Intouch oct nov 13 by Madraschamber

Vol. 28 Nos. 7 & 8 – October & November 2013

MCCI Signed an MOU with Port of Antwerp. All Delegates after signing their respective MOUs with Her Royal Highness Princess Astrid of Belgium and HE Celine FREMAULT, Minister of Economy, Employment, Scientific Research and Foreign Trade of the Brussels Capital Region. T.Shivaraman is at extreme right

Seminar on Development of Maritime Infrastructure in Southern India: Horizon 2020. L to r : J Krishnan, HE Celine FREMAULT, Minister of Economy, Employment, Scientific Research and Foreign Trade of the Brussels Capital Region, T.Shivaraman, Rajeev Ranjan I.A.S., K. Saraswathi

T.Shivaraman delivering the welcome Address. Seated l to r : K.Saraswathi, Dr. Barun Mitra, Subodh Kumar

IN THIS ISSU E  President’s Message

Seminar on Sustainable practices in Industrial Waste Water Management

Seminar on Recent Developments in Transfer Pricing: Challenges and Opportunities. Are you geared up?

Risk of paying a bribe > Price of the bribe - Anti -bribery & corruption workshop

Workshop on “Corruption – a business with no winners – not even the corrupt”

National Conference on “Companies Act 2013 Understanding New Law in a Day”

Memorandum of Cooperation between MCCI and Port of Antwerp

Seminar on Rationalizing Electricity Prices: Improving Access, Cleaning Environment

Seminar on Development of Maritime Infrastructure in Southern India : Horizon 2020

 Chamber’s Activities: -

Seminar on Attaining agility in manufacturing through process automation

 General Committee  Expert Committees 

SPOT LIGHT National Green Tribunal

 Policy Watch  Representations  Additions to Library  Economic Review

Presidentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Message

Dear Members, It is Taxing time for the Businesses! When India entered the liberalization process in 1991, one of the key points was a reduction in tax rates and a promised simplification of the tax system. Over the past 20 odd years, the system has, if anything, become even more complex. Compared to most of our competitor countries, both the rate of taxation and the cost of compliance is higher in India. A recent KPMG report put the average corporate tax rate in Asia in 2013 at 22.89 percent while in Europe it is 20.49 percent, compared with 32.45 percent in India. According to another report by World Bank and PwC, the total tax rate in India can be as high as 62.8 per cent including all direct and indirect taxes; there are as many as 33 payments under the head of profit, labour and other taxes, and the time taken to comply with taxation requirements could be as much as 243 hours. This excludes the infinite time spent on litigation. Taxation is a necessary factor in doing business. What upsets the apple cart is the uncertainty in future tax rates and the inconsistency in the interpretation of the laws. It is anticipated that the income tax department and the tax payer would have a difference of opinion on the interpretation of tax laws. What is unusual in India compared to other countries is the extent of the difference and the total unwillingness of the department to see any point of view other than that of maximizing revenue.

The Vodafone case, involving the indirect sale of shares of an Indian company by a non-Indian holding company focused attention on the extra territorial reach of Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s taxing power. More importantly, the retrospective amendment that formalized the demand was a matter of serious concern and did tarnish Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s image among the investors. The later Shell case where a huge tax demand was made on issue of fresh shares in a 100% subsidiary of a foreign company was another even more dangerous example of imaginative taxation. Transfer pricing is another major point of dispute. At least 1,500 transfer pricing disputes were in litigation in India as of February 2011, compared with fewer than six in the United States and none in Taiwan or Singapore, an Ernst & Young survey showed in August 2012. The recent Nokia case is another worrying development. The income tax disputes and the freezing of assets over a allegedly unpaid (and disputed) tax bill of 20.8 billion rupees has hit the headlines. The transfer of the Chennai plant to Microsoft and the future survival of the plant (employing an estimated 35,000 people directly and indirectly) is in the balance. These disputes do not help to attract investors who now have a large number of countries wooing them. The impact is not only on MNCs. A quick survey of the annual reports of any Indian company of any size will show that close to 100% of them have multiple disputes and litigations with the tax authorities. The additional challenge faced by Indian industry is sudden changes in the tax laws or rules. Business depends on predictability of taxation policy. The market is unpredictable enough without adding the added complication of sudden changes in the regulatory environment. What is even more frustrating is the implementation of such changes without consultation with

industry and without any time for business to adapt. A classic example is the recent amendment to TN VAT Act which came as a bolt from the blue a short time ago, making CST Sale costlier by 3% of input cost and stock transfers costlier by 2% of input cost. There is also a lot of ambiguity with regard to its application itself. This may lead to TN businesses losing competitiveness compared to their counterparts in other southern states. The long term loss to the state could be much more than any short term gains. It is time that Governments wake up to the fact that they have to coexist with business. Unpredictable and unilateral decisions create uncertainty for the tax payers. The country needs a tax system which is stable, simple, broad based, clear and transparent. This is imperative to instill confidence in the minds of the business community both within the country and outside, and improve the ease of doing business in India. Recently the Chamber had an open interaction with Dr Parthasarathy Shome, Chairman TARC (Taxation Administration Reforms Commission) and we have explicitly given our thoughts on this subject. We hope the much needed Tax reforms would happen sooner before more damage is done to the business eco system. Let us begin the New Year with such hopes. Wishing every one of you a Very Happy & Prosperous New Year!

T. Shivaraman President

CHAMBER’S ACTIVITIES 26th October 2013

Seminar on Recent Developments in Transfer Pricing: Challenges and Opportunities - Are you geared up? In the recent past, there have been significant developments in the area of transfer pricing like introduction of specified domestic transactions, advance pricing agreements, safe harbour rules and certain other procedural changes. In order to gear up and understand the principles and procedures relating to Transfer Pricing, the Chamber in association with Deloitte organized a half a day Seminar titled “Recent Developments in Transfer Pricing: Challenges & Opportunities - Are you geared up?” at Hotel Hyatt Regency, Chennai. The faculty were Mr. B. Swaminathan, Director-Finance, Visteon Automotive Systems India Pvt Ltd, Mr. M. Rathinasamy, Director of Income Tax, Mr. H. Srinivasulu, Advisor, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Pvt Ltd, Mr. Vishweshwar Mudigonda, Senior Director, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Pvt Ltd, Mr. Samir Gandhi, Partner, Deloitte Haskins & Sells and Mr. Rajesh Srinivasan, Partner Deloitte Haskins & Sells

tax collector as to what is the legitimate tax. Unfortunately in India the tax code is extremely complex, he said and the business people necessarily have to go into the details and openly discuss with the tax authorities. International transfer pricing has been getting more complex. In India we have multiple companies forming a conglomerate. The transfer pricing within the Indian context is a key and sensitive issue. With regard to understanding the international transfer pricing, there is already some data in place. This Seminar is therefore very topical as we try to understand what we need to do. He said the Chamber is happy to bring this seminar to its members through Deloitte and also take this outside Chennai as we need to disseminate this information to them as well. The first speaker Mr. B. Swaminathan Director, Finance of Visteon Automotive Systems addressed on Tax payers’ perspective. He touched upon the following issues: -

Challenges which are faced even before transactions are put into force

When the transfer pricing audit is done

Welcoming the gathering, Mr. T. Shivaraman, President, MCCI said that the Chamber has been serving industry for the last 178 years and one of the things that we believe in the Chamber is disseminating information, bring the tax authorities and tax consultants together on a platform so that we can learn from each other and essentially make life easier for our business. He said we are responsible tax payers. The challenge has always been and will always be diﬀerence of opinion between the tax payers and

The ramifications in terms of these challenges in other areas of organization in respect of accounts, treasury, etc Resolution of disputes which becomes another major challenge

He said Technology should be looked upon as a part and parcel of business and not in isolation. Substantiating management services are very difficult. He felt the time and eﬀorts which go into addressing these issues are far too high and eat into

CFO’s time. He hoped that Government would give clear guidelines to make the transfer pricing law very easier to practice so that industry can concentrate more on business issues than these matters. Mr. M. Rathinasamy, IRS. Director of Income tax, International Taxation, giving the Tax Authority’s perspective said only by opening up and globalizing we can achieve economic growth. Transfer pricing is a direct fallout of globalizing economy. He said transfer pricing law has been designed as a self regulatory mechanism. Certain methods have been prescribed for self check whether your transactions are at arm’s length or not. He felt that TP is the job of an Economist assisted by the domain expert. FAR analysis is very important in TP, he said. One should select only certain cases and subject them to audit. He advised the companies to be fair, earn more and pay their taxes. The other speakers who addressed were: • Mr. H. Srinivasulu, Advisor, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India on Specified Domestic Transactions- What’s ahead • Mr. Vishweshwar Mudigonda, Senior Director, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu on Form 3 CEB – Key issues and Challenges • Mr Samir Gandhi, Partner, Deloitte Haskins & Sells on APA & Safe harbors – Update, overview and comparison. With concluding remarks by Mr. Rajesh Srinivasan, Partner, Deloitte Haskins & Sells, the programme concluded with lunch hosted by Deloitte. The programme was attended by nearly 100 delegates.

CHAMBER’S ACTIVITIES 31st October 2013

7th November 2013

Meeting with Alliance for Integrity and ZDH Sequa – 31st October

National Conference on “Companies Act 2013 Understanding New Law in a Day”

Dr Christiane Beck, Project Director, Sequa gGmbH, Mr Maximilian BurgerScheidlin, Executive Director, ICC, Austria and Mr Arunachalam Karthikeyan, Project Director - ZDH / SEQUA Partnership Programme & Country Manager - sequa gGmbH, Liaison Oﬃce (India) visited the Chamber on 31st October. Welcoming them, Mr. T. Shivaraman, President, MCCI, presented a brief overview of the Chamber’s activities. Making a presentation Dr. Christiane Beck said sequa partnership programme was introduced to implement development projects and capacity building in various countries. They have been working in India since 1990. She said Afln is a business driven multi stakeholder initiative which aims at promoting integrity in the economic system and creating favourable framework for clean business. It raises awareness and collectively develops strategies for fostering integrity and supporting business case for clean business. It organizes trainings for companies through Chambers of Commerce and Business Associations. Mr Maximilian briefly explained as to how the Chambers can fight corruption. He said one of the services can be to have a corruption reporting centre. Also it would be good if chambers can collect information from members as to the areas where corruption is rampant. He desired that the MCCI should take the leadership role. Alfn would organize a programme at Delhi on 15th November for training the trainers and would send further details to the Chamber to take this programme forward.

The Madras Chamber jointly with the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs organized a one day Conference on Companies Act 2013 at Hotel My Fortune, Chennai. IICA has been associated with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs for capacity building and training in various subjects relevant to corporate regulations and governance such as corporate and competition law, accounting and auditing issues, compliance management, corporate governance, business sustainability through environmental sensitivity and social responsibility, e-governance and enforcement, etc. IICA closely worked with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and was instrumental in bringing out the new Companies Act and other connected legislations. Welcoming the gathering, Mr. T. Shivaraman, President, said that the new Companies Act 2013 is one of the important legislations for the corporates and for members of the Madras Chamber. The rules recently published have many points to be debated and discussed. Whether one agrees with them or not, we need to comply with them. The Madras Chamber has been the first Chamber to send the views on the Rules. This Conference has been organized to understand the interpretations properly and put forth our best efforts to comply with the law. He said the Chamber is happy to associate with the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA) who have been closely working with the Ministry of Corporate

Aﬀairs in bringing out the new Companies Act and other connected legislations. Members may take advantage of their presence at this platform either to put forth suggestions or seek any clarifications from them. Prof. P. R. R. Nair, Head, Centre for Responsible Corporate Governance, MCA, gave a snap shot of the activities of IICA. At the first Technical Session, Dr. S. Kumar, Legal Advisor, IICA, gave an overview of the New Companies Act. He said the guiding principles in the making of Companies Act have been : -

Providing a compact statute to enable easy interpretation

Systematic arrangement of sections, simple language

Bringing compactness by deleting the redundant provisions

Adopting best global practices

Strengthening enforcement powers and prescribing stringent penalties

Providing greater flexibility to bring changes in consonance with economic and technical environment

He spoke on Managerial remuneration, simplified procedures for facilitating mergers and amalgamations; investor protection, mediation and conciliation panel, insider trading, related party transactions, CSR, etc. Mr. P. H. Arvindh Pandian, Senior Advocate & Additional Advocate General, Government of Tamil Nadu, addressed on Investor Protection and Shareholders’ empowerment. He said all listed companies, public companies having a paid up capital of Rs 100 crores or having a turnover of Rs 300 crores or more or public companies which

CHAMBER’S ACTIVITIES have an aggregate outstanding loans or borrowings or debentures or deposits exceeding Rs 200 crore shall mandatorily have 1/3rd of the board as Independent Directors. Independent directors shall abide by the code provided in the Act, which lists down guidelines for important aspects like professional conduct, role and functions, duties, manner of appointment and re-appointment, resignation or removal, separate meeting and evaluation mechanism. On investor protection he said every listed company and such class or classes of companies shall have a vigil mechanism for directors and employees to report genuine concerns. Under Sec 24 of the Companies Act 2013 SEBI is empowered to make regulations with regard to issue and transfer of securities and non-payment of dividend by listed company, thus protecting the interest of investors. He said the Companies Act 2013 aims to facilitate and implement corporate governance regulation even at a public unlisted/private company level, enhance participation of shareholders, raise transparency/accountability of directors/ auditors/key managerial personnel and protect investor especially minority shareholders. Ms. Bhavani Balasubramanian, Partner, Deloitte Haskins & Sells made a presentation on Auditors, Accounting & Auditing Standards. She said significant emphasis has been laid on accounting and reporting considerations. Books of accounts can be kept in electronic form also. A director of the company can inspect the books of accounts of the subsidiary, only with the authority of the Board of directors. The name of National Advisory Committee on Accounting Standards has been changed to National Financial Reporting Authority. The role of authority is to advise

on matters related to Auditing Standards in addition to Accounting Standards. She said no approval of Central Government is required for appointment of a Cost Auditor. Cost Accounting Standards have been made compulsory. Addressing again on Corporate Governance and Independent Directors, Dr. Kumar said with the emergence of Corporate Governance practices all over the world, in 1999, SEBI constituted a committee on Corporate Governance under the Chairmanship of Shri. Kumar Mangalam Birla, to promote and raise the standard of Corporate Governance in respect of listed companies. Clause 49 of the listing agreement contains mandatory as well as non-mandatory provisions, qualifications of independent director etc. Speaking on Code for independent directors he said, an independent director shall uphold ethical standards of integrity and probity and act objectively and constructively while exercising his duties. The performance evaluation of independent directors shall be done by the entire Board of Directors excluding the director being evaluated. Ms. Gayatri Subramaniam, Senior Consultant, IICA, made a presentation on Corporate Social Responsibility. She said the purpose of inclusion of CSR in the Companies Act is that they allow corporates to harness and channelise their core competencies as well as develop eﬀective business models. They will help promote and facilitate far better connect between businesses and communities. They will facilitate deeper thought and longer term strategies for addressing some of our most persistent social, economic and environmental problems and will assist in synergizing partnership between corporates, Governments, civil society organizations, academic institutions and social entrepreneurs. She explained as to what CSR is and what is not CSR.

