Events in August 2018 – A Brief Report
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Events in August 2018 – A Brief Report
PROGRAMS – August 2018
S. No.
Day & Date
Program Details
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2nd August 2018
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10th August 2018 Seminar on Ocean Wealth – Potential & Opportunities for Sustainable Blue Economy
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23rd August 2018 Yes Bank - Scaling up Business in Tamil Nadu
182nd Annual General Meeting
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Venue & Time Hotel ITC Grand Chola, Chennai.
Hotel GRT Grand, Chennai
Events in August 2018 – A Brief Report
2nd August 2017
182nd Annual General Meeting The 182nd AGM of the Chamber was held at Hotel ITC Grand Chola, Chennai. In the Business Session, the newly constituted committee for the year 2018-2019 was announced. Mr. Ramkumar Ramamoorthy, Executive Director, India Cognizant Technology Solutions India Pvt. Ltd., would be the President and Mr. Srivats Ram, Managing Director, Wheels India Ltd., would be the Vice President of the Chamber. In the Public Session, Mr. L.Ganesh, Chairman, Rane Group was the Chief Guest. The Public Session was attended by 200+ participants.
Business Session Mr.Ram Venkataramani, President Chaired the meeting and conducted the proceedings. Before taking up the agenda items for discussion, he apprised the members about the various initiatives and activities of the Chamber during the year. The full text of his address is given below: It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all for this 182nd Annual General Meeting and I am happy to reminisce over the past one year activities of the Chamber. This year also has been a fruitful year for the Chamber, as always. The Chamber’s activities have been diverse ranging from numerous workshops and Seminars. We have had seminars to enable the members to understand the nuances of GST in its first year of introduction, Conference on CSR to bring NGOs and Corporate closer, a special Urban Thinkers Campus on making Chennai a Global City, Conference on HR, number of certificate courses, interactions with representatives from the Government, apart from our regular seminars and other meetings for the benefit of the various members. These are besides our knowledge papers and study reports prepared with special focus on TN. In the last AGM, the Chamber had the privilege of having Mr. Deepak Bagla, MD & CEO Invest India, New Delhi as the Chief Guest, Ms. Shilpa Prabhakar, IAS, then Executive Vice Chairperson, Tamil Nadu Guidance Bureau, Govt of TN & Mr. T.T.Srinivasaraghavan, Managing Director, Sundaram Finance Ltd., as Special Guests. As for the Chamber day, we had the honour of having Mr. Srivats Ram, Managing Director, Wheels India Ltd., and Dr. V. Anantha Nageswaran, Senior Adjunct Fellow (Geo-Economic Studies), Gateway House – Indian Council on Global Relations, Mumbai as our Special Guests. The Chamber has always had a good rapport with the Governments – State and Central. The Chamber had fruitful interactions with the then Hon’ble Minister for Railways, Mr. Suresh
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Events in August 2018 – A Brief Report
Prabhu and Ms. Shilpa Prabhakar, IAS, Executive Vice Chairperson, Tamil Nadu Guidance Bureau, Govt of TN. It provided a platform to put forth our views and recommendations for improving the hard and soft infrastructure and the ease of doing business. We are also glad to inform that we would be actively participating in GIM 2019. Based on our interactions with the bureaucrats, we have embarked on an important endeavour to study the health of the Industrial Estates in Tamil Nadu. We have engaged M/s Avalon Consulting to help us in this project. The objective is to identify potential avenues for improving the same from infrastructure and operational standpoint and to come up with a set of recommendations that could help enhance TN’s Industrial Estates and lead the way for future estates as well as to bring foreign investments. The Study covers 9 Sipcot Estates, 4 Sidco Estates within the State and 3 Benchmark Estates, namely, Sricity, Mahindra City and Chakkan Industrial Estate, Maharastra. The Assessment of the estates is on a 360 degree assessment framework with set parameters and evaluated on multiple perspectives. The report would come up with a set of recommendations that can help the State to not only look at revitalising the present estates, but also plan the future estates appropriately. We are thankful to the sponsors who have supported the Chamber in bringing out this report which would be released shortly. A major highlight for the year 2017 was the mammoth Conference organized under the Sustainable Chennai Forum. The Chamber along with NIUA participated in the bid and was selected by UNHABITAT to host the first ever Urban Thinkers Campus in Chennai with the theme “Chennai as a Global City” coinciding with the 6th Anniversary of the Chamber’s Sustainable Chennai Forum. NIUA and IMacs were our Knowledge Partners. IITM was our Associate Partner. The Campus had three major themes and important subthemes under each of them running in parallel to bring forth the favorable and adverse factors in making Chennai a truly global city. We had the privilege of having many key bureaucrats from the Government of Tamil Nadu taking part in the deliberations and we also had the honor of having the Honorable Deputy Chief Minister of the State of Tamil Nadu, Mr. O. Panneerselvam in the Valedictory Session. I must say a big thanks to all the stakeholders, GC Members and the members of the Chamber for their support. We are happy to inform that for the current year also we have been identified by the UN Habitat to host the second conference in Chennai with a very timely theme of Moving towards Zero waste in Chennai. Yet another distinct program this year was the CSR Conference organized under the auspices of the Expert committee on CSR on the theme “Synergy for maximizing Impact”. This conference had unique round tables organized to connect the Corporate and NGOs under four sectors, namely, Education, Environment, Livelihood & Community Development and Healthcare followed by a Major conference addressed by Dr Mukund Rajan of Tata Sons Ltd and Dr
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Events in August 2018 – A Brief Report
Sivakumar Group Head – Agri & IT Businesses ITC Ltd. For the first time the Chamber launched the MCCI CSR Awards with an objective to encourage the synergy between Corporate and NGOs in delivering projects that has a social impact. We had a good participation and the applications received were evaluated on few well structured criteria in a transparent manner by a reputed third party Institution. From the first list, 11 applications were shortlisted and in the second round, based on field visits, 6 applications were short listed and called for a presentation to a Jury of 6 eminent persons. The Winner and Runners up would be honoured in the Public Session. TAFE has generously agreed to sponsor this award for this year and I sincerely thank TAFE management for the same. The Chamber’s flagship events, such as Energy Conference, Post Budget workshop, All India Workshop on GST, were organized successfully this year also. The Certificate courses on HR & IR, CSR are endeavours by the Chamber to increase the knowledge base of the members. The Chamber would be continuing to repeat these courses and explore possibilities of having certificate courses in other areas as well. As for Food For Thought (FFT), the Chamber had an interesting talk on the growth of Madras and Madras Chamber on the topic “ Down Memory Lane” by Mr. V.Sriram, Historian and Author of the Championing Enterprise. In the Chamber’s strive to inspire and exchange good practices to innovate, visits to