PUNE BRANCH

IACC Helps Battelle to Assess Pune for India Operations
The Pune branch of Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC) organized a dinner meet at Le Meridian in the city on 28 August 2007 to help US R&D giant Battelle to assess Pune for its India operations.
Dr. Ravi Rao, Dow Chemical International, Dr. Richard Adams, Senior Vice President, Battelle, Ohio, USA, Surendra Kumar Jain, MD, Synergy Emulsifuels, Mr. John Paulson, Vice President, John Deere Technology Center, Dr. Thomas Zachariah, Asstt. Lab Director, Battelle were present during the meet.
Battelle, a global science and technology enterprise headquartered in Columbus, Ohio is in the midst of selecting a location for setting up a world-class research organization in India. They had already visited Chennai and Hyderabad and are now assessing Pune as a potential location.
In a logical sequel to the seminar on 'Pune - A Global R & D Hub' hosted by the Pune IACC under the guidance of Dr. Arun Nigavekar, the Chamber arranged a series of meetings between 'Battelle' and its members such as 'Agharkar Research Institute', 'Rohan Builders', 'Daimler Chrysler' etc.
Dr. Nigavekar accompanied by the Director General of the 'Science & Technology Park' Dr. Rajendra Jagdale during the meet with Dr. Richard Adams, Senior Vice president, Battelle and his colleagues invited 'Battelle' to join the 'Innovation Park' being planned near Chakan. Dr. Narendra Jadhav, Vice Chancellor, University of Pune, also, discussed possibilities of a joint venture.
A networking dinner on 28 August evening gave opportunities to the 'Battelle' team to interact with Chamber members Suresh S. Joshi, MD, Cache Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Nitin Deshpande, President, Eclipsys, Prashant Krishnan, MD, Stork Electronics, Surendra Kumar Jain, MD, Synergy Emulsifuels, Raghavendra S. Ponkshe, MD, Bhate and Ponkshe, John Paulson, Vice President, John Deere Technology Center, etc.
Anil Gupta, CEO, L'Oreal, Dr. and Mrs. Sivaram, Director, NCL, Ravi Kulkarni, Elkay Chemicals, Dr. Ravi Rao, Dow Chemical International, were, also, present at the dinner meet along with other guests.

TAMIL NADU BRANCH

IACC participates in joint seminar on Indian cinema
With a view to presenting the film industry in a proper perspective and to stress the need for more professionalism, Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (Tamil Nadu Branch), joined hands with the Madras Film Society (MFS) and the US Consulate General, Public Affairs Section, Chennai in organizing the Seminar Indian Cinema 'Winds of Change', held on 14 July, 2007.
The tenor of discussions emphasized the importance to redefine the relationship among disjointed entities in the industry.
The Chief Guest, Mr. David Hopper, Consul General, American Consulate General, Chennai, called for collaboration among various entities of the business, for the Indian Cinema to succeed globally. The Keynote address was given by renowned film actor Kamal Haasan.
Kamal Haasan pointed out the necessity to scale up the infrastructure. Several film personalities, including actors Madhavan and Prashanth, film-maker Balu Mahendra and MFS President Abirami Ramanathan participated in the discussion. Other speakers from the industry, financial institutions and legal experts shared their views and thoughts during the seminar.
Mr. R. Anand, Chairman, IACC (TN Branch) welcomed the gathering and Farokh Balsara, Vice-President, IACC presented the overview of the Seminar.

NORTH INDIA COUNCIL

IACC's legal meet on business between India & US
A legal conference on business in and between India and the US: Legal and Regulatory Framework was held from 4 to 6 May 2007 in New Delhi. It was organized by the Legal Affairs Committee of the Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC) under the Chairmanship of Lalit Bhasin, Advocate, Bhasin & Company; and President of the Society of Indian Law Firms (SILF). The Center for American and International Law (CAIL) and American Law Institute / American Bar Association (ALI-ABA) were the co-organizers of the conference; and SILF was the supporting organization.
The conference was inaugurated by Pranab Mukherjee, Union Minister for External Affairs. Lalit Bhasin delivered the welcome address. The Inaugural session was also addressed by Deepak Pahwa, National President, IACC; Fali Nariman, Senior Advocate & President, the Bar Association of India, and Former Member of Parliament; Mark Smith, Vice President, CAIL; Carmine D'Alosio, Minister Counselor for Commercial Affairs, US Embassy. Vinod Madhok, Regional President of IACC proposed the Vote of Thanks.
Eleven senior speakers from the US made presentations on legal aspects of doing business in and between India and the US during the 3-day conference.