Mr. Senthil Kumar Ramamurthy, Partner, Dua Associates, Advocates and solicitors addressed on Enhanced Disclosure requirements, class action suits and special courts. He described class action suits as actions filed by members or depositors or any class of them complaining that the management or conduct of the affairs of the company are prejudicial to the interests of the company, its members or depositors. Special courts are to be established or designated by the Central Government for speedy trial of offences under the Companies Act or offences under multiple laws including the Companies Act. These special courts deemed to have the status of a sessions court and cases to be filed only in the special courts in the area where the registered office of the company concerned is situated. Dr. B. Ravi, Company Secretary, also addressed the Conference and made an excellent presentation. He spoke about Corporate Governance and the Directors’ responsibilities. Mr. P. Viswanathan, Secretary & Compliance Officer, Sundaram Finance Ltd., and Co-chairman of the Chambers Expert Committee on Company Law & Corporate Affairs proposed the vote of thanks.

8th November 2013

Seminar on Rationalizing Electricity Prices: Improving Access, Cleaning Environment The Madras Chamber, in association with Liberty Institute, New Delhi & with the support of Friedrich Naumann Stiftung organized a Seminar on “Rationalizing Electricity Prices: Improving Access, Cleaning Environment” on 8th November 2013 at Hotel Raintree, Anna Salai. Liberty Institute is a non - profit organization established in 1996 and is an independent

CHAMBER’S ACTIVITIES think tank dedicated to empowering the people by harnessing the power of the market. The Institute is working on a range of public policy issues, including economic development and trade policy, energy policy and environmental quality, education and health policies, democracy and governance reforms, intellectual property rights and innovation, among others. Electricity pricing is a critical factor in reforming the electricity sector in India. Rationalising electricity pricing is vital to ensure that the electricity infrastructure is maintained properly. In his welcome address, Mr. T. Shivaraman, President, MCCI said that it is apt that we have a seminar on Electricity Pricing in Tamil Nadu. The availability or the lack of availability of power in Tamil Nadu is a major irritant for industries in Tamil Nadu and because of this, industries wishing to expand their operations, are moving out of Tamil Nadu. He said Tamil Nadu is a State where lot of experimentation has been done. We are an energy poor State he said and we do not have suﬃcient hydel power like other States. In Tamil Nadu, the per capita energy demand is the highest in the country and it will grow higher than all India average. Whatever challenges are faced by Tamil Nadu will be faced by other States in the country sooner or later he said. With regard to Wind energy, Tamil Nadu has over 40% of installed capacity in India and at present wind penetration in Tamil Nadu is the highest in the country. We actually have more wind capacity than commercial power. The major challenge for wind has been that in India wind is very seasonal. During the peak season, we have more wind power than we can handle and during other period, we do not have enough wind power.

Therefore we have the problem of managing more wind power he said and lot of thinking has to be done as to how the Southern grid can be fully integrated with the rest of India. We will have to look at resources locally within the State and see how we can share these resources with the rest of the States. He said it is good that we have a focused seminar on pricing; at the end of the day whatever we do with regard to infrastructure, the pricing signals in the market will drive growth. Unless one knows pricing, investments will not be forthcoming. The opening remarks on the theme of the Seminar were given by Mr. Barun Mitra, President, Liberty Institute, New Delhi. He said citizens should be empowered to make their own choices in whichever field they are in. 20 years ago when India was trying to liberalise and improve its economy, Liberty Institute was formed to provide a more coherent intellectual framework. Being a non-profit organization, Liberty Institute does not support any political party. With regard to pricing of electricity, he said there is a problem and the problem is primarily because of pricing on one side and political necessity to keep the prices at a level which may or may not work, on the other. Can we create an environment where political synergy can be tapped he asked? We have a gap between the cost at which it is produced and the cost at which the consumer pays. The gap is widening except for 2- 3 States. Tamil Nadu has been purchasing power from other States at a higher price. The market is primarily a network. There are competing buyers and sellers. He said 50% increase in power capacity is coming from private investments despite the problems.

He described the 6is of economy and energy as : -

Information

Interaction

incentive

investment

infrastructure

Intermediaries

Tamil Nadu is a pioneer in wind he said with potential for solar power as well. He referred to Germany where storage of power is done in some other European country. Can we be creative like that he asked? He said let the people have the choice from whom and where they can get power and intermediaries will resolve the problem. Concluding, he said greater the complexity of the network, greater the need for flexibility and specialization and scope for intermediaries to interact in a competitive market environment, with an incentive to innovate and improve. The Seminar consisted of two Technical Sessions - the first Technical Session dealt with Rationalising of Electricity prices – Is there a need? The session was excellently moderated by Mr. Subodh Kumar, FNSt, New Delhi The speakers then addressed the sessions: Dr. Harish K Ahuja, IAS (Retd). President-Strategy & Corporate Aﬀairs, Moser Baer Projects Pvt Ltd. , New Delhi. Dr. Ahuja made a presentation on Electricity Tariﬀ models and way forward. He spoke on basic elements of power reforms and urged for the setting up of an independent regulator to check monopoly practices in distribution and transmission and avoid market power in generation.

CHAMBER’S ACTIVITIES He described why competition works better than regulations and privatization. Mr. Devesh Singh, Regional Manager, Indian Energy Exchange, Bangalore, M r. D e ve s h S i n g h a d d re s s e d o n Understanding electricity Market. He said IEX is an online platform and is a fully automated system. It is a national level platform. 3000 industries are buying power at present. One can get power on day to day basis, or weekly basis. He said that most of the States allow for buying and selling of power. Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh industries are participating in the Exchange. Mr. Anand Madhavan, Deputy General Manager, ICRA Management Consulting Services: Mr. Anand Madhavan addressed on Issues and Concerns. He said we need huge investments in the power sector. Cross subsidies are excessive, mis-directed and these impact the overall competitiveness and economic prospects. He suggested to invest in smart grids. Even after tariﬀ hikes, accumulated losses of power distribution companies are still very high. He urged for the following: -

Rationalise tariffs in line with national tariﬀ policy

Implement a credible RPO regime nationwide; and

Invest in smart grids

He said we can make power distribution companies more vibrant and see that the Electricity Act becomes a reality. Mr. S. Gunasekaran, Secretary, Tamil Nadu Electricity Regulatory Commission: Addressing on Pricing Strategies and Tariﬀ Regulation, Mr. Gunasekaran said tariﬀ is determined as per the Electricity Act

under Section 62, 63 and 64. He said under Section 65, the State Government has the power to reduce the tariff determined by the TNERC. In Tamil Nadu we have a number of private producers where the power cost is high. He said electricity should be affordable to households. Speaking on smart meters he said at present only the high tension industrial consumers are subject to extra charges for consumption during peak hours and incentives for consumption during off peak hours. Introduction of smart meters will go a long way in tariff rationalisation. Consumers can be charged different tariff rates during the day and hence the consumers who can adjust their demand can choose to regulate the usage depending upon their necessity and the applicable tariff at that time. Introduction of smart meters will also facilitate the licensee to optimize his cost so that when the rate of power purchase from market is high, he can reduce the non-essential loads to the required level from the control room, maintaining the essential loads. The second Technical Session was moderated by Mr. P. Krishnakumar, Chairman, Expert Committee on Energy of the Chamber. The following speakers made presentations: Mr. Vishal Pandya, Director, REConnect Energy, Bangalore Mr. Vishal Pandya made a presentation on Incentives for Producers and consumers of renewable energy – are they adequate? He felt that Open Access is a way to competition and open access in the power sector is an essential long term

reform. There are many options under Open Access – whether intra-State or Inter-State. Subsidies which are to be paid in advance are never paid by the Government in time or there are delays and this compromises power distribution companies’ health and makes them unable to support RE sector and fair competition. He said in India we have enough policies to keep the market growing but it is the enforcement that lacks. What we need is a level playing field for Renewable Energy and proper enforcement of policies. Dr. R. Hema, Associate Professor, Madras School of Economics: Dr. Hema addressed on Market Place for Renewable Energy and an institutional way forward. She gave an insight on how most of the emerging renewable energy resources are available in rural areas, how a Rural Energy Enterprise could make use of the various subsidies provided and could play a role in designing a suitable price mechanism, the thrust on the decentralized and integrated bottom up approach instead of compartmentalized top down approach for sustainable harnessing of energy, etc. The programme was attended by about 75 delegates.

9th November 2013

Seminar on Sustainable Practices in Industrial Waste Water Management The Chamber has set up a Sustainable Chennai Forum (SCF) with the objective of assisting and promoting a business case for sustainable development and evolving a congenial policy and action

CHAMBERâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S ACTIVITIES oriented environment for the sustainable development of the Chennai Metropolitan region in collaboration with like-minded institutions. The focus of this Forum is to create a business model for sustainability with special emphasis on areas like Energy, Water, Waste Management, Transport and Urban Greening. To mark the second anniversary of SCF and also to highlight the importance of sustainable practices in industrial waste water management, the Chamber organized a Seminar at Hotel GRT Grand Convention Centre. The objective of the Seminar was to highlight the challenges in managing industrial waste water, understanding the emerging technologies and practices in treating waste water, complying with the regulatory requirements and provide value for their businesses. Mr. A. V. Venkatachalam, IFS., Member Secretary of Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board was the Chief Guest. Welcoming the Chief Guest and the other participants, Mr. T. Shivaraman, President, MCCI, said SCF was set up during the 175th year celebrations of the Chamber to assist and promote a business case for sustainable development. At SCF, we work with like minded institutions. On our second anniversary, it was decided to organize this seminar with focus on waste water management. Tamil Nadu has been a forerunner in industrialization in most of the sectors like textiles, pharma, engineering, chemicals, leather, etc. The two major inputs the industry needs is electricity and water. Of the two water is the biggest challenge and this will continue to be the challenge for the industry in the long run. Water is always given second priority when it comes to industry, compared to domestic and agriculture.

The first large scale sea water desalination plant was set up at Chennai. We are probably the first State to implement zero discharge in industry. He said we need to expand and refocus in certain areas. We need to look at sewage recycle and focus on waste water. He said this seminar will be useful to exchange ideas on what other people are doing and what more can be done. The solutions to industrial waste water treatment, recycling and reuse are going to get more attention to Tami Nadu as Tamil Nadu is the State of invention. Mr Venkatachalam, Member Secretary, TNPCB, expressed his happiness to be a part of the occasion. He said only 3% is fresh water in the world. Water has to be conserved, protected and used in a proper way. The only source for water is the rain. He said trees conserved water and soil is also very important for conserving water. The top soil which supports the vegetation should be protected well. He informed the gathering how the water which goes to the bottom most portion of the earth comes out as a spring and the water delivered at the base of the stem remains for years together. He congratulated MCCI for conducting this seminar inviting a cross section of resource persons and said it is an opportunity to discuss various issues and the Chamber could forward the issues to TNPCB for open discussion and find solutions to the same. This was followed by the Technical Sessions which were addressed by eminent faculty as follows: Dr. K. R. Ranganathan, former Member Secretary, CPCB Dr Ranganathan gave a genesis of policies concerning water management. He said in 1977 the minimum national standards were evolved and all the States

were asked to adopt these standards. A comprehensive industrial document was brought out to achieve this standard and in-house control measures were adopted. He spoke about the Air Pollution Control Act as well as Water Pollution Control Act. He said the approval for the control equipment has to be given by the State Pollution Control Boards. He felt that for Air Pollution, a separate Board should have been created as the expertise required is completely diďŹ&#x20AC;erent. He further said for Air Act and Water Act there is a consent mechanism whereas for Environment Protection Act, there is no consent mechanism. He also referred to the Hazardous Chemical Handling Rules and said the National Green Tribunal is responsible for implementation and award compensation for the damages done. Environment Economics is a very green area, he said. The best way to dispose of industrial waste is to send it to Cement kilns since natural resources like land for disposal of waste will not be touched. He felt that this will be a win-win situation for all. Mr. Pranab Kumar Majumdar Addl. General Manager, VA Tech Wabag Ltd. Mr. Pranab Majumdar addressed on issues and challenges in Industrial Waste Water Management. He said, there is rampant use of water as well as disposal of waste water. This is because there is lack of strict implementation of policies. Improper water pricing is also one of the main reasons for ineďŹ&#x192;cient use by industry. He said CPCB/SPCB regulate industrial water pollution and charge water cess based on the amount of waste water discharged but there is no mandate to control sourcing of water from various sources.