Mando Automotive Ltd, Mahindra World City, Sri City, Madras Atomic Power Station Nuclear Power Plant at Kalpakkam and VA Tech Wabag’s Nemelli Desalination Plant had been organized which received positive feedback. More such visits would be organized in the coming years. Apart from the above, we have had number of seminars, workshops, Conferences, round table meetings, interactive sessions on a wide range of topics and sectors of relevance today. As you may be aware the Chamber has joined hands with PanIIT Alumni Reach For India Foundation managed by PanIITians for bridging the skill deficits and to promote employability and enhance the availability of well trained human resources to the Industries in Tamil Nadu. We have had talks with a few leading Industries and have plans to spread our wings to be part of the broader mission of India to train 150 Million youths by 2022. Our focus would be on skilling and reskilling and provide trained manpower to member industries as per their requirments. A humble beginning is already made and I am happy to inform that my organisation itself is one of the beneficiaries and we continue to recruit from the MCCI PAN IIT trained pool. Going forward the Chamber is in discussion with some of the member industries and here I strongly appeal to the member companies to utilise the service of the Chamber in this regard for their own benefit. From April 2018 to July 2018, we have completed more than 15 important seminars and conferences on varied topics relating to diverse sectors. We will continue to organise more
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relevant activities for the benefit of the members with the support and guidance of the Expert Committees. Further, with the manufacturing sector undergoing a paradigm shift in the recent years, with interventions of Robotics, Internet of Things, 3D Printing etc, Chamber has big plans under the auspices of the manufacturing committee to have a series of seminars/conferences/ trainings on the above topics. We would also concentrate on the new sectors, namely defence and aerospace and find avenues for the Industries to expand their horizon. We may hear from Sri L. Ganesh our chief guest in the next session as to what and how the Future of Manufacturing going to be. It would not be out of place to mention that the chamber takes pride in paving the way for Business Facilitation Act through our well thought out study on Regulatory Road Map for Manufacturing in TN and took active part in the successful conduct of GIM 2015. We are happy that GIM 2019 is on its way and once again the Chamber will put in its best efforts and work with the Government to make that meaningful. In conclusion, I would say that the Chamber has had a very successful year and I personally had a very fulfilling term of two years as the President of this great Chamber. Many Senior Captains of the Industries have held the position of President for this prestigious Chamber, including my father, Mr. Venkataramani. It was a great opportunity for me and I had a fulfilling two years. I should also record my appreciation and since thanks to Ms Gayathri Sriram who had been a great support to me in the last two years of my term as President. Undoubtedly, the success has been because of the consistent support from the General Committee members, Expert Committee Members and all our members whose relationship we cherish. I would also like to take this opportunity to express my thanks and appreciation to the Chamber’s Secretariat for all their efforts, professionalism and cooperation to make every activity of the Chamber a grand success. I assure you all that the Madras Chamber would continue to be agile and be an enormous support to the business fraternity just like how they have been for the past 182 years. I request every one of the members to continue to give your wholehearted support and guidance to the Chamber in the coming years and join the Chamber in its initiatives to aspire to higher levels of excellence in the years ahead. I welcome the new team of the GC and assure my continued support in all possible ways to the Chamber and all the members. Wishing you all the very best
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Events in August 2018 – A Brief Report
The Following Resolutions were adopted by the General Body during the 182nd AGM •
Annual Report for the year 2017-2018
•
Audited Statement of accounts for the year 2017-2018
•
Rates of Subscription payable by different classes of members for the year 2018-2019. There is no revision and the existing rates would continue as well as the voting rights.
•
Appointment of Auditors for the year 2018-2019.M/s RGN Price & Co. Will continue as auditors for the current year 2018-2019.
Election of Members of the General Committee for the year 2018-2019 As per the rules of the Chamber, the election process started in April 2018 and the new General Committee was formed. The President requested the Secretary General to announce the results of the election to the General Committee for the year 2018-2019. The Secretary General read out the names of the elected members for the respective offices for the year 2017-2018 as follows:-
General Committee – 2018-2019 1. President:
Mr. Ramkumar Ramamoorthy, Executive Cognizant Technology Solutions India Pvt. Ltd
Director,
2. Vice President:
Mr. Srivats Ram, Managing Director, Wheels India Ltd.
India
MEMBERS: 3
Mr.N.S. Balachandra Datta
4 5
Ms.Bhavani Balasubramanian Mr.Ishwar Achanta
6 7
Mr.P. Kaniappan Mr.T.R.Kesavan
8 9
Mr.J.Krishnan Mr.V.M.Mohan
10 11 12
Mr.S.Padmanabhan Mr.S.Parthasarathy Mr.K.Ramakrishnan
13
Mr.Ramkumar Shankar
Vice President – Corporate Affairs Partner Chairman &Managing Director Managing Director President & COO Partner Executive PresidentCorporate Finance Director Chief Executive Officer Senior Managing Director – Strategic Relationships Managing Director
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Hyundai Motor India Ltd. Deloitte Haskins & Sells Portman India Pvt.Ltd. Wabco India Ltd. Tractors and Farm Equipment Ltd. S.Natesa Iyer & Co. The India Cements Ltd. Sattva Logistics Pvt. Ltd. Rane (Madras) Ltd. Spark Capital Advisors (India) Pvt. Ltd. Chemplast Sanmar Ltd.
Events in August 2018 – A Brief Report
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Mr.S.Ravishankar
15
Mr.P.Sridharan
16
Mr.A.R.Subramanian
17
Mr.K.Suresh
18 19
Mr.K.Vaitheeswaran Mr.Vijay Chordia
20
Mr.P.Viswanathan
Joint Managing Director
Super Auto Forge Private Ltd. Executive Director Shriram Transport Finance Co. Ltd. Executive Director-Finance Schwing Stetter India & Company Secretary Pvt.Ltd., President & CEO India Cements Capital Ltd. Advocate & Tax Consultant K.Vaitheeswaran & Co. Director Stone Colour Exim Pvt. Ltd Company Secretary Sundaram Finance Ltd.
b. Appointment of Members of the Expert Committees for the year 2018-2019 The president informed the General Body that the Expert Committees have been a great source of strength to the Chamber. They have been doing excellent work. There were many programmes organized by various expert committees on topics of current relevance. To deal with major subjects of importance and to broad base the activities of the Chamber and to have more sector specific interactions, the Chamber had identified expert Committees and had invited nominations for those expert committees. He added that the Chairmen and Co-Chairmen for some of the Expert Committees have been selected on the basis of their seniority, knowledge of the subject and ability to represent the Chamber before the concerned authorities, meetings etc. For rest of the Expert Committees, the Chairmen & Co-Chairmen will be selected at the first meeting of the respective Committees. Expert Committees for the year 2018-19 S. No. EXPERT COMMITTEES
Chairperson
Co Chairperson
1
Banking, Finance & Insurance
Mr.S.Sridhar, Vice President, Sundaram Finance Ltd.
