gupta Shri Anil Jain Shri Bimal K. Jain Shri Aditya Jajodia Shri B.P. Jalan Shri P.K. Jalan Shri Punit Jatia Shri Aashish Jhunjhunwala Shri Harmukh Rai Kanodia Shri Bimal K. Kejriwal Shri Jitendra Kejriwal Shri R.S. Kejriwal Shri Ankit Keyal Shri Mahesh Ch. Keyal Shri Surendra keyal Shri V.K. Khandelwal Shri Yogesh Khanna Shri Pankaj Lohariwal Shri Rajesh Mishra Shri Praveen Mehrotra Shri Sonal Mittal Shri Nirmalya Mukherjee Shri Pankaj K. Palriwala Shri Sanjib K. Patwari Shri Nirmal Saraf Shri Rajat Sarawgi Shri Ashish Shah Shri Ashish Shah Shri Amrik Singh Shri Alkesh Sharma Shri Sanjay K. Sureka Shri Pawan K. Tibrewalla Shri Bipin K. Vohra
100 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry MCCI Ladies Forum (MLF)
Chairman Co-Chairman Smt. Seema Agarwal Smt. Prapti Jhajharia
(71 Members)
AFFILIATIONS
The Chamber is Affiliated with the following Organisations :
The Associated Chambers of Commerce & Industry of India, New Delhi All India Organisation of Employers, New Delhi
The following Organisations are affiliated with the Chamber :
All India Wax Importers & Manufacturers Welfare Association Association of National Exchanges Members of India (ANMI), EIRC Association of Corporate Advisers & Executives Bengal Timber Importers Association Calcutta Motor Dealers' Association Cable TV Equipments Traders & Manufacturers Association Computer Association of Eastern India Ferro Alloys and Refractories Merchants' Association Foundry Cluster Development Association Iron Ore Exporters' Association Outdoor Advertising Association Steel Re-Rolling Mills Association of India Tools & Alloy Steels Association The Jute Balers' Association Views Exchange Chartered Accountants Study Circle-EIRC Welfare Society for the Members of Jalan Industrial Complex West Bengal Paper Traders Association
101 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry
REPRESENTATIVES OF MCCI ON PUBLIC BODIES (2016-17)
Public Bodies Representative
Steel Consumer's Council Shri Hemant Bangur for 2016-17 Gloster Ltd.
Calcutta Pinjrapole Society Shri Bharat Agarwal Deepak Udyog
CESC Consultative Committee Shri Lalit Beriwala Shyam Ispat Udyog
Regional Advisory Committee of Shri Arun Kumar Agarwal Central Excise, Kolkata ARS Management Consultancy Services Pvt. Ltd.
Core Committee on Industry Shri Hemant Bangur Gloster Ltd.
Divisional Railway Users' Consultative Shri Surendra Keyal Committee (DRUCC), Eastern Railway, Alloys & Metals (India) Sealdah
Divisional Railway Users' Consultative Shri Santosh Saraf Committee (DRUCC), Eastern Railway, Road Cargo Movers Pvt. Ltd. Kharagpur
Divisional Railway Users' Consultative Committee (DRUCC), Eastern Railway, Howrah
State Tax Consultative Committee Shri Arun Kumar Agarwal ARS Management Consultancy Services Pvt. Ltd.
102 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry MEETINGS HELD DURING THE YEAR 2016-17 Sl. No. Meetings Date 1. Special Session with Dr. Hasmukh Adhia, IAS, Revenue Secretary, 09.04.2016 Government of India
2. Interactive Session with Shri R.C. Meena, Director, Ministry of Corporate 06.06.2016 Affairs
3. Felicitation of Hon’ble Chief Minister of West Bengal 07.06.2016
4. Interactive Session with Shri Suresh Prabhu, Minister for Railways, Govt of 09.06.2016 India
5. Symposium on ‘Executive Coaching’ 13.06.2016
6. Symposium on ‘Role of Women’s Empowerment in facilitating inclusive 20.06.2016 economic growth’
7. Meeting with Shri Chaudhary Birender Singh, Hon’ble Minister for Rural 24.06.2016 development, Panchayati Raj, Drinking Water and Sanitation, Govt. of India
8. Seminar on ‘Global situation impacting local businesses even if there is no 25.06.2016 foreign trade connect’
9. Interactive Session with Mr. H. Sikapale Chinzewe, Charge d' affaires 27.06.2016 (Acting High Commissioner) of Zambia to India
10. Interactive Session With Shri Binod Kumar, IAS Commissioner of 29.06.2016 Commercial Taxes, Government of West Bengal
11. Meeting with Shri Sudarshan Bhagat, Hon’ble Minister of State for 09.07.2016 Agriculture and Farmers Welfare, Government of India
12. Seminar on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in AYUSH 12.07.2016
13. Meditation Session 15.07.2016
14. Seminar on ‘Empowering Women for Nation building and sustainable 20.07.2016 development’
15. Interactive Session on "Draft Model – GST Law" 05.08.2016
16. Interactive Session on Income Declaration Scheme 05.08.2016
17. Symposium on ‘Leadership Coaching & Development’ 06.08.2016 103 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry Sl. No. Meetings Date
18. Interactive Session with Shri M.T. Krishna Babu, IAS Chairman, KoPT 23.08.2016
19. Interactive Session with Shri Ghanshyam Singh, General Manager, Eastern 08.09.2016 Railway
20. Meeting with Shri N.K. Singh, Former Member of Parliament and 13.09.2016 Chairman, Fiscal responsibility & Budget Management (FRBM) Review Committee