CHAMBER’S ACTIVITIES In India, water conservation has not achieved any significant success and our rivers and lakes are highly polluted. There is severe depletion in ground water level as well. He suggested the following as the probable solutions to this problem: * Implementation of aquifer policy to restrict ground water usage * Emphasis on recycle and reuse through regulation and incentives * Desalination a probable option for coastal industry belt * Proper coordination amongst Ministries and regulatory bodies; He said organizations like MCCI should spread awareness about proper usage of water as well as the conservation of it. Mr. N. S. Venkataraman, Director, Nandini Consultancy Centre: Mr. Venkataraman addressed on Emerging Trends in Waste Water Treatment Practices. He advised to convert the effluent to value added products, instead of merely treating the effluent away. There are plenty of things to be gained by pollution control and profit is one of them. Carbon dioxide is emitted in large quantity by several projects including cement plants and thermal power plants and this contributes to global warming. There are international concerns about the global warming effects of carbon dioxide that call for measures to mitigate the emission of carbon dioxide. He gave instances of a few companies/ organizations which have developed technology for managing waste. He said waste material may consist of paint sludge, sludge from effluent treatment plants and cotton waste, expired goods like medicines, foods and other FMCG

products. Burning municipal waste in cement kilns is better than destroying them in incinerators or using them as landfill. This is because the temperature inside a cement kiln can go as high as 2,000 degree celsius at the main burner. Furthermore, the emissions from the kilns do not get influenced by the burning of these waste materials. This technology has been developed by ACC Ltd. Similarly he gave details of technology developed by CLRI for common salt free tanning, waste water reduction in Denim processing by Clariant, bio Hydrogen and Bio plastics from waste developed by IICT, Hyderabad, etc. Mr Venkataraman advised against using too much of water and also avoid letting it out. In Technical Session II, the following speakers addressed the programme: Mr. G. Sankara Subramanian Asst.Vice-President – Operations, Chemplast Sanmar Ltd. Mr. Sankara Subramanian made a presentation on “ZLD – Zero Liquid Discharge – Water conservation and management”. The governing principle for water management at Sanmar is that all new facilities to be zero liquid discharge and no drawing of ground water. He said all new chemical plants should implement water conservation at the design stage itself. He said Chemplast invested in Air cooled condensers in coal based captive power plant with the sole purpose of water conservation. Chemplast is the first large chemical complex in India to achieve ZLD which is a matter of great pride for the Chemplast Team. Mr. Raja Chidambaram, URs Productively Mr. Chidambaram gave a case study on sustainability relating to Leather

Tannery cluster. He said there were many challenges for tanneries, especially in the SME sector. They have to adhere to environmental standards stipulated by market players and the State authorities. He said provision of appropriate flow meters in necessary lines would help; His other suggestions were – to review the processes to reduce water consumption; separate effluent streams and use of portable pumps for proper segregation; and Recycle water from ETP to achieve Zero Liquid Discharge. He said many things can be done by proper thought process. Ms. Jayshree Vencatesan, Care Earth Trust: Ms. Jayshree spoke on socio-ecological dimensions of fresh water management. She said water is a limited natural resource. Over 70 per cent of Earth’s surface is covered by water and 97 per cent of the volume is saline/brackish water. Only 3 percent is fresh water. Out of this, only 1 per cent is available to humans directly. She said waste water management is not an issue of compliance. It is fundamentally a responsibility towards life on earth. She said our focus should be at the level of the system namely landscape, watershed or habitat. Human beings only create waste. There is need for reorienting the greening agenda. Perhaps a blue-green agenda and scientific planning of green belts and green spaces would be ideal. She gave the case study of Michelin wherein the statutory Green Belt has been reoriented to restoration of the Landscape. There was good interaction and many queries were raised which were answered by the speakers. The programme was attended by about 60 participants and concluded with Lunch.

CHAMBER’S ACTIVITIES 16th November 2013

Risk of Paying a bribe > Price of the bribe: Anti-bribery & Corruption workshop Corruption schemes make up one-third of the reported fraud cases, with a median loss of $ 2,50,000 according to the 2012 Report to the Nations on Occupational Fraud and Abuse. With companies trying to prepare for a future world of opportunities oﬀered by new markets – corruption is a reality that they must be ready to face. Corruption threatens the integrity of markets, undermines fair competition, destroys public trust and undermines the rule of law. It is a severe impediment to economic growth and a significant challenge for developed, emerging and developing countries. Fighting corruption therefore requires a holistic and forwardthinking approach. Companies need to constantly address their evolving bribery risks and study the anti-bribery landscape in their jurisdictions crucial to their global operations. It is against this backdrop and to equip delegates with tools to identify weaknesses in their institutions’ systems, controls and practices, and adopt a strategic and robust approach to address their bribery and corruption risks, this event was organized in association with Deloitte. Mr. S. G. Prabhakharan, Vice-President of the Chamber presided. In his welcome remarks, he said according to transparency International, India ranks 94 among 176 nations in Corruption Perception Index ratings. There are three major areas in which corruption takes place – (1) Transport Services, (2) Real Estate and (3) Government delivered services. He said 5 Billion dollars of money is being paid to Government oﬃcials. He gave a few mind boggling figures.He said in the Tamil Nadu Revenue Budget of Rs 1,18,000 crores for

this year, Rs 9800 crores is estimated to be the income from registration and stamp duty alone. These transactions comprise of 40,000 apartments sold in Tamil Nadu and huge extent of land dealings. In these approximately Rs. 50,000 crores of cash is involved which is not reported or disclosed.

It is getting diﬃcult in this country to make things work without paying a bribe. People are still unaware of the laws existing in the country and about the good things that are happening in the country. If you want to stand up against corruption, the key point is you have to be compliant of all the rules and regulations.

He referred to the many bribery scandals involving huge money and aﬀecting the morale of the common man.

If the Managing Director of a company stands up and sends a strong signal to his employees against bribery, he would certainly set an example for the integrity of his company.

He said we talk about corruption in our every day life. Can we take a small step to address this malady? He advised to stop dealing in cash. He advised the companies to constantly address their evolving bribery risks and study the anti-bribery landscape in other jurisdictions crucial to their global operations. Ms .Bhavani Balasubramanian, Partner of Deloitte and Chairperson of the chamber’s Expert committee on Company Law/Corporate Matters introduced the speakers. Mr. Rohit Mahajan, National Leader and Senior Director, Deloitte Forensic, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, giving an introduction to the subject said he sees and feels the change. Ten years before we have never heard of so much corruption. In order to be successful globally, there are lot of Indian organizations today who have set high standards of governance. From the Indian context, it is very interesting that India is a country where honesty and integrity is upheld from the ancient times. However, today India happens to be one of the most corrupt countries in the world. The perception of corruption in India has gone up. He referred to (a) collusive corruption which is manageable and controllable and (b) extortionate corruption.

He said some companies are undertaking ethical audits and rewarding the people. One of them is “No to bribe”. Another concept that is catching up is social control of environment. The youth of this country will drive the change and in the next 15-20 years we shall see a significant change he said. Mr. K. Vaitheeswaran, Advocate and Tax consultant, speaking on Legal perception said the law that talks about corruption is the Prevention of Corruption Act. The definitions are very wide and from 2001 to 2012, the total number of persons convicted is only 10,600. The maximum number of persons convicted is from Maharashtra; one from West Bengal, and in most of the States, none were convicted. He said there are three types of corruption; -

Corruption by intent – this is a very serious oﬀence

Corruption by tariﬀ; and

Corruption by threat

Honesty has its price. Many will look up to you. He advised to be compliant, be e-enabled and avoid physical meetings. The law has to be simple. We need whistle blowers in organizations and in

CHAMBER’S ACTIVITIES Government Departments to bring out this change he said. Mr. T. T. Srinivasaraghavan, Managing Director of Sundaram Finance spoke on Business perception. He said the biggest scandals that are taking place in the world are certainly not in India but in U.S. Corruption is as old as mankind and he felt India is not that corrupt as other countries. He referred to major corruption v/s petty corruption, the giver v/s the receiver. A person willing to pay a bribe is not superior to the one who receives it. Every time, companies are rewarded for what they are. One has to nurture a culture within the organization as to what is acceptable to them and what is not. We should build institutions for posterity and longevity. There are many companies in India which contribute to the good of the society, who have the courage to stand up at any cost. He said, Sundaram Finance has high ethical standards. Compliance does not guarantee anything and being compliant does not mean that one is guaranteed protection. Commitment to an ideal comes at a very high cost and this is not going to happen by legislation. He felt there is hope. One could have all the laws in the world; what we need is the spirit to say that this is wrong. There is enough in our heritage. Our culture has propounded that this is evil. He said we need to go back to the basics. Mr. T. S. Krishnamurthy, former Chief Election Commissioner, said corruption is a multi faced monster. It is all pervasive in our society. Giving the administrator’s perception he said there are still some people in administration who are good. He complimented MCCI and Deloitte for having organized this programme. Corruption is not confined to Government alone. The private sector realizes the

harmful effects of bribery and still survives with the compliance cost. He said the problems are more for SMEs. They may survive for 5 years if they bribe ; if they do not bribe, they may not even survive for one year. What is most important is enforcement of law. The legal and judicial system in India has to stand high. While there are many corrupt companies, there are honest companies as well especially in the South. The law should be such that time limits should be prescribed in the case of every rule and every letter of grievance should be replied within a week. By doing so, Government will be more responsive and public also would appreciate. Decision making is important and a crucial factor. Time is the casualty in Government. Apart from time and decision making, people have to stand up he felt. Over a period of time, the standards of bureaucrats have come down. There is no integrity. He said dishonest people should be punished in time. He suggested the creation of a rating agency for integrity and good governance and said MCCI can think about it. He further said that Corporates should contribute to a National Election Fund and they should be given 100% tax concessions. This money can be used by the Election Commission to help contesting candidates and if this is not sufficient, Government should bear the expenditure. Unless and until we have a constitutional mechanism to fight corruption, he felt it may be very difficult to tackle the same. He said, remove the nexus between the corrupt, the politicians and the government. The last speaker for the day was Mr. Vijay Anand, President, 5th Pillar. Representing a Civil society organization, he said change is inevitable. India is no exception he said.

If we all act together, the change that we have been dreaming of in the last couple of years, will happen. We do not need new laws but the existing laws need amendments. We need to treat corruption equal to stealing and/ or begging. There are tools and weapons with our Government to tackle this. In the next ten years, India is going to see a change with the support of everyone. With a vibrant Q&A session, the programme ended. It was well attended by about 80 delegates. The event was supported by Deloitte.

26th November 2013

Visit of Tax Administration Reforms Commission to Chennai: ( TARC) The Government of India has set up a Tax Administration Reforms Commission under the Chairmanship of Dr Parthasarathi Shome with a view to reviewing the application of Tax Policies and Tax Laws in India in the context of global best practices. The Commission works as an advisory body to the Ministry of Finance and recommends measures for reforms required in Tax Administration to enhance its eﬀectiveness and eﬃciency. Members of the Commission, Mr. Y. G. Parande, Ms. Sunita Kaila, Mr. K. Zutshi, Mr. S. S. N. Moorthy, Mr. M. R. Diwakar and S. Mahalingamled by Dr Shome visited Chennai on 26th November for holding consultations with stakeholders including industry associations/ chambers of commerce and professional bodies. The first such consultation with industry bodies was organized at Hotel My Fortune. The event was hosted by the Madras Chamber. The Commission had identified the following four points in its Terms of Reference to be included in its first report

which is to be submitted to Government within six months: a) To review the existing organizational structure and recommend appropriate enhancements with special reference to deployment of work force commensurate with functional requirements, capacity building, vigilance administration, responsibility and accountability of human resources, key performances indicators, staﬀ assessment, grading and promotion systems and structures to promote quality decision-making at high policy level. b) To review the existing business processes of tax administration including the use of information and communication technology and recommend measures best suited to the Indian context c) To review the existing mechanism of dispute resolution, time involved for resolution and compliance cost and recommend measures for strengthening the processes. This includes domestic and international taxation. d) To review existing mechanism and recommend measures for improved taxpayer services and taxpayers education programme. This includes mechanism for grievance redressal, simplified and timely disbursal of duty drawback, export incentives, rectification procedures and refunds. Madras Chamber took a lead in organizing this discussion. On behalf of the Madras Chamber, Mr. T. Shivaraman, President, Mr. K. K. Sekar, Co-Chairman, Indirect Taxes Committee, Mr. Ramkumar Shankar, Member of General Committee and Ms. K. Saraswathi, Secretary General participated in the meeting along with Mr. K.Vaitheeswaran, Chairman, Expert Committee on Indirect Taxes who made

a presentation on Indirect Taxes and Mr Sriram Seshadri who made a presentation on Direct Taxes. Other organizations who were invited were - FICCI/ CII/SICCI/ FIEO/ CREDAI/ ACAAI/IACC/ and HCC.

