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Chief Guest Mr Uday Kotak Speaks on ‘The Role of India in the Emerging World Order’

L-R: Nilesh Shah, President, Bombay Chamber and Group President & MD, Kotak Mahindra AMC; Mr Uday Kotak, Managing Director & CEO, Kotak Mahindra Bank; Dr Sandeep Shastri, Vice Chancellor, Jagran Lakecity University, Bhopal and Mr Ritesh Tiwari, Sr. Vice President, Bombay Chamber & CFO, Hindustan Unilever ltd. & Unilever South Asia

01 December 2022, Mumbai: The Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry celebrated its 187 th Foundation Day at the Taj President on 30 th November 2022. The momentous occasion, which had Mr Uday Kotak, Managing Director & CEO, Kotak Mahindra Bank as the Chief Guest, and Dr Sandeep Shastri, Vice Chancellor, Jagran Lakecity University, Bhopal, as the Guest of Honour, saw luminaries from across industries attend an evening of thought-provoking talks and discussions, on India’s position on the economic and financial front and its political prospects in the run-up to the 2024 General Election.

Welcoming the audience, Mr Nilesh Shah, President, Bombay Chamber spoke about the illustrious past of the Chamber, which formally came into existence on 22nd September 1836. He applauded the stellar contribution and guidance from the past Presidents of the Chamber and reiterated the role of the Chamber in the development of Mumbai as a city and its continued emphasis on ‘Corporates for Change.’ Mr Shah also spoke about the Chamber’s ongoing programmes and its aim to double its membership through the ‘Each One Get One’ Membership Referral Drive.

In his Keynote address, Mr Kotak spoke about how Mumbai and India, as a nation, need to start thinking out of the box to be able to change destiny and reach a different paradigm from where it is currently. He highlighted the importance of the topic, the Role of India in the Emerging World Order, and how the nation can redesign itself in this new world order. The past two years have been tumultuous – with Covid 19 and the geopolitical changes brought on by the Russia-Ukraine war. While, India has come out stronger and better positioned as compared to the other countries – both in terms of how we tackled the Covid-19 pandemic and our positioning in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, there is a need to challenge the status quo and not be complacent.

Mr Kotak urged businesses to make themselves more competitive in the international market, without just being content with the large domestic market that buys goods and services. According to him, true Atmanirbharta will be when India makes ends meet without depending on foreign investment and welcomes foreign investment on its own terms. Mr Kotak hoped for a time when Bombay Chamber celebrates its 200 th Foundation Day in a truly Atmanirbhar India, with the country’s P&L account at least neutral and to make that the goal that the business, trade services and manufacturing sector focus on. He added that India, and the Bombay Chamber, should take a lead in growing India’s manufacturing, competitively. Mr Kotak also said that for the country to transform and emerge even stronger there is a need for more teachers and judges.

In his address, Dr Sandeep Shastri, political scientist who has been the Pro Vice Chancellor of Jagran Lakecity University for the past decade, looked at the future political prospects of the country in the light of the 2024 General Election. He identified 3-Bs – the Battle in the states, the Battle in the regions and the Battle of perceptions – to keenly watch for in the next 18 months, as they could change the entire narrative of the 2024 outcome. According to him, at the state level, in those states where there is weak state-level leadership, it is the centre that has had to push the state. An important aspect to look at is how much the centre pushes the states and maintains the momentum for the next 18 months.

Concerning the battle of regions, while the BJP was able to maintain their strike rate in North, West and Central India, and add North East India to the tally in 2019, the challenge in 2024 will be to maintain this high strike rate and add the south region, to ensure it is an all-India picture. He added that 2024 will also be critical states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra. Further, elections have today also become perception battles, where the ground realities may be vastly different from the perception that people bring with them when they go to the voting centre.

The evening also saw many questions being put forward by the audience and some highly insightful responses to the same. The event ended with a Vote of Thanks by Mr Ritesh Tiwari, Sr. Vice President, Bombay Chamber, who thanked the Speakers and the Audience for their invigorating talks and consistent support.

About Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry: Established in 1836, the Bombay Chamber is the oldest Chamber of Commerce in India. The Chamber’s membership constitutes several thousand corporate members (more than 60% being MSMEs) across different industries. The Chamber has a long tradition of Institution building and promoting trade and commerce in India.

Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the pre-budget consultation meetings for Budget 2023-24 held in virtual mode from 21st to 28th November, 2022.

More than 110 invitees representing seven stakeholder groups participated in eight meetings scheduled during this period. The stakeholder groups include representatives and experts from Agriculture and Agro Processing Industry; Industry, Infrastructure & Climate Change; Financial Sector and Capital Markets; Services and Trade; Social Sector; Trade Unions and Labour Organisations and Economists.