Presentation on 'Factoring as Alternate Source of Financing'

On August 3rd, 2007, The North India Council of Indo-American Chamber of Commerce organized a presentation by Rajiv Ranjan, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, SBI Factors and Commercial Services Limited, on 'Factoring as an alternate and effective source of financing.'
Vinod Madhok welcomed the participants to the presentation, which was attended by more than 100 members. It was followed by a lively question and answer session.

Interactive Meeting with Indiana Secretary of
State Todd Rokita

Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC) organized an interactive meeting and lunch with Todd Rokita, Secretary of State, Indiana, on 7 August 2007 at Taj Mahal Hotel, Mumbai. Farokh Balsara, Executive Vice President and other Executive Committee members participated in the meeting.
Secretary Rokita is the President of National Association of Secretaries of State, and also member of the Director's Circle of the Indiana Council for Economic Education, the Indiana State Bar Association, The Knights of Columbus and the National Rifle Association. Internationally, Secretary Rokita has represented Indiana and its model election, business, and securities reforms.
IACC also arranged meetings for Secretary Rokita with Glen Kaiser, Acting Consul General; Jim Cunningham, US Commercial Service, Ms. Malini Shankar, Jt. Development Commissioner (Industries) and other business contacts in Mumbai.

Round Table Meet on Environmental Challenges

The United States Environmental Resource Center (US-ERC) organized a round table discussion on 30 August 2007 on Environmental Challenges. The participants included US Embassy, Kathmandu, John Adams, Director, Regional Environment Office for South Asia & Jay Pal Shrestha, REO Specialist, Maharashtra Pollution Control Board, Sanjay Khandare, Member-Secretary, National Solid Waste Association of India, Dr. Amiya Kumar Sahu, President, Reef watch, Dr. Sarang Kulkarni, Marine Biologist, WWF India (Maharashtra), Dr. J.C. Punetha, State Director, Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS), Deepak Apte, Head-Conservation Dept. and R.K. Chopra, Ms. Shabina Patel and Ms. Suba Gajapathi from IACC.
The discussion focused on the latest global environment challenges and issues in areas such as Climate Change, Solid Waste Management, e-Waste, Water & Waste Water Management, Bio-diversity and most importantly the city's ecosystem, its flora & fauna etc. were the main areas of the discussion. The discussion also included the management issues faced by the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board and the city's local authorities in the areas of solid waste management, Waste water treatment, and coastal/environmental laws and restrictions, bio diversity, coastal & mangroves conservation.
Mumbai City's mangroves are important to the existence of the city's eco system, although the government promoted the Coastal Regulation Zone by expansion of Mithi River; it has caused much damage to the living organisms. In fact, according to the BNHS data, 70 percent of the organisms have been wiped out and the toxin levels are alarmingly high in all aquatic species. The city requires improvement in the quality of water and its supply and most importantly have a proper compositing plan to take care of the tonnes of waste generated every day. The best composite plant is in Nashik.
The MPCB official said that the city plans to have three different dumping sites namely: - Deonar, Kanjur Marg, and Kalwa (near Thane). BMC is considering Private Public partnerships for sanitary landfill initiatives. There could be a new propositions and opportunities for a whole new industry with multipliers such as MOeF etc. Dr. Sahu reiterated that India needs a cost effective solution to implement technology for treating Solid Waste. The Government has sanctioned around 1,500 crores for CDM Projects with regards to Sanitary Landfill projects.