27th November 2013

Seminar on Attaining agility in manufacturing through process automation Driven by the phenomenon of globalization and the ever-changing regulatory landscape, Finance & Accounting operations demand a transformational approach, with higher automation, better control and visibility across processes, and enhanced business agility. In this scenario, the Madras Chamber in association with NewGen organised a Seminar titled “Attaining Agility in M a n u fa c t u r i n g t h r o u g h P r o c e s s Automation” on 27th November at Hotel GRT Grand, T. Nagar. The event was designed to address every aspect of the evolving manufacturing landscape, and enable organizations to optimize core processes, maximize re t u r n s , m i t i gate r i s ks , i m p ro ve operational efficiencies, and enhance business agility. The seminar featured technology experts, having decades of experience in enabling world class process automation performance: Ms. K. Saraswathi, Secretary General of the Chamber welcomed the gathering. She said the Chamber was indeed happy to join hands with NewGen in organising this event for the benefit of the members of the Madras Chamber. Briefly describing the Chamber’s activities, she said the Chamber has a number of manufacturing companies in its

membership. The Chamber has adapted itself to the changing needs of the members since its inception in 1836. She said that it is imperative for the businesses to be adaptable and agile to sustain and progress. Mr. S. Sriram of Newgen Software made a presentation on Attaining Agility in Manufacturing Enterprises. He described the business process as a way how we conduct business with the Standard Operating Procedures. These are transaction based for achieving the desired results. The advantages of Business Process Automation (BPA) have been – eﬃciency of transaction, reduction in transaction process time and cost; achieving visibility, transparency, accountability and compliance. One can achieve BPA by innovation using technology enablers. The next step he said is Business Process Management (BPM) using workflows, imaging, documentation management and EAI technologies. Mr. Gaurav Gupta, Senior Director of Deloitte made a presentation on Global shared services. Traditionally shared services started in manufacturing he said. Finance continues to be the most popular function considered for migration to shared services. At present, there are 1000 shared service centres in India generating a business of 20 million dollars. The financial impact of shared services has been that there is a saving of at least 20% in the cost. He said at least 50% of the SSCs exceeded their objectives and their service quality has tremendously improved. Mr. S. V. Kaushik, Advisor and CIO, Tube Investments of India Ltd., gave a case study of shared services. He described the shared services as – one unit of an organisation performing the services which was done in many units. By doing

so, there would be specialisation internally. The convergence is through centralisation to achieve economies of scale and it is ideal for big oﬃce functions. The popular ones in shared services were – accounts payables, account receivables, payrolls, perquisites, fixed asset accounting, bank books, purchase, collection, etc. Mr. Clynton Almeida, CIO, Redington and Chairman of the Expert Committee – IT/ITES, MCCI was part of the Panel Discussion/Q&A session. The Panellists took turns to answer the queries of the participants. The meeting was attended by about 80 participants and was followed by Cocktails and Dinner hosted by NewGen.

28th November 2013

Signing of Memorandum of Cooperation with Port of Antwerp On the occasion of the visit of Belgian Economic Mission to India led by Her Royal Highness Princess Astrid of Belgium, Representative of His Majesty the King, the Madras Chamber and the Port of Antwerp signed a Memorandum of Cooperation in the presence of Princess Astrid on 28th November at Hotel ITC Grand Chola. Mr. T. Shivaraman, President, MCCI signed on behalf of the Chamber while Mr. Marc Van Peel, President of Port of Antwerp signed on behalf of POA. The objective of the Memorandum of Cooperation is to enhance the understanding and friendship as well as to develop potential new businesses for both the Chamber and the POA in the interest of mutual benefit. The Port of Antwerp will work with the Madras Chamber on skill enhancement in areas such as maritime infrastructure and port management in India. The partnership will also work to

bring the best practices in the maritime sector into India. The Memorandum is published in this Bulletin.

29th November 2013

Seminar on Development of Maritime Infrastructure in Southern India : Horizon 2020 Her Royal Highness Princess Astrid of Belgium was in Chennai on 28th and 29th November accompanied by various Ministers of Belgian Government. A 300 member Business delegation comprising of various business groups also visited Chennai along with the Princess and held discussions with the businessmen in various sectors like Maritime Infrastructure, Development of Exports, Tourism, etc. The Chamber jointly with the Belgian Ministry of Economy and Foreign Trade and Confederation of Construction, Belgium organised a Seminar on “Development of Maritime Infrastructure in Southern India: Horizon 2020” at Hotel ITC Grand Chola. Mr. T. Shivaraman, President, MCCI, in his welcome address, briefly described the history of the Chamber and how the Chamber was closely connected with the maritime sector since its inception. He said the Chamber has found a proactive partner in government of Tamil Nadu. He referred to the State Planning Commission entrusting the Chamber with the preparation of a study on port sector to improve the port connectivity in the State. The Chamber is working very closely with the government. He felt that much of the growth that has to happen will be in the minor ports he said. He also referred to the visit of the Chamber’s delegation to the Port of Antwerp and the neighbouring Ports in

May this year and the delegation was greatly amazed to note the diﬀerence in the level of eﬃciency and the way Belgian ports operate compared to our ports in Chennai. They also noted the seamless connectivity compared to the gaps of connectivity we in India live with. The experts deliberated the scope for the development of maritime infrastructure and its contribution to international trade. Speaking on the occasion, the Belgian Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade Ms Celine Fremault said the outstanding economic growth of India required adequate investments in infrastructure. Maritime infrastructure was crucial for local economies if they wanted to play a role in global trade. Introducing four major multinational companies of her country, she said Belgian contractors with many high profile and complex projects to their credit across the world had expertise in specialized hydraulic and marine works. Despite tough economic conditions in 2012, the companies had proven to be resistant with a solid backlog of work and a fairly high level of business. These companies show a dedicated attention to sustainability, respect for the environment, social responsibility and continuous efforts to improve occupational health and safety conditions on their construction sites. At the Technical Session, presentations were made by representatives of Belgian companies. In his keynote address, Mr. Rajeev Ranjan, IAS., Principal Secretary, Minor Ports and Highways Department, Govt of Tamilnadu said that it is timely that such a large mission from Belgium is visiting Tamil Nadu. He hoped it will foster better relationship with Tamil Nadu as well as the Southern States. He said, MCCI is the best pedigree to organize this because

maritime infrastructure is very dear to the Chamber.

of red tape but change is afoot and rule of law is becoming more pronounced.

While trying to integrate with the world, developing the infrastructure becomes a very important parameter he said. We need to have and develop a sound maritime infrastructure which is the need of the day.

Mr. M.V. Kapardee of Visakhapatnam Port explained the existing facilities available at the port, the traﬃc trend, upgradation of iron ore facility etc. He said the container terminal is the deepest among all the major ports in India.

In India, there are 13 major ports controlled by the Government of India through the Ministry of Shipping. The State Governments look after non-major ports and in Tamil Nadu there are 22 minor ports and 3 major ports. The Government has taken several initiatives to increase the port capacity, development of non major ports with substantial investment in the port sector which has resulted in the eﬃciency of Indian ports in the last decade. Referring to the Vision 2023 announced by the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu which envisages Rs. 15 lakh crores for infrastructure projects, he said the State is set to become the upper middle income group State with no poverty. He said Tamil Nadu has a minor port development policy which looks at BOOT basis trying to encourage investments in port sector. It is investor friendly. The idea is to have private participation as the main focus is for growth of infrastructure. While there are challenges in the short term, he said there is hope in the longer perspective. The growth has been led by non-major ports, prominently the private ports. Mr. S. N. Srikanth, Senior Partner, Hauer Associates in his presentation said India’s growth story remains captivating. According to OECD projections, India will be the second largest economy in the world in 2060. It will be the fastest growing economy in 2030. He said opportunities for sea borne trade are immense. There have been delays in port projects because

Mr. R. Senthil Kumar, IRTS, General Manager – Operations of Ennore Port said Ennore Port operates on Landlord model. This Port has recorded forty to fifty percent growth. It has state of the art iron ore terminal but due to environmental clearances, not put to use yet. Their carcum -general cargo terminal is the largest in India. Ennore Port was accorded the mini Ratna status due to its continued profit making performance. M s . V i n i t a Ve n k a t e s h , A d v i s o r, Krishnapatnam Port said the shipping industry in India has suﬀered due to poor port planning, poor road quality and poor planning, port congestion, cost and time over runs, etc. She said the infrastructure at Krishnapatnam Port is world class. It is a Greenfield Port but does not have CFS at the moment and invited the trade to have the CFSs inside their port. Kattupalli port was represented by Mr. Vishal Mathur, General ManagerMarketing Commercial . He said with the active participation of the Government of Tamil Nadu and as part of their vision , this port came into being. It is a JV with Govt of TN represented by TIDCO and L&T. It is governed by Tamilnadu Martitime Board. It has world class terminal infrastructure designed for the future. Its future plans include – enhancing capacity of container terminal, RO operations, rail connectivity, etc.

Mr. G. Srinivasan, Superintending Engineer of Chennai Port, made a presentation in which he highlighted the performance of the Port during 2012-13. Describing the challenges of the port which were – evacuation issues, environmental issues, inadequate storage space, poor productivity, etc he also said there were challenges from other ports now. Once the four-lane road connectivity through EMRIP and elevated port link to Maduravoyal for evacuation of container trailers and cargo trucks was ready, it would greatly help faster movement of cargo. Looking ahead, the Port would see for : -

PPP mode for infrastructure development projects

New land policy

Modernisation and technology upgradation

Specialization in cargo handling and

Faster environmental clearances.

The Vote of Thanks was proposed by Mr. J. Krishnan and the programme ended with networking lunch.

30th November 2013

Management Development Programme on Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax (TNVAT) This program was organized as part of the regular series of seminars organized on taxation to bring awareness of the changing nature of taxes and in particular to any amendments made. It was timely as the recent amendments in the TN VAT Act have created a furor in the Industrial sector. The Chamber has made a representation to the Government of Tamil Nadu on behalf of its members to roll back or issue a clarification with regard to the recent amendments.

In his welcome Address, Mr. T. Shivaraman, President, MCCI stated that for the Government to increase its revenue to take forward its developmental goals, the taxes are levied. Unless there is a growth in the industrial sector, the tax will become a burden. The Chamber encourages its member to be tax compliant. He further added that the Chamber welcomed the introduction of VAT in Tamil Nadu because in India’s prevalent sales tax structure, there have always been problems of double taxation of commodities and multiplicity of taxes, resulting in a cascading tax burden. The rationalization of VAT Act benefits the industries structure their business in an eﬃcient manner. Tamil Nadu being the significant exporter in the manufacturing sector competes with other States and if any tax reduces the competitiveness especially the exports, it would weaken the State. He stated that the Chamber organizes seminars regularly to create awareness about the changing nature of taxes and its impact on the Industrial sector. The Chamber also makes representations to the Government on behalf of its members. He further added that a representation has been made for the recent amendments and the issues and concerns will be highlighted by Mr. P.R.Subramaniyan. He once again welcomed the audience to have an enlightening day. Mr. P. R. Subramaniyan, Chairman, Expert Committee on VAT thanked Dr. K. Manivasan, I.A.S., Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Government of Tamil Nadu for agreeing to be a part of the Management Development Programme. He informed that this programme was not decided in view of the recent amendment about which industries have serious concerns, but was planned much in advance in the normal course. However this would also be an opportunity for the Chamber to discuss the latest TN VAT Act amendment . The following issues were raised and requests were made to Dr.Manivasan to

consider the issues. 1. G.O. Ms. No 328 and 329 a. Stock Transfer – reversal of ITC credit b. Inter-State sales with “C” Form – amendment to section 19(2) proviso insertion c. Inter-State sales without “C” Form, Govt. Dept. & others 2. G.O. Ms.No 136 dt.31.10.2013 – Insertion of Annexure V to monthly return Form 1 3. Circular No 9/2013 dated 24.07.2013 – Zero rated Sale – SEZ eligibility 4. Monthly return Form 1 – Request for inserting a row 5. G.O.Ms. No 77, Commercial Taxes & Registration, Notification No IV. – Request made to amend turnkey projects to “any projects/works contracts” 6. Section 6 of the TN VAT Act – civil works contract 7. VAT ITC – time limit 8. Section 13 –TDS in works contract and Rule 9 of the TN VAT Rules – request the government to follow the system of Kerala 9. Difficulties faced in collection of “C” Form 10. Difficulties in issue of “C” Forms Dr. K. Manivasan, I.A.S., Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, Govt. of Tamil Nadu applauded the Chamber for their efforts in collaborating with the Economic mission of Belgium for business opportunities. He thanked the Chamber for inviting him for this interaction. He went on to add that the amendment in the TN VAT act is not to hurt any industrial sector and it has not been done overnight. He stated that after a lot of discussions on ITC, Stock transfer and after collecting a lot of data for nearly a year, this amendment has come in place. Further, he added that due to the slowdown on

economy, Tamil Nadu is also affected with regard to revenue growth rate and this prompted the Government to bring about the amendment. With ITC ballooning, the Government has to adjust nearly, Rs. 1000 crores on annual level which causes a setback in the Government’s revenue. The broadly accepted principle for any reform in the Government will call for tax changes. He informed that the Industries should not have pre determined idea about the impact as we cannot foresee the consequences unless it is put into practice. He gave an assurance that the feedback given by the industries will be considered for taking corrective measures, if any. In the Q & A session, Dr. Manivasan was informed that the amendment was put only in the gazette and there was no publicity and it was put into practice immediately without giving the stakeholders an opportunity to understand and implement it. He accepted the fact and stated circulars have been issued to the officers for implementation and the assessment officers will be flexible and will not tax the industries during submission of documents unless there is enormous delay. With regard to VAT exemption for power sector, the Commissioner informed it would be taken up only in February 2014. Further he assured to discuss the online “C” Form submission in the commissioner’s meeting as each State has a different view and it affects interstate business. For the question raised as to whether form 8 register has to be maintained it was stated that it is mandatory. The Commissioner requested the Chamber to have interactions with the Department and give the feedback of the Industries and further informed that frequent meetings with the departmental staff and stakeholders will resolve most of the issues and concerns. Mr. Rathnaswamy, Assistant Commissioner of Commercial Taxes was also present in the meeting.