2
Company Law / Corporate Dr.B.Ravi Matters Managing Partner B Ravi & Associates
Mr.VV Naresh Vice President-Company Secretary & Compliance Officer Intellect Design Arena Ltd.
3
Corporate Social Responsibility
Ms.Rajashree Natarajan Dr.Vidya Durai Chief Operating Officer, Director–Philanthropy & CSR Cognizant Foundation BNY Mellon Technology India Pvt.Ltd.
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S. No. EXPERT COMMITTEES
Chairperson
Co Chairperson
4
Direct Taxes
Mr.Sriram Seshadri Partner, Price Waterhouse & Co. LLP
Mr.PV Sriram, Sr.General Manager-Taxation Sanmar Group
5
Economic Affairs
Mr.Rajan Ekambaram Partner E & Y LLP
V.Balasubramanian, Vice-President-Corporate Communication Editor: Compass, In House Journal The India Cements Ltd
6
Education & Skill
Prof. N.Sridhar Adjunct Professor – Finance Great Lakes Institute of Management
Dr. K. Nirmala Prasad Director Caplin Point Laboratories Ltd.
7
Energy including Renewable Energy
Mr.S.Venkatachalam Managing Director Orient Green Power Co.Ltd.
Mr.P B Varadharajan President Renewable Energy Harvesting Environment Network Environment, Pollution Prevention & Control
8
GST
Mr.K.Vaitheeswaran Advocate & Tax consultant K Vaitheeswaran & Co.
Mr.KK Sekar Head-Indirect Taxes Ashok Leyland Ltd.
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Human Resources & Industrial Relations
Mr.Anand Gopalan Partner, TS Gopalalan & Co.
Prof. N.Sridhar Adjunct Professor – Finance Great Lakes Institute of Management
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Information Technology & IT Enabled Services (IT/ ITES)
Mr.L.Ashok Managing Director Futurenet Technologies India Pvt.Ltd
Dr.K.Rama Subramanian Director & CEO Valiant Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
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Legal Affairs
Mr.Anand Gopalan Partner, TS Gopalan & Co.
Mr.C.Mukundan HOD-Legal & Corporate Sundaram Clayton Ltd
12
Logistics & Supply Chain
Mr.Udaybaskara Reddy Whole Time Director Sanco Trans Ltd.
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S. No. EXPERT COMMITTEES
Chairperson
Co Chairperson
13
Mr.S.Sarathi Deputy Managing Director Mando Automotive India Ltd.
Mr.L.Prabhu Plant Director Hanon Systems Pvt.Ltd.
Manufacturing including Engineering
The President informed that the Chamber Secretariat will soon convene the first meeting with the nominated members and then decide the plan of action for the respective expert committees. Since there were no other issues for discussion, the President thanked the Vice President Members of the Chamber, Members of the General Committee, Members of the Expert Committees and the Chamber Secretariat for the excellent work done during the year and requested for their continued support. The Past Presidents Mr. N.Srinivasan and Mr. S.G. Prabhakharan shared their happiness for the various initiatives and complimented the President and the members of the General Committee and Expert Committees.
Public Session In the Public Session, Mr. Ram Venkataramani, President, MCCI in his welcome address briefed about the important activities and the key initiatives that the Chamber undertook in the year 2017-2018. Mr.L. Ganesh, Chairman, Rane Group was the Chief Guest. His address is given below : A Case for Manufacturing The standard economic transition that the now advanced economies went through was from agrarian base to an industrial base to a service-led economy. In recent times in most economies, the service sector has been the most sought after and promoted, as the engine of growth. In India, the service sector has grown significantly, particularly in the last 20 years. Presumably, this has been led by IT services. India’s IT-services sector shows what can be achieved tapping into the global opportunity, but it is high-skilled and barely taps into the country’s ocean of labour. India’s liberalization in 1991 was premised on the idea that it would make local industries more competitive, helping them capture world markets, which in turn would enable millions of Indian workers to move away from low-productivity farm jobs to high-productivity factory jobs.
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Though the industrial component has grown driven by sectors such as Infrastructure and Construction, the manufacturing sector has not grown with the pace of GDP. Even as the construction and services sectors expanded their share in the total employment pie, the share of manufacturing has remained nearly the same as it was three decades ago. Manufacturing accounted for a tenth of total employment in the 1980s, and continues to account for about a tenth of total employment today. Within manufacturing, the share of labour-intensive industries such as textiles and leather has actually shrunk over the past few decades. In other Asian economies, which witnessed a transition from low-productivity jobs to high-productivity jobs, the manufacturing sector played a big role in that transition. In India, the role of the manufacturing sector has been very limited. The percentage of the manufacturing industry in India’s GDP has come down to 15 percent in 2017 from 17.4 percent in country’s overall GDP in 2006. It has been almost four years since the launch of Modi government’s flagship scheme–Make in India. The ‘Make in India’ initiative was launched with an aim to promote India as an investment destination and a global hub for manufacturing. It targets to increase the share of manufacturing sector in the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) to 25% by 2022 and also aims to create 100 million additional jobs by 2022 in the manufacturing sector alone. However, the scheme hasn’t been able to boost up the share of the manufacturing industry. Manufacturing has the highest multiplier effect on job creation. These effects can be backwards (mining and construction) or forwards (logistics and retail). Growth in manufacturing therefore fuels creation of jobs and investments also in non-manufacturing sectors. The size of our service sector seems disproportionate to our per capita income. Therefore I would conclude it is urban-centric and does not promote inclusivity. To moderate the challenges, growth needs to create jobs across the nation and not just in Metros. India’s rural population is still about 60%. Only manufacturing can employ those levels of skill gainfully. If demographic dividend is to be realized, these people have to be employed gainfully. It is only the manufacturing sector that can absorb these many people and provide gainful employment. Another important element is, the potential to trade in services for goods is limited. According to WTO 80% of the world trade is merchandise based, only 20% is in services, a multiple of 5. As an extreme case, if an economy was composed only of services then it would be very poor because it cannot trade at all. Further, service industry itself is facilitated by use of manufactured goods. On a stand-alone basis services add up to nothing. Retail and wholesale are but acts of buying and selling manufactured goods. Even health care services constitutes the act of using drugs and medical equipment, manufactured goods.