The representatives of the stakeholder groups made a number of suggestions for the forthcoming budget that included mechanism for green certification to help MSMEs, urban employment guarantee programme to boost employment generation in urban areas, rationalisation of income tax, creation of innovation clusters, schemes for improving domestic supply chains, reduction of taxes on electric vehicle, introduction of EV policy, measures to promote India as a hub for Green Hydrogen, Social Sector Entrepreneurship Fund for Social Impact Companies, Training and Accreditation of Care Economy Workers, portable social benefit for children, National Regulatory Authority for Water and Sanitation, coverage of unorganised workers under ESIC, continuation of Public Capex, fiscal consolidation and lower customs duties, among others.

In a bid to facilitate cash flow-based lending to MSMEs, RBI has announced that it will include the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) as a Financial Information Provider (FIP) under the Account Aggregator (AA) framework. As per the RBI, the Department of Revenue will be the regulator of GSTN for this specific purpose and Goods and Services Tax (GST) Returns, viz. Form GSTR-1 and Form GSTR-3B, shall be the Financial Information.

RBI has, till now, issued licenses to six Account Aggregators, with nine more having in-principal approval. Stock market regulator, SEBI had also joined the AA network earlier this year. The list of FIPs include banks, non-banking financial companies, asset management companies, depository, depository participants, insurance companies, and pension funds

An Account Aggregator is a type of RBI regulated entity (with an NBFC-AA license) that helps an individual securely and digitally access and share information from one financial institution they have an account with to any other regulated financial institution in the AA network. Data cannot be shared without the consent of the individual.

The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, has launched a call for startups to register on the MAARG portal, the National Mentorship Platform by Startup India. The Mentorship, Advisory, Assistance, Resilience and Growth (MAARG) portal is a one stop platform to facilitate mentorship for startups across diverse sectors, functions, stages, geographies, and backgrounds.

Through the portal, startups can connect with academicians, industry experts, founders, investors, and other experts from across the globe, through Artificial Intelligence (AI) based matchmaking, to get personalised guidance on growth and strategy. The key features of the portal include customisable mentorship programs for ecosystem enablers, mobile-friendly user interface, recognition for contributing mentors, video and audio call options, etc.

As per the Government, the MAARG Portal is being operationalised in three phases,

• Phase I: Mentor Onboarding: Launched and executed with 400+ expert mentors on boarded across sectors.
• Phase II: Startup Onboarding: DPIIT is launching the onboarding of startups on the MAARG Portal with effect from 14th November 2022.
• Phase III: MAARG Portal Launch and Mentor Matchmaking

All interested startups can apply at https://maarg.startupindia.gov.in.

Following the Australian Parliament’s approval of the Free Trade Agreement with India, duties on 100 percent tariff lines would be eliminated by Australia under the India-Australia Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (Ind-Aus ECTA).

According to Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and Textiles, Piyush Goyal, the ECTA would give a big boost to several sectors of the economy, especially textiles, gems and jewellery and pharmaceuticals and 10 lakh jobs are estimated to be created as a result of the ECTA.

IndAus ECTA, which was signed in April 2022, is now ready for ratification for its early implementation. The Ind-Aus ECTA Bill and the DTAA amendment bill have been passed by the Australian Parliament, and are being placed before the Executive Council to get Royal Assent.

ECTA is India’s first trade agreement with a developed country in more than a decade. It is expected that with this agreement, the total bilateral trade will cross US$ 45-50 bn in five years from the existing US$ 31 bn. Moreover, since the labour-intensive sectors will be benefitted, it is expected to create additional employment of at least 10 lakhs jobs in India.

Around 96% of Australia’s exports are raw materials and intermediate products which will allow many Indian industries to get cheaper raw materials and make them competitive. Investments will help increase the presence of higher-value products of advanced technology, thereby promoting vertical movement in the value chain (Engineering, Electronics, Pharmaceuticals & Medical devices). Another major gain is in the Pharmaceuticals sector, where drugs approved in other developed jurisdictions will get fast-track approval for patented, generic and biosimilar medicines.

Close on the heels of assuming the presidency of G20, India will take over the chair of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI), an international initiative to support responsible and human-centric development and use of Artificial Intelligence (AI).

GPAI is a congregation of 25 member countries, including the US, the UK, EU, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, and Singapore. In 2020, India had joined the group as a founding member.

The Minister of State for Electronics & Information Technology and Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, represented India at the GPAI meeting, for the symbolic takeover from France, the outgoing Council Chair.

In the election to the Council Chair, India had received more than a two-third majority of first-preference votes while Canada and the United States of America ranked in the two next best places in the tally, and have been elected to the two additional government seats on the Steering Committee.