Mr. T. Amarnath, Co-Chairman of the Expert Committee on VAT proposed the vote of thanks The Technical Session started with Mr.N.Venkataraman, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court discussing the L & T Judgment. Mr. Venkataraman discussed the facts of the case and its repercussions. Any agreement to sell immovable property entered into prior to construction would fall within the purview of the term ‘works contract’, allowing state governments the power to levy value-added tax (VAT) on such contracts. He dealt in detail about the facts and informed that the apex court judgment would be a matter of intense debate for years and will have wide implications on real estate transactions across States. Mr. R. L. Ramani, Senior Advocate, Chennai while addressing the participants on the legal view of the amendments, informed that wide publicity of such amendments is very much required for the dealers to know about it. He requested the Chamber to help in publicising of such changes. He gave his opinion that since the recent amendment deals with proviso in Section 5 of the Act, it is applicable only to Traders and not to manufacturers. He went on to add that the Traders and Manufacturers are totally diﬀerent when it comes to classification and this is applicable only to Traders. With regard to the amendment in time limit prescribed for Transit pass, he informed that a

suitable representation can be made. He felt that it is not advisable to challenge the amendment regarding raising ITC claim from 3% to 5% in the court of law now. However, if a notice is issued to the manufacturers, the manufacturer alone can challenge it in court. Mr. K. K. Sekar, Dy. General ManagerIndirect Taxes, Ashok Leyland, made the presentation with respect to the Industry angle. His presentation touched upon the timing of the amendment and the impact on manufacturing industries with Tamil Nadu being a manufacturing hub, especially automobile. He informed that some are hit by CST amendment and some by stock transfer and the impact will be high for those who do both CST and Stock Transfer. As for Traders, the impact will be for those where CST cannot be passed on. Buying within TN and selling outside TN on CST may result in VAT accumulation. There is also diﬃculty to diﬀerentiate between manufacture and trading in some cases. He stated that the Industries may be forced to move out of Tamil Nadu for manufacturing activity. They will minimize stock transfer wherever possible. This will result in loss of production, employment and increase in prices. The Industry now will make a representation to the Government for roll back of both the amendments and to reduce the expungement rate for stock transfers and for trading activity.

discussed about the various government policies on SEZ and comparison with other States. He explained in detail the origin, concept, administration and need for SEZ. He further elaborated on Section 7, 26, 50 and 51 of the SEZ Act and the benefits given to SEZ vide Section 18 of the TN VAT Act. Further case laws were also discussed. Mr.G. Balakrishnan, Partner, BSD & Associates made a presentation covering the procedural aspects under the TN VAT Act and the CST Act. He elaborated on the registration of a dealer and explained how an audit is done under the VAT Act. The Transit pass requirements and its consequences were discussed. Then the assessment procedure, procedure to file appeals before the Commissioner of Tax, appeals before Tribunals were dealt in detail. The practical diﬃculties of the “C forms” submission, the procedures involved, consequences of losing C form were dealt with examples of case laws. The Management Development Programme ended on a positive note with an announcement about a Certificate course in TN VAT to be introduced in the month of January 2014 by the Chamber and requesting members to sponsor their personnel for the course. The programme was well attended by more than 60 participants.

Mr. P. R. Subramaniyan, Sr. Dy. General Manager, L &T Construction - Chennai

Change of name Navis India Technologies Pvt Ltd. Ms.Jessie Edwards, Deputy Secretary, has retired from service on 30th November, after an illustrious career of 42 years with the Chamber. MCCI wishes her a very happy, healthy and prosperous retired life.

to Cargotec India Pvt.Ltd.

GENERAL COMMITTEE 19th October & 8th November 2013 The Committee held its monthly meetings in October and November and considered the following items: Ease of Doing Business – Finalization of the Release of the Study: The Consultants have completed the study and it was felt by the President and the members that the study required more punch and it should have bench marks and solutions like performance audit to be carried out by the government and the industry.

The President and Secretary General met some key stake holders to get their valuable inputs. These will be factored in the final report. The Consultants would submit the revised Executive Summary and also the final report by November 2013 After which the release of the report will be planned. Assocham-MCCI Promoter Chamber relationship:

Chamber, a meeting of the Secretary Generals of Promoter Chambers of Assocham with the Secretary General of Assocham, Mr D S Rawat, was held at Mumbai on 6th September wherein various issues were discussed. Contrary to the points discussed, ASSOCHAM is conducting events at various regions on their own. In Tamil Nadu few such events are being organised in without any consultation with MCCI. Members strongly felt that this has to be discouraged and sorted out.

It was informed to the members that at the initiative of the Indian Merchants’

Study visit of Parliamentary Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law & Justice A Parliamentary Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law & Justice visited Chennai on 4th October and held discussions with the representatives of the concerned Public Sector enterprises, Banks, State Government and other stakeholders in connection with the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Bill 2013. Mr K Vaitheeswaran, Chairman, Expert Committee on Indirect Taxes and K.Saraswathi, Secretary General attended this meeting and made submissions on behalf of the Chamber and its members.

Ministry issues clarification on section 372A of Companies Act 1956 in reference to section 185 of Companies Act 2013 As a major relief to Corporates, MCA vide its Circular no 18/2013 dated 19th November 2013 has issued a clarification with respect of the operation of Section 372A of the Companies Act 1956. In a scenario wherein Section 185 i.e. Loan to directors in the Companies Act, 2013 was notified while Section 186 of such Act relating to Loan and Investment by Companies was not notified, lot of confusion was created in the industry especially pertaining to loans etc. to wholly owned subsidiaries. The Government has now clarified that Section 372A of the Companies Act 1956 shall continue to be eﬀective till the notification of Section 186 of the Companies Act, 2013.

Additions to Library

• 55th Annual Report 2012-13 – Export Credit Guarantee Corporation of India Ltd.

• Potential for Enhancing India’s Trade with Russia: A Brief Analysis – Exim Bank of India

• Structural Shift in Rural Employment – Moving out of farm jobs for other Vocations reveals an aspiring India –Assocham

• Indian Ceramic Industry : Scenario, Challenges & Strategies – Exim Bank of India • Potential for Enhancing India’s Trade with France : A Brief Analysis – Exim Bank of India

EXPERT COMMITTEES 24th October 2013

5th November 2013

Legal Aﬀairs

HRD

The first meeting of the reconstituted Committee was held on 24th October.

Mr. K.S. Pasupathi, Chairman, welcomed the members for the first meeting of the HRD Committee. Chairman highlighted to the members that under the auspices of this Committee, two events had been organized by the Chamber this year, one a Management Development programme on PF, ESI and Contract Labour Act and the other on Occupational Health and Safety.

Mr.V. Srinivasan, Chairman informed the Committee that corporates have several departmental functions and each department should be having some legal issues pertaining to their areas and these legal issues could be brought to this Committee for discussion. This would help the members to enhance their knowledge. As regards the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, the Chairman mentioned about the Supreme Court Judgement in the case of Booz Allen and Hamilton in which the Supreme Court has held that any issues relating to enforcement of mortgage should be tried by the court and not by the Arbitral Tribunal. Any disputes, claims or differences in relation to mortgage shall be tried only by Courts and not by the Arbitral Tribunal even though suitable clause is provided in the mortgage deed or contracts. This has to be studied and suitable representation to be sent to the Law Ministry for amending the Arbitration and Conciliation Act so as to have a specific provision in the Act for enforcement of the mortgage. Further, a new enactment namely “Contract of Carriages Act” was discussed and it was agreed that a two hour session on this Act will be held with the support of the Logistics Committee to throw light on the Act. Mr. C.K.V. Dhurva, Partner of Anand Samy & Dhurva Associates made a very informative presentation on Intellectual Property Rights covering topics on Trademark, Patents, Copyrights, Designs, IP Management and IP Audit.

Some of the members pointed out that the sexual harassment in the workplace has to be addressed and quoted recent incidents. The Committee felt that the Chamber could plan for a seminar or a discussion on this subject to enable the HR professionals to identify the key problems and accordingly to enable them to change their guidelines. With respect to ESI, the government’s move to increase the salary cap of beneficiaries to Rs.25,000 from Rs.15,000/was discussed. General opinion of the committee was that ESI operations and services are not good. Though workmen and other staﬀ are having ESI card for medical facilities they are not prepared to take ESI facility and go for mediclaim policy. The Committee felt that the limits should not be increased. The terms of reference were approved by the Committee. The Committee discussed at length on impact of CSR activities which is one of the mandatory expenses by the Corporates as per the New Companies Act. The Chairman expressed concern about the lack of skilled manpower and the wide gap between the requirement and the availability. He also expressed concern about the HR obligation to the society as well as to make the corporate play their respective roles in this regard.

Chairman informed the Committee that the Chamber is taking initiatives to develop their skill development centre and requested the members to support the Chamber.

12th November 2013

VAT Mr. P. R. Subramaniyan, Chairman of the Committee welcomed the members and invitees and appreciated the presence of more than 25 members. In the wake of the new amendment of TN VAT Act, it was taken up for discussion as the main issue. Chairman highlighted that a proviso has been inserted to Sec.19(2) of the TN VAT Act 2006 by TNVAT (5th Amendment) Act 2013. This is in respect of inter-state sales of goods that are purchased within the State from a registered dealer and sold in the course of inter-state trade or commerce falling under section 8(1) of the CST Act, input tax credit shall be allowed in excess of 3% tax. This means if local purchases attract 5% or 14.5% VAT and the output is sold on CST basis falling under section 8(1) of the CST Act, the reversal would be to the extent of 3%. This amendment has serious consequences in Tamilnadu and cost would increase significantly in view of CST sales against C form for buyers located outside TN. Many companies eﬀect CST sales against C form with major buyers being located outside Tamilnadu. Section 19(5) (c) which does not grant ITC when goods are sold on CST basis without C form is already under challenge before the Madras High Court. Further, Section 19(4) of the TN VAT Act 2006 was amended. ITC shall be allowed in excess of 5% in respect of stock transfer of goods. The original provision provided for reversal of 3%. The amendment now provides for 5% reversal.

The Members of the Committee discussed the TN VAT 5th Amendment Act and identified many issues. Members felt that automobile industry would be aﬀected by this amendment. The manufacturing sector is facing erosion of margins to retain their market share and has competition from companies from other states.

The Committee decided to make a strong representation to the Secretary, Commerical Taxes & Commissioner for Commercial taxes, Govt. of Tamil nadu on this amendment.

amendment so that all issues would be collated to make the representation.

Chairman requested the members to send their views and their implications on this

A re p re s e ntat i o n wa s m a d e a n d the same is published in page 25.

Forthcoming Programmes 4th January: 9.30 a.m. to 2.00 p.m. Seminar on Corporte Governance jointly with Indian Institute of Corporate Aﬀairs, New Delhi at Hotel Deccan Plaza, Royapettah High Road, Chennai 14

25th January: Management Development Programme on TN VAT Act at Coimbatore 21st January 9.00 to 1.00 pm Programme on Authorised Economic Operator

20th January: 10.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. B2B meetings on promoting Canada India bilateral trade and business jointly with IndoCanada Chamber of Commerce

February 2014 : launching of Certificate Course on TN VAT February 2014 : MCCI Delegation to Dubai

Congratulations… MCCI congratulates Rane Brake Lining Limited, an esteemed Member of the Chamber, on winning the DEMING GRAND PRIZE 2013 which is the highest honour for practising TQM and wishes many more laurels in the years to come.

SPOT LIGHT

National Green Tribunal Act, 2010

National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 (NGT) is a federal legislation enacted by the Parliament of India, under India’s constitutional provision of Article 21, which assures the citizens of India the right to a healthy environment. The tribunal itself is a special fast-track court to handle the expeditious disposal of the cases pertaining to environmental issues. The legislate Act of Parliament defines the National Green Tribunal Act, 2010 as follows:“An Act to provide for the establishment of a National Green Tribunal for the effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources including enforcement of any legal right relating to environment and giving relief and compensation for damages to persons and property and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto”.