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With a population of 1.3 billion, the lack of a strong manufacturing sector would make India excessively import dependent. Let me explain through the case study of US and China US The United States was primarily an agricultural economy through the 19th century; then, industry swept the landscape in the late-19th and early 20th century — with America standing as the industrial powerhouse of the world by the 1950s. However over the period of time, US first lost the edge to the Japanese, then to the Chinese, and have now become a service economy that doesn’t produce stuff. The share of Americans working in factories has fallen far from the 1950 peak of 30% to roughly 8.5% last year. Over the past nine years manufacturing has bounced back strongly from the crater the sector fell in during the financial meltdown. However, this was weak manufacturing recovery compared to the post World War period. The reason is a product of both international and domestic challenges faced by the manufacturing sector such as trade deficit, higher employee cost, etc. In the post-world war II era, the manufacturing and agriculture got more efficient, they required fewer American workers, while the services industry, which had slower efficiency gains since it has more person-to-person work, required more employees to keep up with the rising demand. Presently, services sector account for 80+% of GDP in the US economy. When economies reach a critical mass of affluence, and 20,000 $ falls in that category, the demand for services such as leisure, insurance rise rapidly. Therefore the rapid growth of the service sector is natural and understandable. Their lead in the innovation has helped them to remain a strong player. China The trend in the agriculture sector is about the same as ours but there is a startling difference between China and India vis a vis the Industry and the Service sector. With comparable population, China’s manufacturing output was 2010 B$ compared with our 298 B$ in the year 2015 i.e. a multiple of seven times. You can imagine the employment, innovation and R&D potential that China is sitting on. I would like to reiterate that R&D and innovation happens mainly in the manufacturing sector. In 1990 it produced less than 3% of global manufacturing output by value; its share now is nearly a quarter. China’s merchandise (i.e. manufactured goods) to services export is a multiple of 10 to India’s 2. Understandably China with its huge manufacturing sector is a global economic and political power. India is not.
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India’s per capita income in 1980 was 271 $ compared with China’s 220 $. In 2017 the respective numbers were 1820 $ and 8690 $. China’s per capita income has grown about 40 times as against India’s seven. The World Bank has found that the share of imported components in China’s total exports has fallen from a peak of 60% in the mid-1990s to around 35% today. This is partly because China boasts clusters of efficient suppliers that others will struggle to replicate. It has excellent, and improving, infrastructure: it plans to build ten airports a year until 2020. Chinese firms are using automation to raise productivity, offsetting some of the effect of higher wages—the idea behind the government’s new “Made in China 2025” strategy. Though China’s low end manufacturing is moving to other ASEAN countries such as Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Myanmar, etc. they reinforce a regional supply chain with China at the centre. China has advantage of increasing consumption with spending and sophistication of their consumers grow. This is evident with the upswing in the per capita income. The capital have also empowered Chinese to develop strong R&D capabilities which makes them no longer a destination for outsourcing manufacturing for labor-intensive industries. They have competing products to all that US has; from mobile phones to even autonomous vehicles. What we need to improve manufacturing in India We have had challenges for creating an effective ecosystem for manufacturing. Our aspirations, plans are not matched with appropriate execution through right policies. National Interest If one looks at the recent history of say the last 50 odd years of the most progressive countries in the world like Japan, South Korea, China, etc. it is national interest which has driven their policy. However in India Socialism almost killed private enterprises from independence to the 80s. Reforms from 90s meant selling ourselves as a nation to global companies and the interest of foreign countries rather than encouraging Indian industries. In 90s China was focusing on JVs and IP rights for Chinese partner. India was busy giving 100% ownership to foreign companies with no mandate on IP transfer. However it is too late to discuss this today. Having come so far we can only liberalize more so that Industry across leading to creation of jobs. Ownership is something we have to ignore at present as it is too late to rake up this issue. Labour reforms We have a young population. However we are burdened with antiquated socialistic regulations for employment which have no relationship with the current reality. In a modern young country with the youngest population in the world, Imagine the following: Cannot adjust the work force to demand. Cannot discipline bad employees.
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Politically affiliated unions. Absurd regulations. To name a few: Cannot work over time without government permission. Cannot employ women in the night shift. Imprisonment for directors / managers for minor non-compliances. I just picked a few examples from antiquated and absurd labour laws. 1978 was the year I started my career. Till today I have heard many times about labour reforms being talked about in so many forums with almost zero action over the last 40 years. We must bring out a simple Industrial Relations Act and give States the flexibility to improve on the same and not the other way. This will create competition among the States and encourage States to attract more investments. It is high time that labour laws are employment friendly and not just employee friendly. Payroll subsidies I recommend a policy of wage or payroll subsidies for manufacturing units in addition to capital subsidies. A significant part of current budgetary subsidies, both at the central and state levels, are in the form of capital subsidies – subsidies on interest or credit and tax concessions of various kinds for capital investment. Few research suggests that these subsidies may come to 5% of GDP. A part of these subsidies, which currently encourage capital intensive methods of production, may be converted into wage subsidies. In fact the same business in the manufacturing sector may be paid the subsidies, but now for hiring more people rather than machines. A cap may be imposed on the wage subsidy on any particular job so that the incentive remains on hiring more people than on paying large salaries to particular employees. Training and skill development Training for building new skills is extremely important. All ITIs must be handed over to joint industry government governing council as done in certain locations over the years. The skills required are changing rapidly and we need to train our future employees to meet these requirements. Stringent labor laws make it difficult for Indian companies to restructure and thus to increase their productivity and expand output to meet customer’s demand. Indian government should consider liberalizing its labor laws by encouraging reskilling programs that could help workers become more productive and prepare them for new jobs. Encouragingly, India’s National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) is experimenting with ways to use public–private partnerships to strengthen vocational training. However my sense is that the progress of this initiative is very slow. This needs dynamic leadership and perhaps a separate Minister with clear goals and metrics. Coupled with sensible labor laws, such moves could quickly begin to make a difference. Of about 3 million people who have received some training by July 2017 under the current scheme, less than 10% have reportedly received any job offers. In any case a vocational programme that is not integrated with a job placement programme is unlikely to be viable.