For the 2022-2023 Steering Committee, the five government seats will be held by Japan (as Lead Council Chair and Co-Chair of the Steering Committee), France (Outgoing Council Chair), India (Incoming Council Chair), Canada and the United States.

GPAI is a first-of-its-type initiative for evolving better understanding of challenges and opportunities around AI using the experience and diversity of participating countries, the alliance will look to bridge the gap between theory and practice by supporting advanced research and applied activities on AI-related priorities.

It works in collaboration with partners and international organisations, leading experts from industry, civil society, governments, and academia to collaborate to promote responsible evolution of AI and guide the responsible development and use of AI, grounded in human rights, inclusion, diversity, innovation, and economic growth.

AI is expected to add USD $967 billion to the Indian economy by 2035 and USD 450–500 billion to India’s GDP by 2025, accounting for 10% of the country’s USD 5 trillion GDP target.

The Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry organised a networking event with the Foreign Economic Relations Board of Türkiye (DEİK)’s Türkiye- India Business Council, led by the Turkish Consulate General in Mumbai.

Speaking at the event, Mr Sandeep Khosla, Director General, Bombay Chamber briefed about the legacy of Bombay Chamber and highlighted some of the Chamber’s major initiatives in the area of international trade and commerce.

Mr Huseyin Aydin, Commercial Attache, Consulate General Turkey spoke about the initiatives undertaken by the Consulate and offered to extend their support to Indian businesses interested in exploring business opportunities with Turkey.

The delegation was led by Ms Hülya Gedik , Chairman of Gedik Holding A.Ş and Chairman (representing Turkiye) of DEİK’s Türkiye-India Business Council accompanied by 10 Turkish companies (members of the Türkiye-India Council) representing different sectors such as Logistics and Warehousing, Welding services, Engineering Consulting, Electronics, Waste Recycling, Construction Material, Agribusiness and Tourism.

The Foreign Economic Relations Board of Türkiye (DEİK)’s Türkiye – India Business Council and Turkish Consulate General in Mumbai expressed their interest to explore opportunities for collaboration to unleash partnership and promote bilateral trade and investment activities, along with the Bombay Chamber.

The government has raised the penalty amount for violating provisions proposed under the Draft Digital Personal Data Protection Bill 2022 to up to Rs 500 crore. It has also proposed a fine of around Rs 200 crore on companies dealing in the personal data of consumers, if they fail to take reasonable safeguards to prevent data breaches.

The draft, which was released on Friday, three months after withdrawing the previous bill, has been put up for public consultation and is open for comment till December 17. It will be presented in the next parliament session.

The draft personal data protection bill in 2019 proposed a penalty of Rs 15 crore or 4 per cent of the global turnover of an entity.

The current draft proposes to set up a Data Protection Board of India, which will carry on functions as per the provisions of the bill. It also seeks to allow transfer of data outside India as opposed to the data localisation requirement in the previous draft.

The International Financial Services Centres Authority (IFSCA) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for collaboration in the field of regulation and supervision of regulated entities in their respective jurisdictions. The MoU facilitates technical cooperation and exchange of information.

The IFSCA is a unified regulator responsible for development and regulation of financial products, financial services and financial institutions in the International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) established in India. It is entrusted with the responsibility of regulation and supervision of authorised banks and non-banking financial institutions operating in such IFSCs.

The MoU opens up avenues for cooperation between the two regulators, thereby strengthening the safety, stability and soundness of respective financial ecosystems and nurturing environments conducive to optimal business development and economic growth.

Headquartered at GIFT City, Gandhinagar, the IFSCA is a statutory authority established under the IFSCA Act 2019.

With the Bali G20 Summit coming to an end, India has taken over the baton of the G-20 Presidency from Indonesia. India will hold the presidency from December 1, 2022, when it officially takes charge till November 30, 2023. During this period, the country will drive conversations around climate action, inclusive, equitable and sustainable growth, women’s empowerment, digital public infrastructure and tech-enabled development across health, agriculture and education, among others, and contribute to the global agenda on issues of international importance.

At the closing ceremony of the Bali G20 Summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said “The principle of ‘data for development’ will be an integral part of the overall theme of our Presidency.” Themed ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ or ‘One Earth One Family One Future,’ the G20 Presidency will position India as a force of unity.

Throughout the Presidency, multiple events will be held across the country, giving each state an opportunity to showcase its characteristics, heritage, culture, beauty, aura and hospitality. The 2023 G-20 Summit in New Delhi would be one of the highest-profile international gatherings to be hosted by India.

The G-20 Presidency also marks the beginning of the ‘Amritkal’ for India – the period starting from the 75th Independence Day (August 15, 2022) to the centenary year. The focus, throughout it all would be a futuristic, prosperous, inclusive and developed society, distinguished by a human-centric approach at its core.