The National Green Tribunal (‘NGT’) was established on 18th October, 2010 under the National Green Tribunal Act 2010. The Tribunal is dedicated to the effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to the subject of forest, environment, biodiversity, air and water. It is a specialized body equipped with the necessary expertise to handle environmental disputes involving multidisciplinary issues. The National Green Tribunal started functioning since 4th July, 2011. The Principal Bench is based at New Delhi with circuit benches at Chennai, Bhopal, Pune and Kolkata so that it can reach remoter parts of India. Justice Lokeshwar Singh Panta became its first Chairman. Currently it is chaired by Justice Swatanter Kumar since 20 Dec 2012 The NGT Act is no less important than the Right to Information Act, 2005, the Right to Food Bill and the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005. Environmental degradation affects

livelihoods, health and access to food. Environmental struggles most often aim at ensuring that information about proposed projects (Environment Impact Assessment reports), air and water quality data is shared with the people. The Tribunal’s dedicated jurisdiction in environmental matters shall provide speedy environmental justice and help reduce the burden of litigation in the higher courts. The Tribunal shall not be bound by the procedure laid down under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, but shall be guided by principles of natural justice. The Tribunal is mandated to make and endeavour for disposal of applications or appeals finally within 6 months of filing of the same. One of the most significant powers of the NGT is the capacity to do “merit review” as opposed to only “judicial review. This court can rightly be called ‘special’ because India is the third country following

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SPOT LIGHT Australia and New Zealand to have such a system. The National Green Tribunal is India’s first dedicated environmental court with a wide jurisdiction to deal with not only violations of environmental laws, but also to provide for compensation, relief and restoration of the ecology in accordance with the ‘Polluter Pays’ principle and powers to enforce the ‘precautionary principle’. Origin

The origin of the green Tribunal can be traced to 186th Report of the Law Commission of India (2003) dedicated to “Proposal to constitute Environmental Courts”. The enactment of the NGT Act, 2010 was itself an outcome of a long process and struggle. The Supreme Court in a number of cases highlighted the diﬃculty faced by judges in adjudicating on complex environmental cases and laid emphasis on the need to set up a specialised environmental court. Though the credit for enacting the NGT Act, 2010 goes to the then Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, it became functional only because of repeated directions of the Supreme Court while hearing the Special Leave Petition titled Union of India versus Vimal Bhai (SLP No 12065 of 2009). NGT has got original and appellate jurisdiction on matters pertaining to seven Acts related to water, air, forest conservation, environment protection and biological diversity

The National Green Tribunal has delivered a number of significant judgments on range of issues from across the country. This Tribunal is therefore an important step in the access to justice on matters concerning the environment and its mandate is much wider than earlier environmental Courts and Authorities and other such Courts. Since its inception in October 2010, the Tribunal has been successfully upholding its mandate as a ‘fast-track Court’ for eﬀective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection and conservation. The above graph indicated the number of cases adjudicates by NGT until June 2013.

of the country. The Southern Bench of the National Green Tribunal the first permanent zonal bench became operational from November 1, 2012. The Bench judicial member Justice Mr. M. Chokalingam and expert member Mr. R. Nagendran said that it would cover four southern States and the Union Territories of Puducherry and Lakshadweep.

On a positive note, over the last 3 years, the NGT has adjudicated over 200 cases and has successfully managed to dispose oﬀ most of the cases in the six months that was stipulated at the beginning.

NGT is thus a new beginning for India’s struggle between development and environment. Despite some inherent flaws, NGT is a significant initiative by the Government and the rightful implementation of the law would certainly usher the country towards the path of Sustainable Development and guarantee a harmonious relationship between the environment and society.

NGT has succeeded in bridging the gap between a Tribunal and the Apex Court

Source: From various websites including WWF India.

Lecture by Aswath Damodaran, Professor of Finance, Stern School of Business, New York University Date:- Friday 10th January 2014 at 6.30 pm ; Venue: Taj Vivanta Connemara, Chennai In aid of Indian Council for Child Welfare, Tamil Nadu TOPIC OF LECTURE - “Living with Noise: Investing in the face of Uncertainty”. The Lecture Event is in aid of Indian Council for Child Welfare, Tamil Nadu, a non-profit voluntary o r g a n i s a t i o n w o r k i n g w i t h d e p r i v e d , d i s a d v a n t a g e d a n d a b u s e d c h i l d r e n i n Ta m i l N a d u . For Donor Passes for the Event contact :- Indian Council for Child Welfare, Tamil Nadu - No.5, III Main Road West, Shenoy Nagar, Chennai – 600 030 ; Email:- iccwtn@gmail.com ; Phone No :- 044-26220152 ; Mobile:- Mrs Andal Damodaran, Vice President – 9841077357 ; Mrs Vimi Rony, Information Oﬃcer - 9841594129

SPOT LIGHT must be disposed within six months. It is important to know the following.

A PRIMER ON NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL ACT-2010

The NGT Act 2010 applies to civil cases and it excludes criminal oﬀences.

By Mr. S. Ganesan Chairman - International Treaties Expert Committee, ICC

There is no limit for the compensation that the green tribunal can award to the victims of environmental degradation / damage.

“The National Green Tribunal will give the Indian citizen first time judicial remedy as far as environmental damages are concerned” - Mr. Jairam Ramesh in March 2010 This primer is primarily meant for explaining the salient features of National Green Tribunal (NGT) to those involved in and connected with chemical industry and trade. In June 2010, Government of India notified introduction of National Green tribunal Act 2010 leading to establishment of a National Green Tribunal (NGT) for eﬀective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection, conservation of forests and other natural resources. The National Green Tribunal (hereinafter referred to as tribunal or green tribunal) began operative from 18th Oct 2010. The tribunal repeals and replaces the earlier National Environment Tribunal Act 1995 and the National Environment Appellate Authority 1997 and all cases pending before them stand transferred to this tribunal. The origin of the green Tribunal can be traced to 186th Report of the Law Commission of India (2003) dedicated to “Proposal to constitute Environmental Courts”. The term “tribunal” denotes a body that has quasi-judicial function with the authority to pronounce judgment on matters based on evidence. The green tribunal comprises a chairperson, judicial oﬃcers and environmental expert members who will hear the cases regarding infringement of environmental protection and rights around the country and have the powers to decide and disperse compensations. Initially, the green tribunal is proposed to be set up in five places- Delhi, Bhopal, Pune, Kolkata and Chennai.

Jurisdiction and powers of National Green Tribunal (NGT): The green tribunal shall hear the disputes arising from enforcement of any legal right relating to environment and shall also include violation of a specific statutory environmental obligation by an individual, firm, company, local authority etc. Instances where an individual or the community at large is aﬀected or likely to be aﬀected or the gravity of damage to environment is substantial or damage to public health is broadly measurable could trigger complaints under the green tribunal. The green tribunal will function as appellate authority to persons aggrieved by any order or decision made under the following Acts: z Water (Prevention and control of Pollution) Act 1974 z Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Cess Act 1977 z Forest (Conservation) Act 1980 z Air (Prevention and Control Pollution) Act 1981, z Environment (Protection) Act 1986 and z Biological Diversity Act 2002. The NGT has powers to regulate its own procedure and is not bound by the procedurelaid down by the Code of Civil Procedure 1908 or by the rules of evidence contained inthe Indian Evidence Act 1872. All proceedings before the NGT shall be deemed to bejudicial proceedings and the tribunal, while passing any order or award shall apply theprinciple of sustainable development, the precautionary principle and the polluter pays principle. The complaint filed before the tribunal

Compensation or relief ordered to be paid by the tribunal shall be credited to the Environmental Relief Fund 2008 established under Public Liability Insurance Act 1991. Whoever fails to comply with the order or award of the tribunal shall be punishable with imprisonment, which may extend to 3 years or with a fine, which may extend to Rs 10 crores. In case of companies, the penalty may extend to Rs 25 crores. A person aggrieved by any decision or award of the tribunal can appeal to the Supreme Court. The NGT Act 2010 gives a broad and all-encompassing definition to certain important terms that could trigger complaint before the tribunal. Few examples from the Act include: Hazardous substance means any substance or preparations which is defined as hazardous substance in the Environment (Protection) Act 1986 and exceeding such quantity as specified or may be specified by the Central Government under the Public Liability Insurance Act 1991 The Environment (Protection )Act 1986 defines hazardous substance as any substance or preparation which, by reason of its chemical or physico-chemical properties or handling, is liable to cause harm to human beings, other living creatures, plant, micro-organism, property or the environment; Accident means an accident involving a fortuitous or sudden or unintended occurrence while handling any hazardous substance or equipment or plant or vehicle resulting in continuous or intermittent or repeated exposure to death of or injury to any person or damage to any property or environment…” Injury includes permanent, partial or total disablement or sickness resulting

SPOT LIGHT out of an accident. Heads under which compensation or relief for damage that may be claimed by citizens under National Green Tribunal Act 2010 remain comprehensive as given below: z Death; z Permanent , temporary, total or partial disability or other injury or sickness; z Loss of wages due to total or partial disability or permanent or temporary disability; z Medical expenses incurred for treatment of injuries or sickness; z Damages to private property; z Expenses incurred by the Government or any local authority in providing relief, aid and rehabilitation to the aﬀected persons; z Expenses incurred by the Government for any administrative or legal action or to cope with any harm or

damage, including compensation for environmental degradation and restoration of the quality of environment; z Loss to the Government or local authority arising out of or connected w i t h t h e a c t i v i t y ca u s i n g a ny damage; z Claims on account of any harm, damage or destruction to fauna including milch and draught animals and aquatic fauns; z Claims on account of any harm, damage or destruction to flora including aquatic flora, crops, vegetables, trees and orchards; z Claims including cost of restoration on account of any harm or damage to environment including pollution of soil, air, water, land and eco-systems; z Loss and destruction of any property other than private property;

z Loss of business or employment or both; z Any other claim arising out of, or connected with, any activity of handling of hazardous substance. A statute evolves over years through interpretations and implementation and, in the process, reveals its strengths and shortcomings. The National Green Tribunal Act - 2010 is nascent now. To know its strengths and shortcomings, we need to wait and watch how it evolves through interpretation and implementation. Why is the Act termed as National Green Tribunal Act and why not simply as National Environment Tribunal Act? What is the significance or special meaning of the term “green” as given in the title of the Act? No clear answer is available as of now! Merriam Webster’s dictionary defines the term “green” as tending to preserve environmental quality. Well, that suggests and reveals the ultimate aim of the NGT Act.

Tamil Nadu–Public Holidays 2014 SI.No. 1.

Public Holidays

Date

Day

New Year’s Day

01.01.2014

Wednesday

Pongal and Milad-un-Nabi

14.01.2014

Tuesday

Thiruvalluvar Day

15.01.2014

Wednesday

UzhavarThirunal

16.01.2014

Thursday

Republic Day

26.01.2014

Sunday

Telugu New Year’s Day

31.03.2014

Monday

*Annual closing of Accounts for Commercial Banks & Co-operative Banks

01.04.2014

Tuesday

Mahaveer Jayanthi

13.04.2014

Sunday

Tamil New Year’s Day & Dr. B.R.Ambedkar’s Birthday

14.04.2014

Monday

10.

Good Friday

18.04.2014

Friday

11.

May Day

01.05.2014

Thursday

12.

Ramzan

29.07.2014

Tuesday

13.

Independence Day

15.08.2014

Friday

14.

Krishna Jayanthi

17.08.2014

Sunday

15.

Vinayakar Chathurthi

29.08.2014

Friday

16.

Gandhi Jayanthi and Ayutha Pooja

02.10.2014

Thursday

17.

Vijaya Dasami

03.10.2014

Friday

18.

Bakrid

05.10.2014

Sunday

19.

Deepavali

22.10.2014

Wednesday

20.

Muharram

04.11.2014

Tuesday

21.

Christmas

25.12.2014

Thursday

POLICY WATCH Land Acquisition Act to come into force on January 1, 2014

complement it with their own laws as long as the provisions of the original law were not diluted.

Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh has announced that Land Acquisition Act would come into force on Jan 1, 2014.

India agrees for FTA with Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia

The Ministry’s website specifies draft rules elaborating the process of implementation of the law and also invites comments from stakeholders, including industries, non- governmental organizations and civil society. The Minister has agreed to set up a permanent rules advisory committee at the central level comprising State governments and the stakeholders to review implementation of these rules. The Bill proposes a unified legislation for acquisition of land and adequate rehabilitation mechanisms for all aﬀected persons. Mr. Ramesh took the decision after considering another view particularly of State governments that the Act replacing a 119 year old legislation should be notified from April 1, 2014. Some State governments held that if the law is notified during the beginning of the new financial year, they would get some time to establish necessary infrastructure for its implementation.

India agreed to initiate an exercise for a free trade agreement with the customs union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia to enhance economic ties. The joint statement issued after the 14th India-Russia annual summit meeting between Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Russian President Mr. Vladimir Putin agreed to work towards the creation of a Joint Study Group for studying the possibility of signing a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) between India and the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia. The three countries took their economic integration to a new level with the implementation of the common economic space, which provides for free movement of goods, services and people. Further, India and Russia underlined the significant potential for cooperation i n s e c t o rs s u c h a s o i l a n d ga s , pharmaceutical, infrastructure, mining, automobiles, fertilizers, aviation, as well as in modernization of industrial facilities located in the two countries.