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Infrastructure development Government must continue to focus on infrastructure like Roads, Electricity and Ports. Some progress has been made in the last 10 to 15 years but we still for a long way to go. In 2016, India jumped 19 places in World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index (LPI) 2016, to rank 35th amongst 160 countries. According to government estimates, some 356 infrastructure projects, each costing 1.5 billion rupees or more, had been delayed by up to five years, leading to a total cost overrun of 2.19 trillion rupees ($32.9 billion). The government plans to spend 5.97 trillion rupees ($89.7 billion) on infrastructure in 2018/19 fiscal year, more than three times what was allocated in 2014/15. Ease of doing business Simplification of procedures for movement of Goods and Services. GST is a good beginning and I hope we stay on the continuous improvement path of this legislation which the current government seems to be doing. Making all approvals on line and giving deadlines beyond which it will be assumed as a deemed approval will move India several notches on the metric of “Ease of Doing Business”. Closing remarks In conclusion, the evolution of economies has a naturally pre-ordained pattern with emphasis shifting from agriculture to manufacturing and with increasing prosperity, to the service sector. India cannot be different. We should not bypass manufacturing and favour services on the premise of India’s comparative advantage on services. I believe this will enable only select population to prosper. Given India’s economic demographics where close to 700 million people live in a subsistence economy, need to provide favourable employment across demographics is critical. Further, we find rich nations at the forefront of protectionism. So it is imperative for large developing country like India to build the capability in domestic industry. With a population of 1.3 billion, to achieve prosperity we need to build a strong manufacturing sector. Perhaps as strong and big as that of China. We need to put policy at work to drive growth through favourable employment, lower import dependence, competing globally on critical parameters such as quality rather than cost. Only then can we become a scientific, economic and political power. We need to create the right vision, goals and strategies to achieve them. Thank you…
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The Chamber instituted the MCCI CSR Awards in the year 2018 to recognize the social impact created by the innovative CSR practices in Tamil Nadu. The purpose of the award was to encourage companies, CSR Foundations, NGOs and other implementing agencies to deliver projects that have a strong social impact. After a rigorous selection process the following were the winners from 40 projects The final winners were selected as • V-Excel Educational Trust &Grundfos Pumps India Pvt Ltd. – Winner • National Agro Foundation & BNY Mellon Technology India – First Runner up • Exnora& ITC Ltd. – Second Runner up Ms. Rajashree Natarajan, Co Chairperson briefed the audience about the CSR initiative and the process of selection of winners. The winners were felicitated at the Conference. Mr. Ramkumar Ramamoorthy, President Elect delivered the formal vote of thanks. The AGM Public session concluded with lunch.
Mr. Ram Venkataramani, President welcoming the participants
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Mr.L. Ganesh, Chairman, Rane Group, delivering the Chief Guest address
First Winner of the CSR Awards - V-Excel Educational Trust & Grundfos Pumps India Pvt. Ltd. receiving the award and cash prize
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Events in August 2018 – A Brief Report
Runner up National Agro Foundation & BNY Mellon Technology India receiving the award and cash prize
Second Runner up Exnora & ITC Ltd. receiving the award and the cash prize.
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Events in August 2018 – A Brief Report
Mr. S.G. Prabhakharan, Past President honouring the outgoing President Mr. Ram Venkataramani
Mr. Ramkumar Ramamoorthy, President Elect delivering the vote of thanks
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Events in August 2018 – A Brief Report
A section of the audience
The Chamber Secretariat with the Chief Guest
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Events in August 2018 – A Brief Report
PRESS coverage IBR News Saturday, 4 August 2018
MCCI’s 182nd AGM
“Need for revitalizing the manufacturing sector”: L.Ganesh, Chairman, Rane Group
The Madras Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI) held their 182nd Annual General Body Meeting on August 2, manifesting that they are one of the oldest Chambers in India. The occasion saw Mr. Ramkumar Ramamoorthy, the Executive Director of Cognizant Technology Solutions India, being elected as the new President of the Chamber. He will now be accompanied by Mr. Srivats Ram, the Managing Director of Wheels India Ltd., as the Chamber’s new Vice President. During the occasion, the outgoing President, Mr. Ram Venkatramani spoke about the past activities done by the Chamber, such as the recent seminar on the effects of GST. He also mentioned that the Chamber hopes to work more with the State Government to boost the economic growth. The Chairman of the Rane Group, Mr. L. Ganesh, honoured the event as the Chief Guest and emphasized the need for revitalizing the Manufacturing Sector, as it has the largest multiplier effect on job creation. “With a population of 1.3 billion, the lack of a strong manufacturing sector would make the country excessively import dependant”, he added. Mr. Ganesh also observed that the size of India’s service sector seems disproportionate to the country’s per capita income. This makes the country very urban-centric and does not promote inclusivity.
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Events in August 2018 – A Brief Report
The newly-elected President of the Chamber, Mr. Ramamoorthy addressed the gathering that, with positive growth rates and continual progress on human development indices, Tamil Nadu offers a great platform to boost the inclusive growth. MCCI will continue to collaborate with the administration to further strengthen the State’s reputation as one of the leading business and investment destination”, he added. The MCCI CSR Award for the best Corporate Social Responsibility project was also Award during the event. Grundfos Pumps and the V-Excel Educational Trust team members received the Winner’s Award, presented by Mr. Ganesh. The team produced low cost sanitary napkins, for children with special needs. The team engaged in a lot of R&D and now send these special sanitary napkins to Government schools. The first Runner Up, were the BNY Mellon Technology and National Agro Foundation team, followed by the ITC Ltd., and Exnora Green Pammal team who were the Second Runner Up. Posted by IBR News at 00:26 No comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest
Friday, 3 August 2018
New MCCI President and Vice President
The Madras Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI), at its 182nd AGM held in Chennai on August 2, 2018, elected Mr. Ramkumar Ramamoorthy, Executive Director, India, Cognizant Technology Solutions India Pvt. Ltd., as its President, and Mr. Srivats Ram, Managing Director, Wheels India Ltd., as the Vice President for 2018-2020. “I am truly honoured to be elected as the President of MCCI, a position held by stalwarts from diverse industries over the Chamber’s 182-year history,” said Mr. Ramkumar Ramamoorthy. “With enviable growth rates and continued progress on human development indices, Tamil Nadu offers a great platform to accelerate inclusive growth. Leveraging this platform, MCCI will continue to champion the cause of industry and commerce in the State, celebrate and turn the successes of its members into inspiration for others, and collaborate with the administration to further strengthen Tamil Nadu’s reputation as one of India’s leading business and investment destinations.” Posted by IBR News at 23:25 No comments: Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to Pinterest
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Events in August 2018 – A Brief Report
10th August 2018