21. Special Session with Shri Arjun Ram Meghwal, Hon’ble Minister of State 18.09.2016 for Finance & Corporate Affairs, Government of India
22. Seminar on ‘Skill Development & Innovation – Key to higher Economic 20.09.2016 Growth’
23. Interactive Session with H E Mr. Thorir Ibsen, Ambassador of Iceland to 22.09.2016 India
24. Session with Shri Ashish Kumar Chauhan, Managing Director & CEO, 23.09.2016 Bombay Stock Exchange
25. Interactive Session with Dr. T.C.A Anant, Secretary, Ministry of Statistics & 26.09.2016 Programme Implementation and Chief Statistician of India
26. Seminar on ‘India’s Coal Sector – Vision 2020’ 03.11.2016
27. Meeting with Ms. Sana Alshamlan, The National Initiative of Agricultural 22.11.2016 Development of Bahrain
28. Meeting to pay homage to Late Hira Lall Somany 24.11.2016
29. Presentation/Interaction Session on Registration/Migration from VAT to 03.12.2016 GST System
30. Interactive Session with Shri Nalin Satyakam Kohli, Advocate, Supreme 20.12.2016 Court of India & National Spokesperson, BJP
31. Workshop on 'Use of Information Technology in GST' 22.12.2016
32. Interactive Session on 'Indian Banking : Towards 8% Growth' 30.12.2016
33. Interactive Session on “Information Era : Paradigm Shift’’with Shri Ajay 30.12.2016 Mittal, IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, Government of India
104 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry Sl. No. Meetings Date
34. HOMAGE to the Late Bijoy Kumar Swaika 30.12.2016
35. Interactive Session with Mr. Craig L. Hall, Consul General of the United 11.01.2017 States of America in Kolkata
36. Interactive Session with Dr. M. S. Sahoo, Chairman, Insolvency and 12.01.2017 Bankruptcy Board of India
37. Interactive Session with Shri Pawan Kumar Bajaj, Managing Director & 16.01.2017 CEO, United Bank of India
38. Homage Meeting for Late Gobind Prasad Agrawal 19.01.2017
39. Symposium on Union Budget 2017 – 18 02.02.2017
40. Symposium on GST 08.02.2017
41. Workshop on 'ITC & Valuation under GST' 11.02.2017
42. Interactive Session with Shri Ashwani Kumar, Chairman & Managing 13.02.2017 Director, Dena Bank
43. Seminar on Model GST Law 13.02.2017
44. Interactive Session with Shri R P Marathe, MD & CEO, Bank of 17.02.2017 Maharashtra
45. Interactive Session with Mr. Ma Zhanwu, Consul General for People’s 22.02.2017 Republic of China in Kolkata
46. Awareness Programme on “Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace 24.02.2017 (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013”
47. Seminar on 'Sustainability of MSMEs in West Bengal : The Way Forward' 03.03.2017
48. Interactive Session with Shri Kishore Datta, Advocate General for West 07.03.2017 Bengal
49. Interactive Session with Shri Rajib Bhattacharya, Regional Provident Fund 09.03.2017 Commissioner (I), Kolkata
50. Interactive Session with Justice Dr. Satish Chandra, President, Customs, 22.03.2017 Excise, Service Tax Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT)
51. Session on Healthcare Awareness, 2017 23.03.2017 105 Annual Report 2016-17 Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce & Industry PAST PRESIDENTS
* Shri Nanakram Sureka 1901-1920 * Shri Tejpal Sanganeria 1921-1923 * Shri Sadaram Kheria 1924-1936 * Shri Radhakishan Sanganeria 1937-1947 * Shri Gajanand Himatsingka 1948-1949 * Shri Baijnath Sanganeria 1950 * Shri Dharamchand Saraogi 1951 * Shri Chouthmal Saraf 1952-1957 * Shri Sawalram Goenka 1958-1960 * Shri Beniprasad Dalmia 1961-1965 * Shri Bhagwati Prasad Agarwala 1966-1967 * Shri Bijay Singh Kothari 1968-1969 * Shri Shree Niwas Dalmia 1970-1971 Shri Atmaram Kanoria 1972-1973 * Shri Bijoy Kumar Swaika 1974-1975 * Shri Doongar Mal Kothari 1976-1977 Shri Atmaram Sonthalia 1978 * Shri Madan Lal Saraf 1979 * Shri Hira Lall Somany 1980 & 1981 Shri Bimal Kumar Jhajharia 1982 & 1983 Shri Shyam Sunder Sanganeria 1984 Shri Mahesh Chandra Shah 1985 Shi Radhe Shyam Bhartia 1986 * Shri Purushottam Das Tulsyan 1987-88 & 1988-89 Shri Amitav Kothari 1989-90 Shri Chandra Kumar Somany 1990-91 Shri Arun Kumar Churiwal 1991-1992 Shri Jay Prakash Tantia 1992-1993 Shri Suresh Jhunjhunwala 1994-1995 Shri Sheo Shankar Bagaria 1995-96 & 1996-97 Shri Birendra Agarwal 1997-1998 Shri Ajay Kumar Kajaria 1998-1999 Shri Ravi Todi 1999-2000 Shri Sushil Dhandhania 2000-2001 Shri Sunil Kanoria 2001-02 & 2002-03 Shri Kunj Bihari Agarwala 2003-2004 Shri Aditya Vardhan Agarwal 2004-2005 Shri Santosh Saraf 2005-06 & 2006-07 Shri Atul Churiwal 2007-08 Shri Anupam Shah 2008-09 Shri Shyam Sundar Beriwala 2009-10 Shri Sudesh Sonthalia 2010-11 Shri Manish Goenka 2011-12 Shri Deepak Jalan 2012-13 Shri Sanjay Agarwal 2013-14 Shri Arun Kr. Saraf 2014-15 Shri Manish Goenka 2015-16
* Since deceased
106 Annual Report 2016-17