The Indo-American Chamber of Commerce (IACC) organized its 2nd Indo-US Economic Summit: Bridging the Gap on November 16 & 17, 2005 at Hotel Taj Palace, New Delhi.
This is the most exciting phase of Indo-US relations and the future holds great promise. There is a deep commitment from both the sides to develop and deepen economic and commercial ties. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to the US in July and his meeting with President Bush have laid down an agenda for greater involvement with each other.
A large number of agreements have been signed between the two countries to promote cooperation in a large number of sectors. The two Governments alone cannot fulfill these commitments. The private sectors have an equally important role to play. We have to ensure that the foundation stone laid by our leaders is further cemented through our efforts. The CEO Forum, which has been setup, will advise both the Governments on ways to increase trade and investment flows.
It is against these significant developments that the IACC organized the two-day summit with the basic objective of expanding Indo-US trade and catalyzing joint ventures and partnerships in various sectors.
The Summit brought together corporate leaders from India and the US, economic thinkers, financial experts and policy makers on one platform to exchange ideas on some of the important sectors.
The Summit was led by Mr Prem Behl, Chairman, with a core group consisting of Mr Deepak Pahwa, Executive Vice President, IACC; Mr Vikram Madhok, Co-Chairman, Indo-US Economic Summit; Mr Baljit Sobti, Regional President, IACC and Chairmen of the Sessions - Mr Ravi Wig (Energy); Mr Gautam Mahajan (Trade); Mr Vinod Madhok (Financial Sector) and Mr Atul Sharma (Civil Aviation) assisted by a Steering Committee.
H E Mr David Mulford, US Ambassador to India, who could not participate, supported the Summit and in his message called for increased cooperation between India and the US in agricultural research, teaching, public private partnerships and commercial linkages.
He said "the visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to the US in July of this year to meet President Bush reflects the blossoming of US-India relations. During that visit the US and India reaffirmed our commitment to work closely together in a wide variety of economic and commercial areas under our Economic and Energy Dialogues, our High Technology Cooperation Group, and under new cooperative initiatives on agriculture, HIV/AIDS, information technology, and trade. A CEO Forum is now advising our governments on ways to increase bilateral trade and investment flows. I am confident that these efforts will further strengthen our economic and commercial ties, led by the IT, telecom, aviation sectors, agriculture, and infrastructure sectors".
The Summit was supported by the Department of Commerce, Government of India. M/s Grant Thornton was the knowledge partner, CNBC TV 18 was the electronic media partner and Financial Express was the print media partner. The Summit also received sponsorship support from Kingfisher Airlines, DS Constructions Limited, ITC, Abercrombie & Kent India, Bry-Air, Exhibitions India Group and Mastek.
The Summit focused on:
- Indo-US Trade: For Accelerated Growth
- Organized Retail Trade in India – Options and Opportunities
- Energy: Crucial for growth
- India’s Financial Sector: Reforms for faster growth
- Capital Markets - A huge latent demand
- Insurance: Encouraging investment
- Civil Aviation: Partnership with US
The Chief Guest, Mr Kamal Nath, Hon’ble Minister for Commerce & Industry, inaugurated the Summit. The Guest of Honour Dr J B Penn, US Under Secretary for Farm & Foreign Agricultural Services addressed the Summit and Mr Michael F Carter, Country Director, India, The World Bank delivered a Special Address. Mr Robert Blake, Deputy Chief of Mission, US Embassy delivered the Valedictory Address.
The Summit was well attended and received good coverage in the print and electronic media.
A 7-member delegation from the Alliance of Indo-American Chamber of Commerce visited India to participate in the Summit. The Alliance consists of:
- Greater Dallas Indo-American Chamber of Commerce
- Georgia Indo-American Chamber of Commerce
- Indo-American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Houston
- Indo-US Chamber of Commerce Tampa
- Indo-US Chamber of Commerce of NE, Florida
- India US Chamber of Commerce, Inc, South Florida
- Indo-American Chamber of Commerce of Oklahoma
Mr Roger B Madsen, Director and Mr Don Dietrich from Idaho Commerce & Labor and Dr Vikram Rao, Vice President, technology, Halliburton Energy Services from the US also addressed the Summit.