Seminar on Ocean Wealth – Potential & Opportunities for Sustainable Blue Economy A seminar and discussion on “Ocean Wealth – Potential & Opportunities for Sustainable Blue Economy” was organized jointly by Anna University, The Madras Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI) and Waterfalls Institute of Technology Transfer (WITT) on Friday, August 10, 2018. As in most events organized by WITT and MCCI, speakers were from across Academia, Industry and Government institutions and the seminar attracted very senior & experienced participants who were able to share extensive information on the subject. Ms. K. Saraswathi, Secretary-General, MCCI welcomed all the speakers and participants to the seminar. She highlighted that MCCI was amongst the oldest in the country and had been doing remarkable work over the years in coordinating between industry and government – she also talked about the focus on CSR in recent years. Sustainability & related areas has always been a high focus for MCCI and this seminar with speakers from WITT, Anna University, IITM, NIOT, NCCR etc. is in alignment with that. Ocean Wealth and Blue Economy are relatively newer buzzwords and MCCI looks forward to expanding its focus on these in Chennai. In a lighter vein, she wondered why we always talk of “sky being the limit’, and not of ‘oceans being the limit’. Mr. P.V. Jaishankar, Chairman, WITT provided an overview of WITT’s past initiatives at New Delhi & Chennai and said that the activities of the Chennai centre were gaining momentum. He said that WITT had published around 84 articles on Ocean Wealth and had also published a book on the subject. Given that Tamil Nadu enjoyed the 2nd longest coastline in the country and given the large number of institutions in Chennai focusing on different aspects of the Ocean, he highlighted the relevance of this seminar and said that the objective of the seminar was to bring together academia, researchers & industry in the city to disseminate information on the wide range of Ocean-based business opportunities. He also thanked Anna University for agreeing to host the event. Dr. M. K. Surappa, Vice Chancellor, Anna University and the Chief Guest for the event delivered the inaugural address. He felt that an Ocean-based Blue Economy offered tremendous opportunities in India and said that the seminar would provide a forum for a wide range of discussions across industry and research. He emphasized the Sustainability angle to be kept in mind and said that we cannot afford to degrade the ocean environment and its resources. He also highlighted the need for cooperation between regional & global scientific organizations to achieve the Blue Economy potential. Dr. Harsh Gupta, former Secretary in the Dept of Ocean Development, Govt. of India highlighted that tremendous progress had been achieved in India on Ocean-related initiatives during the last 35+ years. In particular, he highlighted:
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Events in August 2018 – A Brief Report
•
Setting up & Commissioning of one of the world’s most effective Tsunami-warning systems– Improving preparedness to face a future tsunami shock on the Indian coastal areas;
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Setting up a network of instrumentation in the oceans, towards promoting efficiency of fish harvesting by fisher folks;
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Setting up India’s first base station in Antarctica within a very short time;
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Collecting extensive seismic, intense gravity, magnetic and other geo-data and submitting a claim to the UN Commission to extend the Limits of India’s Continental Shelf
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Setting up the world’s first low-temperature thermal desalination plant atKavaratti, Lakshadweep in 2005 – this has been producing over 100,000 liters/day since then;
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The Initiatives taken by the Ministry of Earth Sciences towards Deep seas explorations.
Dr Gupta also delivered the Keynote Address on the subject of Gas-based Hydrates – a Major Unconventional Energy Option for the next generation. He said that a huge quantity of methane was available in the global gas hydrate reserve and that just 15% of this could meet the world’s energy requirements for a long time. While exploration challenges were significant, he said that existing technologies can now be leveraged for the same. He dwelt on the technology initiatives happening at NIOT, Chennai for gas hydrate exploration, the data available from the Krishna-Godavari & Mahanadi river basins in India and the Exploitation strategies available. In conclusion, he said that this was an area of huge potential and high focus in the Indian context. Dr. K.V. Swaminathan, Founder-Chairman, Waterfalls Institute of Technology Transfer and former Advisor, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India,provided an overview of Ocean Wealth Potential in the Indian context. While there were many tangible assets available from the oceans, he highlighted the basic fact that, without the oceans, there would be no life on our Blue Planet ! On the primary question of “who owns the Oceans”, he provided an explanation of the primary terms used– like Territorial Waters, Contiguous Zone, Exclusive Economic Zone, Continental Shelf, High Seas etc. He highlighted that, while India enjoys a large EEZ, it is relatively smaller than that of many other countries if viewed as a percentage of land area owned. He also listed the different activities and sectors that could be seen as being part of a Blue Economy. Dr. Swaminathan shared data about the relative size of the Blue Economy for a set of developed nations (in terms of Output / GDP and Employment), along with sector-wise details – it was seen that Marine Economy Output as a percentage of GDP ranged between 1% and 4% for these countries. For India, he highlighted that Oil & Gas and Fisheries/Aquaculture accounted for almost Rs 150,000 crores in India’s Blue Economy assessment of around Rs 162,800 crores (which is around 1.18% of GDP). He also touched about India’s Offshore Energy potential estimate of around 180 GW (as compared to the global potential of 7000 GW), and on the factors retarding growth of the Blue Economy. Dr.M. A. Atmanand, Director, National Institute of Ocean Technology shared his knowledge of Technology in Blue Economy and its Status in India. He started by saying that, after the Green and White Revolutions in India, this was now the time for a vibrant Blue Economy. As per
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Events in August 2018 – A Brief Report
the World Bank, the Blue Economy meant sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihood & jobs, and ocean ecosystem health – simply put, this means all economic activities of the oceans, seas and coasts. It covers areas like Renewable Energy, Oil & Gas, Fisheries, Maritime Transport, Tourism, Climate Change and Waste Management, with Sustainability as the key aspect. The gross asset value of oceans is conservatively estimated at around US$ 24 trillion – of which the ocean’s economic value to is (“Gross Maritime Product”) is estimated to be about US$ 2.5 trillion (7th largest in GDP terms if the Ocean were considered a “country”). He also highlighted the challenges & threats due to reckless & indiscriminate use. India enjoys an Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of over 2 million sq. km. which abounds in living and non-living resources, with over 7500 km of coastline and 2 large island territories – this EEZ is likely to be enlarged soon. India has also been given pioneer investment status in select Indian Ocean poly-metallic nodule sites. There isvery high potential for India to exploit Minerals, Hydrocarbon & Gas hydrate energy, Ocean energy, Food and Fresh Water from its EEZ areas – most of this is untapped at present. Dr. Atmanand also talked about NIOT’s pioneering activities in many of these areas.He concluded by saying that, while it is challenging and needs consistent efforts & understanding, India is investing a kit in offshore & deep-sea technologies– productive synergy is required between various international agencies and scientific bodies within the region & globally, to move ahead in efficient utilization of blue economic resources. The development of the Blue Economy holds immense promise for the Indian Ocean region indeed. Mr.Pradipta Mishra, Group General Manager,ONGC, spoke on the subject of Offshore Oil Exploration – The Major Economic Component of Ocean Wealth today. He started by providing a few quick facts on the India Energy sector: •
India’s energy consumption would grow by 4.2% p.a., faster than all major world economies.
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India will overtake China as the largest growth market for energy by the late 2020s.
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Renewables will become the second largest source of domestic energy production,overtaking gas and then oil by 2020.
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India’s share of global energy consumption is likely to reach 11% by 2040.Oil and gas contributed about 35.6% to primary energy consumption of India in 2016.
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India’s demand for fossil fuel by 2040 is estimated to grow by CAAGR of 3.6% for oil and 4.6% for natural gas to keep pace with the projected economic growth.
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The oil import dependency of the India is predicted to rise to 90% from the current 70%.