Inclusion of liquor, petroleum products under GST opposed

However, with the Centre deciding to implement the Act early, the State government would have to set up at least 6 bodies soon including the State level acquisition rehabilitation and resettlements authority to hear disputes arising out of projects where land acquisition had been initiated by the State or its agencies.

A meeting of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers deliberated the revised draft of the Constitutional Amendment Bill for introduction of the new indirect tax regime, among other things.

Mr. Ramesh said the law would be an enabling one and States were free to

Several States opposed inclusion of petroleum products and liquor under

the proposed Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime as the move would severely aﬀect their revenues. Some States also expressed their reservation to inclusion of ‘entry tax’ under the GST fold. The Empowered Committee did not complete its discussion on the revised Bill and hence no timeline was given as to when the new indirect tax regime would come into force.

Government likely to ease levy on telecom companies In what could prove a major relief for telecom companies, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is planning to refer to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) the contentious issue of redefining adjusted gross revenue (AGR), on the basis of which the government earns revenue from telcos.

Rural Ministry makes a three-year road map for modernization of land records The rural development ministry has prepared a three-year roadmap for states to come on board a system of integrated and electronic land records. The move is aimed at increasing transparency in ownership, reducing disputes and ensuring fair compensation for land acquired for developmental work. Modernisation of land records in India, started in 1988, has been painfully slow. Only four states Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka and Tripura — have made substantial progress on this front. The National Land Records Modernisation Programme, initiated by the ministry, aims to build a transparent and integrated system of real-time land records. It will involve land surveys, updating of survey and settlement records with high resolution satellite imagery and ground truthing by electronic total station and global positioning system.

POLICY WATCH

The finance ministry is drawing up a plan to provide relief to the stressed infrastructure sector by completely reworking the way in which bad assets are recognised, giving lenders more leeway to rescue projects and provide a strong push to investment. North Block - as the finance ministry is referred to - hopes to have the regime in place in the next twothree months after consultations with the Reserve Bank of India.

a 'critical projects status (public utility)' for metro connectivity on similar lines as given to roads, water supply and other public utilities in areas aﬀected by Left-wing extremism. This status would mean that the state government can give environmental and forest clearances. In a Cabinet note, the ministry has also proposed that the compensation paid for the land to the government departments such as the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) should only be at governmentto-government pricing – no marketdetermined price will be required to pay to the government departments.

Ministry moots green exemption to put metro projects on fast track

Norms relaxed for manufacturing units in Special Economic Zones

In a bid to fast-track metro rail projects in various cities, the ministry of urban development (MoUD) has proposed that these plans be exempted from environmental clearances for an area of up to five acres. The ministry has sought

The government allowed manufacturing units in special economic zones to subcontract work for up to three years, instead of just one year at present.

Government to provide relief for stressed infrastructure projects soon:

units which have stated that the move would help facilitate manufacturing processes and augment exports. However, the Ministry made it clear that the relaxation would apply only to those manufacturing units that have substantial exports with average annual shipments of Rs. 1000 crore or more in at least two out of four years. The new norms also stated that the DTA unit (unit outside SEZ) to which the sub-contract is to be awarded should be registered with the Central Excise Department. SEZs which emerged as major export hubs and investment destinations started losing sheen after the global economic crisis and imposition of minimum alternate tax. The government has been in the recent months taking steps to revive interest of SEZ investors. Recently it had unveiled a package of reforms, including easing of land norms, to revive investments in SEZs.

The decision was taken following representations from large manufacturing

New w Memberss MCCI extends a warm welcome to the following New Members:

New Member

Nature of Business

Vanan Pharma Pvt.Ltd.

Pharmaceuticals

Gemini Iron & Steel Pvt.Ltd.

Trading in Iron and Steel

NCR Consultants Ltd.

Management Consultants

SAS Partners Corporate Advisors Pvt.Ltd.

Management consultants

Nevera Infratech Private Limited

Power Grids

United India Insurance Co.Ltd. Regional Oﬃce

General Insurance

Logic Information Systems (India) Pvt.Ltd.

IT services

Raqmiyat Information Technology Pvt.Ltd.

IT services

Tianjin Tianshi India Pvt.Ltd.

FMCG

Representations 20th November 2013 Mr S.K Prabakar, IAS., Principal Secretary to Government, Commercial Taxes & Registration Dept. Govt. of Tamil Nadu St. George Fort, Chennai 600 009. Dear Sir, Sub: Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax (Fifth Amendment) Act,2013 The Madras Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI) is the second oldest Chamber of Commerce in the country and represents a large segment of manufacturing and trading units in Tamil Nadu. As you are aware, Tamil Nadu is the base for most of the manufacturing i n d u st r i e s i n c l u d i n g a u t o m o b i l e manufacturers and their ancillary units. In fact, Tamil Nadu has been the chosen State for investment in automobile / autocomponent sector apart from chemicals, cement and various other manufacturing businesses generating employment and contributing to the State GDP. The trade and industry has been facing severe threat from the pricing front due to existing provisions in the form of Section 19(4) providing for reversal of input tax credit and Section 19(5)(c). While representations have been made seeking relief, the industry is completely shocked to see the recent amendment introduced by TNVAT (Fifth Amendment) Act brought into force from 11.11.2013. A new proviso has been inserted to Section 19(2)(v)restricting the availability of input tax credit in excess of 3% in case of goods purchased within the State of Tamil Nadu and sold in the course of inter-State trade or commerce falling under sub-section (1) of section 8 of the CST Act, 1956. Further in Section 19(4) the reversal of input tax credit has been increased from 3% to 5% in respect of stock transfer.

Restriction in availment of Input VAT for Sales in the course of Inter -State Sales (CST):

which will aďŹ&#x20AC;ect the competitiveness of the Industry vis-Ă -vis manufacturers located outside Tamil Nadu.

The manufacturing sector in Tamil Nadu has contributed significantly to the growth of both the State GDP as well as revenues and has played a significant role in being identified with the State. The State has been supportive of the manufacturing sector and has contributed to their growth through stable policies and initiatives.

(ii) Currently most of the manufacturers operate at razor thin margins and an increase in cost due to the reversal of input tax credit to the extent of 3% would have a huge impact and drive companies into losses. In the longer run, this would in turn cascade into overall loss in business.

It is well known that the customers for the products manufactured in Tamil Nadu are located outside Tamil Nadu and significant sales happen from Tamil Nadu by way of CST sales. The CST revenues accrue to the Government of Tamil Nadu.

(iii) The short term revenue gain on account of reversal of input taxes would reduce the overall business of the manufacturers which would in fact impact the State GDP as well as the tax revenues in the medium term and long term.

There is an apprehension in the manufacturing sector in Tamil Nadu that the amendment made under Sub-section (2) may be applicable to Manufacturers who produce within Tamil Nadu using the goods purchased within Tamil Nadu and sell it in the inter-State trade. The amendment, if applicable to the manufacturing sector, has far reaching implications which are explained as under: (i) Tamil Nadu being a manufacturing hub for many industries notably automobile, heavy investments have been made by the industry providing job opportunities to millions of people in the State. Any move to reduce the VAT availment will increase the cost,

(iv) It is well known that CST purchases are not eligible for input tax credit and if despite that customers in other States are buying from Tamil Nadu, it only shows the competitiveness and the price advantage which the customers get by sourcing from Tamil Nadu. This advantage would be lost when the input tax credit is lost resulting in increase in the cost. (v) The immediate impact would be that customers would purchase from manufacturers within their State or from other States which do not have provisions impacting cost. Tamil Nadu and the manufacturers in Tamil Nadu would lose out business.

Representations (vi) It is well known that business has slumped and there is some recession. A number of major manufacturers have reduced their number of shifts and are operating at 30% to 40% of their capacity. Companies are struggling to meet the cost and at this point of time this amendment increasing the cost by restricting the credit will drive companies into losses which will trigger further recession and unemployment. (vii)Tamil Nadu has attracted investments in the manufacturing sector due to stable policies, clear vision and transparency in law and effective commodity taxation. This advantage would be lost by reason of this amendment. In a worldwide VAT scenario, there is no artificial restriction that the inputs must be used in manufacture or the goods must be traded for VAT credit eligibility. Goods purchased and used in the business should qualify for VAT credit. In other words, the concept of VAT assures trade and industry to avail seamless VAT credit on all goods used in the business without any restriction.

Stock Transfer In case of second amendment, we would like to draw your attention to the amendment made in TN VAT Act in April 2007 whereby the word ‘three” was substituted for the word ‘four” in Section 19(4), consequent to the reduction of

the rate of tax on inter-State sales under section 8(1) of the CST Act. But, when the CST rate was reduced from 3% to 2% effective from 1st June 2008, the industry in Tamil Nadu was expecting a reduction from ‘three” percent to “two” percent as per Section 19(4) also. However, this was not done despite the representation. Instead, the said rate has been increased from 3% to 5% now under Section 19(4). It will affect the manufacturers in Tamil Nadu adversely on the Stock transfers made. The provisions of Section 19(4) are not in par with majority of the VAT laws as applicable in different States. The industries in Tamil Nadu have been suffering with low demand, high cost, high inventory, loss of production and wages due to loss of mandays. In fact, the industry has been looking for some fiscal support to tide over the present crisis. At this stage this amendment which has the effect of increased reversal of input tax credit on account of stock transfer is likely to trigger a downward trend in business, sales and price competitiveness and further trigger losses and unemployment. With reference to the above subject, our members have certain issues which need amendments to TN VAT Act 2006 which are listed below. We request the Government to consider them favourably and arrange for suitable amendment for redressing the grievances presently faced

by the Trade and Industry. i) That the amendment introduced to Section 19(2)(v) and 19(4) by TNVAT (Fifth Amendment) Act, 2013 w.e.f. 11.11.2013 be rolled back or withdrawn in the light of the impact if the same is applicable to manufacturers. ii) That if the intention of the legislature is to the eﬀect that the amendment is meant only for traders and not manufacturers, then to issue suitable clarificatory amendments or circulars to the effect that the amendment to Section 19(2)(v) is applicable only when goods are purchased within the State and sold as such on inter-State basis. iii) That the restriction placed on ‘Stock Transfer’ and input tax availment to be allowed in excess of 2% as against 5% as per Section 19(4) to fall in line with the current CST rate of 2%. In view of the above, MCCI on behalf its members seeks relief in the form of roll back or clarification in order to protect the industries in Tamil Nadu which are facing severe competition from the neighbouring States due to loss of the cost competitiveness in view to changes in law relating to ITC credit. Thanking you Yours faithfully Sd/……….. T.Shivaraman President

Launching of “Red Carpet Scheme” by Denmark Ministry of External Affairs has informed us that the Embassy of Denmark has recently launched a new business visa scheme “Red Carpet System” (similar to the “Orange Carpet Scheme” by the Dutch) for Indian businessmen and professionals.

The introduction of the Red Carpet Scheme has borne out of a request from business companies. In the longer term, Denmark also plans to introduce similar scheme for students particularly those who wish to go to Denmark for higher studies.

For more details, log on to. http://www.nasscom.in/euThe scheme aims at simplifying the visa process and launching-%E2%80%9Cred-carpet-scheme%E2%80%9Dencouraging businessmen and professionals to visit Denmark denmark-indian-businessmen for regular business as well as for exploratory business visits.

by the strategic business services is a positive sign. The 4 percent growth registered in the traditional services and 4.2 percent growth in the noneconomic services are the main culprits.

ECONOMIC REVIEW

Contents 1. 2. 3.

Latest Growth Performance Performance of the Industry Performance of the Core Industry

1. Latest Growth Performance • Positive signs amidst lackluster performance have finally emerged in the second quarter of 2013-14 fiscal. • The 4.8 percent GDP year on year growth rate witnessed in the Second Quarter (Q2) signals the beginning of a long-waited turnover of Indian economy. Some definite positive developments are indicated in these estimates.

• First, the 4.6 percent agriculture growth shows the positive monsoon dividend that the economy is expected to witness in the present fiscal. • The 2.6 percent industry growth too reveals some degree of picking up of industrial activity. • The only factor that has pulled down the aggregate GDP growth is the unexpected slump in the services sector. However, within services also, the double digit growth registered

• As one can note, demand for traditional economic services are mainly derived from the performance of agriculture and industry sectors. Therefore, the coming quarters would certainly reflect the picking up of this segment. As regards the non-economic services segment, impending election related expenditure most likely would address the low growth in this segment. On the whole, these estimates put forward certain positive indications for growth revival in the near future. However, the policy makers must take a proactive stance to support these developments. Table 1 contains relevant data.