Representatives made excellent presentations from Indian and US Companies, multilateral organizations, US and Indian Governments, economists and experts from diverse areas. They were as follows:
Inaugural Session
Welcome Address : Mr. B Prabhakar, President, IACC
Theme Presentation : Mr Prem Behl, Summit Chairman
Special Address : Mr. Michael F Carter, Country Director, World Bank
Special Address : Dr J B Penn, US Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agrl’ Services
Inaugural Address : Mr Kamal Nath, Hon’ble Minister for Commerce & Industry
Vote of Thanks : Mr Baljit Sobti, Regional President, IACC
| Session 1: Indo-US Trade: For Accelerated Growth |
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Session II : Organized Retail Trade in India – Options and Opportunities |
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Chairman
Mr Gautam Mahajan, President, Inter-Link India & Customer Value Foundation
Keynote Address
Mr. S N Menon, Secretary Ministry of Commerce & Industry.
Special Addresses by
Mr. B J Panda, Member of Parliament
Mr. B N Kalyani, Chairman & Managing Director, Bharat Forge Ltd
Speakers
Mr. Ajit Ranade, Chief Economist, A V Birla Group
Mr. G K Pillai, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Commerce and Industry
(FDI with emphasis on SEZs)
Mr. Lee Brudvig, Minister – Economic Counselor, US Embassy
Mr. Ashok Goel, Vice Chairman and MD, Essel Propack
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Chairman
Mr. Subir Gokran, Chief Economist, CRISIL
Speakers
Mr. Vikram Bakshi, Managing Director, McDonalds
Mr. Sanjiv Gupta, Managing Director, Indivision Advisors
Mr. Harminder Sahni, Principal & Assoc. Director, Retail & Annuities Practice, KSA Technopak
Ms Nitisha Patel, Economist, Watson Wyatt Worldwide |
| Session III: Energy: Crucial for growth |
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Session IV: India’s Financial Sector: Reforms for faster growth |
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Chairman
Mr. Ravi Wig, Chairman, Wig Brothers (I)(P) Ltd
Address by
Mr. Roger Madsen, Director, Idaho Commerce & Labor
Speakers
Mr. Proshanto Banerjee, Chairman & Managing Director, GAIL
Mr. Sunjoy Joshi, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, GOI
Dr Vikram Rao, Vice President, Technology, Halliburton Energy Services, US
Mr. Henrique H Ubrig, President, E.I.Dupont India Private Ltd
Mr. Sharad Subramanian, Practice Director, Grant Thornton |
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Chairman
Mr. K N Memani, Chairman, KNM Advisory & Former Chairman & CEO, Ernst & Young India Ltd
Special Address
Mr. Michael Wattleworth, Sr. Resident Representative, IMF
Speakers
Mr. Rana Kapoor, Managing Director, Yes Bank
Mr. James Murray, Executive Vice President, South & South East Asia, Visa Asia Pacific
Ms Priya Basu, Lead Financial Economist, The World Bank |
| Session V: Capital Markets - A huge latent demand |
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Session VI: Civil Aviation: Partnership with US |
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Chairman
Mr. P N Vijay, Managing Director, P.N. Vijay Financial Services Pvt Ltd
Special Address
Mr. Pradip Kar, Executive Director, SEBI
Speakers
Mr. Sanjeev Kaushik, Director, Equity Research, Lehman Brothers
Mr. Rajnikant Patel, Managing Director and CEO, BSE
Mr. Atul Mehra, Executive Director and Head, Capital markets, JM Morgan Stanley
Session V: Insurance: Encouraging investment
Speakers
Mr Gary N Bennett, Managing Director, Max Newyork Life
Mr. S K Mitra, Director - Financial Services, Aditya Birla Group |
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Chairman
Mr Atul Sharma, Partner, Link Legal
Keynote Speaker
Mr Ajay Prasad, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, GOI
Speakers
Dr Vijay Mallya, Chairman, Kingfisher Airlines Ltd
Dr. Dinesh Keskar, Senior Vice President –Sales, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, US
Mr. Athar Khan, Managing Director, Asia/Pacific, American Airlines
Mr Ronojoy Dutta, President, Sahara Airlines |
At the conclusion of the Summit, Mr Prem Behl, Chairman, Indo-US Economic Summit presented the recommendations based on the presentations made by the speakers. |