Today, with “Proven and Probable” estimated reserves of around 1895MMT of oil and 2230BCM of gas,India has over 830 oil & gas fields (including 40 major fields) and production output is expected to touch 1 million barrels / day very soon.Mr Mishra provided an overview of the various sedimentary and offshore petroliferous basins in the country today – in the latter category, apart from Mumbai High extensions, Kutch, KG basin, Cauvery basin/Gulf of Mannar and Mahanadi basin offer significant potential. Mumbai High, of course, continues to be a high-potential area. He added that ONGC is adopting/adapting suitable high-technologies
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Events in August 2018 – A Brief Report
required for drilling, completion and testing of High Pressure/High Temperature reservoirs and sub-sea completion of deep and ultra-deep water wells. He also highlighted that ONGC is committed to be a “Carbon Neutral” company through a string of initiatives, with investments in green energy from two operational wind farms with a combined capacity of 153 MW–in FY’17, ONGC spent as much as Rs. 5,259 million in its CSR initiatives in the areas of education, health, skill development etc. Prof. S .Srinivasalu, Director, Institute of Ocean Management, Anna University, spoke on Coastal Management & Ensuring Sustainable Blue Economy. While the Atmosphere, Geosphere, Biosphere and Hydrosphere are closely linked with each other, the Coastal Zone is particularly important as it accounts for at least15% of oceanic primary production, 80% of organic matter burial, 90% of sedimentary mineralization, 75-90% of the oceanic sink of suspended river load and 50% of the deposition of calcium carbonate, apart from being home to over 40% of the world’s population and accounting for at least 40% of the value of the world’s ecosystem services and natural capital. According to OECD projections, by 2030, the ‘Blue Economy’ could outperform the growth of the global economy as a whole, both in terms of value addition and employment–however, there is increasing evidence that losses in the ocean’s natural capital resulting from unsustainable economic activity is eroding the resource base on which such growth depends. Prof. Srinivasulu elaborated various aspects and dimensions of a Sustainable Blue Economy, to promote economic growth, social inclusion, and the preservation or improvement of livelihoods, while at the same time ensuring environmental sustainability of the oceans and coastal areas. He highlighted the concept of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC), according to which environmental degradation increases up to a point as economies grow but then declines with further affluence. He also talked about the UNESCO-defined need for Marine Spatial Planning as a key to Sustainable Blue Economy – this will also involve a multinational &multi-industry leadership alliance pivoting on ‘Corporate Ocean Responsibility’. From an India viewpoint, the Prime Minister has re-affirmed his commitment to develop Blue Economy and has also stated that Blue Economy would be a tool for developing India, and has made it a feature of his vision for the sea in Security and Growth for all in the Region. The Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India released a blueprint of the ‘Deep Ocean Mission (DOM)’ on 27th July 2018. He also shared data on the commercial potential of various Blue Economy sectors. Mr. K. Syed Amir Basha, Chief Technology Officer at VA WABAG Tech and Head of Operations at the Nemmeli desalination plant, shared his experience and knowledge on a topic dear to most Chennai hearts, viz. “Oceans – An abundant source for De-salinated Drinking Water”. He highlighted that over-exploitation of ground water is already happening in many parts of the world and that around 3 billion people may be living in water-scarce or water-stressed areas by 2025 (India is one of these), as per an UN report.
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Events in August 2018 – A Brief Report
He explained that sea-water desalination systems typically comprise i) an Intake system; ii) Pre-treatment systems; iii) Sea-water RO system; iv) Post-treatment system and v) Outfall system – in this, the pre-treatment systems are the most different as they have to cater to different qualities of intake water – while the Intake and Outfall systems have to be designed to meet sustainability requirements. He provided an overview of different sea-water desalination processes and brackish-water desalination processes used today, and of the technologies involved therein. Given the abundance of water available from the oceans and given that desalination costs have fallen rapidly over the years, he said that extensive developments are happening in new technologies, especially membrane technology. He concluded by pointing out the significant factors that impact de-salination plant costs, viz. • Plant size. •
Feed-water salinity and quality.
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Energy cost.
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Plant location & infrastructure.
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Process type.
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Plant specifications.
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Finance cost.
Dr. M.V. Ramana Murthy, Director, National Centre for Coastal Research, spoke on the subject of Scalable, Cost-efficient Technologies for Ocean Energy and De-salinated Water. Apart from the standard de-salination processes and technologies, he shared his experience at NIOT to exploit the Ocean Thermal Gradient (where the temperature of water decreases with increase in depth) to produce water – this approach has minimal maintenance & running costs and caused no environment pollution. He said that, after the initial successful pilot at Kavaratti, 2 plants are now operational in Agatti and Minicoy, and 6 more are going to be set up in the Lakshwadeep Islands – he also highlighted the overall health benefits accruing to island citizens due to this, with water-borne diseases reducing by 50%. He also highlighted the Solar Energy based Desalination plants set up at Ramanathapuramand Kanyakumari which producearound 35000 liters/day and 10000 liters/day respectivelyoffresh water. On the Ocean Energy front, DrRamana Murthy explained the Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) process that can produce electricity by using the temperature difference between deep cold ocean water and warm tropical surface waters – he said that studies for OTEC are in progressat Lakshadweep. Offshore Wind Energy initiatives are also on, with Gujarat and Tamilnadu being the sites being looked at – the data collection platform in Gujarat is already being set up. He said that while the initial capital expenses are high, the operational costs are quite low. He concluded by stating that India has large renewable energy resources which can contribute towards reducing dependency on fossil fuels, and Government interventions in offshore wind, wave and tidal energy sectors can ensure commercial viability for these projects.
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Events in August 2018 – A Brief Report
Mr. J Krishnan, Partner – Natesa Iyer and Co, in his talk labelled so appropriately as “The Bountiful Kingdom of Poseidon”, spoke of the enormous opportunities afforded by the oceans in India. He talked about the following areas of potential: •
Coastal Shipping– a low-cost, a low-pollution option for shipping of bulk commodities, that can enable multi-modal transport and generate substantial employment in the hinterlands.
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Recreational Cruises – offering huge tourism and foreign exchange earning potential
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Sailing, Scuba-diving and Water Sports – which again open up recreational, point-to-point travel and tourism opportunities. In particular, he highlighted the opportunities to set up small, low-cost jetties between Chennai and Tuticorin in Tamil Nadu to enable ship-based travel (e.g. Puducherry, Cuddalore, Rameswaram, Tuticorin, Kanyakumari).
•
Ro-Ro (Roll-on-Roll-off) facilities – which can significantly enhance both local travel and transport of goods, by combining land-based travel with sea-based travel seamlessly.