Table 1 : Sectoral Growth Performance (in 2004- 05 prices) (% change, Y-o-Y) Sectoral Contribution to GDP (%) 2012-13

201213 (AE)

13.7

Mining & quarrying Industry Sector Manufacturing

2012-13

2013-14

1.9

5.4

3.2

4.1

2.0

2.9

1.7

1.8

1.4

2.7

4.6

2.0

-0.6

-0.4

-5.3

-2.6

5.2

0.4

1.7

-0.7

-3.1

-2.8

-0.4

24.8

2.3

6.2

4.5

3.0

1.9

1.2

2.8

3.2

0.4

2.6

15.1

1.0

7.4

3.1

0.7

0.1

-1.0

0.1

2.5

2.6

-1.2

1.0

Electricity, gas & water supply

1.9

4.2

6.6

8.4

7.7

3.5

6.2

3.2

4.5

2.8

3.7

7.7

Construction

7.8

4.3

3.8

6.5

6.9

5.1

7.0

3.1

2.9

4.4

2.8

4.3

Services

59.6

7.1

8.9

8.5

8.3

7.3

7.7

7.6

6.7

6.6

5.9

Tr a d e , h o t e l s , transport & commn.

27.8

6.4

9.5

7.0

6.9

5.1

6.1

6.8

6.4

6.2

3.9

4.0

Financing, ins., real est. & bus. servs.

18.7

8.6

11.0

12.0

11.4

11.3

9.3

8.3

7.8

9.1

8.9

10.0

Community, social & personal servs.

13.0

6.6

3.5

6.5

6.8

8.9

8.4

5.6

4.0

9.4

4.2

7.5

6.5

6.0

5.1

5.4

5.2

4.7

4.8

4.4

4.8

Agriculture, forestry & fishing

GDP at factor cost 100.0 5.0 RE: Revised Estimates, AE: Advanced Estimates Source: Central Statistical Organization (CSO)

2011-12

2. Performance of the Industry

3. Performance of the Core Industry

• Performance of the factory sector has largely been subdued and volatile in the recent past.

• The performance of eight core industries in the first seven months of the current fiscal, on the whole, has remained subdued and indicates further worsening of infrastructure deficiency.

• While the performance of basic, capital and intermediate goods sectors has more or less remained volatile, consumer durables segment has registered consistently negative growth since the last quarter of 201213. • The month of October 2013 witnessed further deceleration of industrial production in India. All the segments of the industry registered deceleration in October 2013. • These performance trends indicate that the Government approach adopted so far for reviving the industry has not yielded the desired results. Table 2 contains relevant figures.

• Performance of Fertilizers, Steel, Cement and Electricity has been somewhat better among the eight. • Improving the growth performance of the core industry is directly linked to policy implementation. The nagging issues linked to the pricing of K.G. basin gas and reviving production there, problems associated with the power distribution policy, continued monopoly of public sector in coal production needs strong policy action. The steel sector has been affected adversely by imports of steel at reduced duty rates under Free Trade Agreements.

Please refer Table 3 for details. 4. Inflation Management • The latest WPI figures indicate continued build up of headline inflation. Owing to the continued steep increase in the prices of food articles and fuel & power, aggregate WPI climbed to 7.52 percent in November 2013. • Prices of primary food articles have registered close to 20 percent increase on year on year basis. On the other hand, prices of manufactured products have increased by mere 2.64 percent. • The adverse terms of trade owing to skewed inflation structure further affects the prospects of economic growth revival. Primarily, corporate sector would further lose its appetite to carry out production owing to higher growth in input prices and

Table 2 : Index of Industrial Production (Use Based Classification) (% change, Y-O-Y) Period

Basic Goods

Capital Goods

Intermediate Consumer goods Goods (Aggregate)

Consumer Durables

Consumer Non-durables

Overall

Weight in IIP

35.6

9.3

26.5

28.7

5.4

23.3

100

2010-11

6.0

14.8

7.4

8.6

14.2

4.3

8.2

2011-12

5.5

-4.0

-0.6

4.4

2.6

5.9

2.9

2012-13

2.3

-6.3

1.2

2.4

2.1

2.7

1.0

2011-12 (Q1)

7.5

17.0

1.8

4.5

2.7

5.9

7.0

2011-12 (Q2)

7.0

-5.8

-0.8

4.8

7.9

2.1

3.2

2011-12 (Q3)

4.4

-16.2

-2.9

7.7

4.9

10.1

1.2

2011-12(Q4)

3.4

-6.9

-0.5

1.1

-4.1

5.3

0.6

2012-13(Q1)

3.3

-20.1

0.8

3.9

8.0

0.6

-0.3

2012-13(Q2)

2.2

-8.1

1.5

1.4

0.1

2.6

0.4

2012-13(Q3)

2.5

-1.2

2.5

2.7

3.1

2.4

2.1

2012-13 (Q4)

1.8

5.7

1.6

1.7

-2.8

5.0

2.2

2013-14 (Q1)

-0.2

-3.7

1.6

-2.1

-12.7

7.1

-1.0

2013-14 (Q2)

2.4

2.1

3.7

-0.3

-9.4

7.9

1.7

2.3

1.8

-5.1

-12.0

1.8

-1.8

Oct 2013 -1.6 Source: Central Statistical Organisation

lower growth in output demand and prices. This has gradually been killing the domestic manufacturing sector and would further affect economic security of the nation.

the lending rates, as has been done presently, contributes further to the current turmoil. There exists an immediate need to ensure that availability and cost of finance to the end user become competitive.

• Strategies adopted by the Government and RBI have not been able to contain the unfolding of ‘low growth and high inflation scenario’. Increasing

• Owing to the adverse impact of the policy stance being adopted by the monetary authority, prospects of any immediate economic recovery have

been crippled. In fact, lack of adequate domestic supply response has been giving way to increased dependence on foreign supplies of goods. The authorities must also realize that inflation control needs both fiscal and monetary policies working in tandem. Table 4 shows the latest inflation trends.

Table 3 : Growth in Eight Core Infrastructure Industries (% Change, Y-o-Y) 2011-12

2012-13

2013-14

201112

201213

Oct 2013

1.3

3.4

0.3

-10.2

0.8

10.6

8.0

11.1

1.7

-1.7

-1.1

6.2

-3.9

-1.1

-0.8

Coal Crude Oil

1.0

-0.6

9.5

1.0

-4.1

-1.6

-0.6

-1.0

0.5

-1.3

-1.4

Natural Gas

-8.9

-14.5

-10.2

-6.6

-9.4

-11.0

-13.9

-15.0

-18.1

-17.6 -15.4 -13.6

Refinary Products

3.1

8.6

5.2

3.9

2.8

0.8

23.5

30.7

18.4

6.8

4.6

5.9

-4.8

Fertilizers

0.4

-3.4

1.1

0.2

-2.7

3.3

-12.2

0.3

0.9

-3.5

2.5

4.1

Steel

10.3

2.5

10.6

12.3

12.4

6.4

3.4

1.7

2.0

3.0

3.1

6.0

3.5

Cement

6.7

9.3

0.1

7.9

9.8

9.2

12.5

5.6

5.5

7.2

3.3

5.9

1.0

Electricity

8.1

4.0

8.2

10.4

9.3

4.7

6.7

2.9

4.4

2.2

2.8

8.1

1.3

Overall Index

5.0

3.2

5.7

5.2

5.1

4.2

6.9

6.3

4.3

1.5

1.6

4.9

-0.6

Source: Central Statistical Organization Table 4 : Inflation in India 2012-13

2013-14

Weight

201112

201213

Oct

Nov

20.12

9.8

9.9

10.3

9.3

9.7

6.5

12.3

14.7

15.9

I.a Food articles

14.34

7.3

9.9

10.8

9.2

8.7

11.0

8.2

16.6

18.2

19.9

I.b. Non-food articles

4.26

9.6

10.5

5.6

12.6

13.0

11.0

6.7

4.0

6.8

7.6

Components I. Primary articles, of which

1.52

26.6

8.2

11.7

13.5

7.0

1.6

-3.5

0.8

7.0

6.1

II. Fuel, Power, Light & Lubricants

I.c Minerals

14.91

14.0

10.3

11.9

9.7

10.6

9.2

7.7

11.4

10.3

11.1

III. Manufactured Products

64.97

7.3

5.4

5.3

6.2

5.5

4.7

3.3

2.3

2.5

2.6

III.a. Food Products

9.97

7.1

8.1

6.0

8.9

9.3

8.3

6.8

2.8

1.9

2.5

III.b. Beverages, Tobacco & Tobacco products

1.76

11.7

7.4

7.8

6.8

8.0

7.0

6.6

4.3

3.2

3.4

III.c. Non-food Manufacturing Inflation (Core Inflation)

53.24

7.1

4.8

5.1

5.7

4.6

3.8

2.4

2.1

2.6

100

8.9

7.4

7.5

7.9

7.3

6.7

4.8

6.4

7.0

Overall WPI ( Headline Inflation)

Source: Oﬃce of the Economic Adviser, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Government of India.

Published by The Madras Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Karumuttu Centre, I floor, No. 634, Anna Salai, Nandanam, Chennai 600 035 Tel 044-24349452 Fax 044-24349164 Email madraschamber@madraschamber.in URL www.madraschamber.in

7.5

Recent Developments in Transfer Pricing : Challenges and Opportunities â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Are you geared up?

l to r Rajesh Srinivasan, T. Shivaraman B. Swaminathan M. Rathinasamy, IRS

Interaction meeting with ZDH/SEQUA on Implementing Alliance for Integrity Pilot Project in Tamil Nadu

A view of the audience

National Conference on Companies Act 2013 â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Understanding New Law in a Day

Prof. P.R.R. Nair, IICA addressing the gathering.

Mr Maximilian Burger Scheidlin, Executive Director, ICC, Austria interacting with Members

P. H. Arvind Pandian making a presentation.

Panelists interacting with audience. Seated (l to r) Bhavani Balasubramanian, Gayathri Subramanian, Prof P R Nair, Dr S Kumar, Senthil Kumar Ramamurthy.

A view of the audience

Rationalizing Electricity Prices : Improving Access, Cleaning Environment

Dr. Barun Mitra, President, Liberty Institute presenting Opening remarks on the Theme. Seated (l to r â&#x20AC;&#x201C; K.Saraswathi, T.Shivaraman and Subodh Kumar).

Q & A Session seated l to r Devesh Singh, Dr Harish K Ahuja, Subhodh Kumar, S Gunasekaran and Anand Madhavan

Vishal Pandya interacting with audience. Others seen are P. Krishnakumar, Dr R. Hema.

Seminar on Sustainable Practices in Industrial Waste Water Management

Ms. Jessie Edwards, Deputy Secretary, who retired on 30th November, was presented with a memento by General Committee Members. Seen in the picture along with her are l to r: S. G. Prabhakharan-Vice President, T. Shivaraman-President, T.T. Srinivasaraghavan-immediate Past President and K. Saraswathi-Secretary General

A.V. Venkatachalam, IFS., Member Secretary, TNPCB addressing the gathering. Dr. K.R. Ranganathan making a presentation on Regulatory requirements.

Raja Chidambaram answering the queries. Others seen are G Sankara Subramanian and Jayashree Vencatesan.

Pranab Kumar Majumdar and N.S. Venkataraman interacting with participants.

Workshop on Anti-bribery and corruption

Rohit Mahajan making a Theme presentation S.G.Prabhakaran welcoming the speakers and gathering. Others seen are l to r : Rohit Mahajan, T. S. Krishnamurthy, T.T. Srinivasaraghavan and Vijay Anand.

Interaction of Stakeholders with the Tax Administration Reforms Commission

T. S. Krishnamurthy interacting with participants Dr Parthasarathi Shome interacting with participants

A View of the participants K. Vaitheeswaran making a presentation on key issues on Indirect Taxes

Attaining Agility in Manufacturing through Process Automation

Sriram Seshadri presenting the issues on Direct Taxes

Panelists interacting with participants (l to r : S.Sriram, Clynton Almeida, Gaurav Gupta and S V Kaushik)

AERON is voted ONE of the 12 BEST designs of the past 100 years.

Distinctive look Unsurpassed Ergonomic Support Chairs for All Spaces h ĐĂŶ ƌĞĂĐŚ ƵƐ Ăƚ͗

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Memorandum of Co-operation between MCCI and Port of Antwerp

MOC signed by T.Shivaraman, President, MCCI and Marc Van Peel, President, Port of Antwerp

MOC exchanged between MCCI and Port of Antwerp in the presence of Her Royal Highness Princes Astrid of Belgium

Seminar on Development of Maritime Infrastructure in Southern India : Horizon 2020

Shivaraman welcoming HE Celine FREMAULT with a bouquet of flowers A view of the audience

HE Celine FREMAULT, Minister of Economy, Employment, Scientific Research and Foreign Trade of the Brussels Capital Region deliver the Special Address. Others seen are (l to r : J.Krishnan, T.Shivaraman, Rajeev Ranjan, K.Saraswathi)

Rajeev Ranjan, IAS., Principal Secretary, Minor Ports & Highways Department, GoTN delivering Keynote Address.

Belgium Company Delegates interacting with participants

Indian representatives (Seated l to r :, G.Srinivasan, R.Senthil Kumar, S.N.Srikanth, M.V.Kapardee, Vishal Mathur and Vinita Venkatesh)

Management Development Programme on Tamil Nadu Value Added Tax (TNVAT)

T. Shivaraman, President, MCCI welcoming the gathering

Dr K. Manivasan, IAS., Commissioner of Commercial Taxes, GoTN delivering the Special Address.

A view of the audience

Rathnaswamy, Additional Commissioner of Commercial Taxes interacting with participants. Others seen are (l to r â&#x20AC;&#x201C; P.R.Subramaniyan, Dr K. Manivasan, IAS., T. Shivaraman, T. Amarnath)