Prof. S. A. Sannasiraj, Head of the Dept of Ocean Engineering at IIT Madras, spoke on Ocean EnergyPotential, Assessment & Challenges in India, with particular focus on Tidal Energy and Wave Energy.While Tidal Energy harvesting can be done on a massive scale, there are only around 20 sites worldwide which are ideal for this. In India, the Gulf of Kutch, the Gulf of Cambay and the Hooghly river delta offer good potential – lower tide ranges are also prevalent along the southern Coast of Tamil Nadu, with a potential for micro-tidal power plants. He also dwelled upon the technology options and approaches involved. In the case of Wave Energy, it can be classified under 3 heads–Coastline, Near-shore and Offshore (Deep Water, which offers the highest energy potential but will also be the most expensive). The global potential is around 2 TW, of which around 500 GW can be achieved through currently available technologies – in India, the potential is estimated at around 41,000 MW, a good part of which is from the Southern Kerala + Tamil Nadu coast. IIT, Madras has established an Oscillating Water Column (OCW) – based prototype at Vizhinjam, Kerala which is in operation now. The choice of technology& approach can also help protect against coastal erosion / accretion in the area. He concluded by stating that there is a potential for generating around 53 GW of Tidal + Wave Energy in India. Prof. C K Subramanian, School of Advanced Sciences, VIT University, Vellore, provided a perspective on another Ocean-based energy option through his talk on “Potential Generation using Salinity Gradients”. He highlighted that electrical energy can easily be derived from the difference in gradient between concentrated and dilute salt solutions – given the large difference in osmotic pressure between the sea and the river when it enters the sea, there exists an untapped source of power. He talked about the theoretical considerations of this approach, the technology involved and the low-scale experiments carried out in a Lab environment. He concluded that this is a Clean & Sustainable option of energy generation and that the Krishna, Godavari and Mahanadi river basis in India offer good potential, based on the data gathered.
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Events in August 2018 – A Brief Report
During the Q&A session, the following were discussed: •
Specially-designed nets/protection systems with continual scraping were required as part of the Intake system for sea-water desalination plants;
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Oil well bores & shafts created by ONGC are protected extensively through concrete/other protection and there is very low probability of contamination of ground resources;
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ONGC does not have a license for gas hydrate extraction in the Cauvery basin and hence does not do this;
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The speed of progress in Ocean Technology initiatives is primarily driven by considerations of technology development, maturity and efficiency.
The seminar concluded with a Vote of Thanks by Ms. Saraswathi, Secretary-General, MCCI. (Report – Courtesy –WITT)
Ms. K. Saraswathi, Secretary-General, MCCI welcoming the gathering
Mr. P.V. Jaishankar, Chairman, WITT provided an overview of WITT’s past initiatives
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Events in August 2018 – A Brief Report
. J Krishnan, Partner – Natesa Iyer and Co., making a presentation.
Dr. M. K. Surappa, Vice Chancellor, Anna University, Chief Guest delivered the inaugural address.
Dr. Harsh Gupta, former Secretary in the Dept of Ocean Development, Govt. of India addressing the audience.
A Section of the audience
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Events in August 2018 – A Brief Report
23rd August 2018
Yes Bank - Scaling up Business in Tamil Nadu The Chamber and Yes Bank joined hands to organise a Knowledge Session on “Scaling up Businesses in Tamil Nadu” at Hotel GRT Grand on 23rd August 2018. The ‘Scale-up’ Knowledge Series is designed to equip SMEs with information about resource planning and management of challenges associated with scaling up, more so, in the context of the transformational shifts taking place in global commerce due to rapid changes in technology and a dynamic geo-political and regulatory environment. Mr.Ramkumar Ramamoorthy, President, MCCI welcomed the speakers and the participants . Mr. R. Ravichander, Regional Director, Yes Bank, in his address recommended the adoption of Technology as main growth mantra for MSMEs. Expanding on his Mantra- he elaborated on 4 Cs: Create-Communicate-Compete-Collaborate to enable SMEs to find a footing in the global arena. He further suggested to them to opt for clusters to enjoy the advantages and benefits of clusters. The Chief Guest, Mr. Dharmendra Pratap Yadav, IAS, Secretary,MSME in his address stated that policy measures such as Business Facilitations Act and single window clearance has empowered the MSMEs from mere beneficiaries to a questioning authority. He added that Government would provide up to Rs.10 crore for infrastructure support for Industrialists who are willing to set up factories at Industrial Estates. He also mentioned about Ideation & innovation vouchers which if administered well is a welcome step. Mr.S.Seetharaman, Chairman Super Auto Forge Pvt. Ltd., Special Guest elaborated about the growth of Super Auto Forge Pvt Ltd., and stated that scaling up production is essential for MSMEs to bring down the cost of production and to be sustainable in the long run. He sensitized the audience about «Defence» being a sector with good growth possibilities. The Chief Guest felicitated a few MSME’s for their achievement. This was followed by a Panel Discussion moderated by Mr. Raghavan Srinvasan, Editor, The Hindu, Business line. The panelists included: Mr. Kaushik Palicha , Director, Ramcharan Company Pvt. Ltd., Dr.S.V.Veeramani , Chairman & MD, Fourrts (India) Labs Pvt.Ltd. Mr.Arihant Parakh, Director, National Group of Companies, Mr.V Thirumaran , Managing Director, Metco Roof Pvt Ltd., Mr. K. Vaitheeswaran, Advocate & Tax Consultant and Mr.L.Ashok, Managing Director, Futurenet Technologies India Pvt.Ltd. The crux of the discussion was that information was lacking about various government schemes including major initiatives like single window clearance and Tamil Nadu Business Facilitation Act. The session was attended by 100+ persons.
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Events in August 2018 – A Brief Report
Mr.Ramkumar Ramamoorthy, President, MCCI welcoming the participants on behalf of MCCI and Yes Bank
Mr. R. Ravichander, Regional Director, Yes Bank addressing
Chief Guest, Mr. Dharmendra Pratap Yadav, IAS, Secretary,MSME addressing the audience.
Mr.S.Seetharaman, Chairman Super Auto Forge Pvt Ltd, Special Guest making a presentation
Panel Discussion - Mr. Raghavan Srinvasan, Editor, The Hindu, Business line - Moderator Panelists - Mr. Kaushik Palicha , Director, Ramcharan Company Pvt. Ltd., Dr.S.V.Veeramani , Chairman & MD, Fourrts (India) Labs Pvt.Ltd. Mr.Arihant Parakh, Director, National Group of Companies, Mr.V Thirumaran , Managing Director, Metco Roof Pvt Ltd., Mr. K. Vaitheeswaran, Advocate & Tax Consultant and Mr.L.Ashok, Managing Director, Futurenet Technologies India Pvt.Ltd
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Events in August 2018 – A Brief Report
PRESS coverage
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