RV Kanoria, Chairman and Managing Director of Kanoria Chemicals and Industries, has taken over as president of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, FICCI at the conclusion of 84 th AG Meeting held in the New Delhi.
Kanoria,MBA from IMD, Switzerland
and Advanced Management Programme from Wharton, USA, Mr Kanoria has over three
decades of experience in the chemicals, textiles and jute industries. He is the Chair of the
Commission on International Trade and Investment Policy of the International Chamber of
Commerce, Paris. He has been instrumental in influencing trade policy both at the national and
global level.
Ms Naina Lal Kidwai, Executive Director on the Board of Hongkong and Shanghai Banking
Corporation Limited and Country Head, HSBC India, has been elected as Sr Vice President of
FICCI. An MBA from Harvard Business School, Ms Kidwai has been recognized in India and
abroad with several awards and listings for leadership and business. Repeatedly ranked in the
Fortune global list of Top Women in Business in the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times
Global Listing of Women to Watch and listed by Time Magazine as one of their 15 Global
Influentials 2002. She received the Padma Shri from the Government of India for her
contribution to Trade and Industry.Ms Kidwai’s international engagements include being a non executive director on the Board of NestleSA, Chairman, City of London’s Advisory Council for India, Global Advisor, Harvard Business School and Chair of the Indian Advisory Board.
Mr Sidharth Birla, Chairman, Xpro India Ltd, has been elected as Vice President of FICCI. An
Alumni of IMD and Harvard Business School, Mr Birla is member of WPO (a US based
international organization of Chief Executives) and member of the 21st Council of Institute of
Chartered Accountants of India. Mr Birla’s areas of experience include Corporate Governance;
Strategic Issues; Acquisitions and Divestments; Company Law; Corporate and Financial
Structuring and Private Equity Fund.
FICCI President’s Vision Statement
NEW DELHI, January 19, 2012. At his maiden press conference today as President, FICCI, Mr. R
V Kanoria said, “we will turn the spotlight on state level activities and track state policies with a
view to garnering consensus on issues that have pan-India implications. Towards this end, the
Empowering India project launched yesterday at our AGM will be pursed to its logical
conclusion. This will require us to identify important measures to improve the business
environment at the ground level so that India becomes the hotspot for domestic and foreign
investors.”
He added, “I have no doubt that a critical input to this agenda for Empowering India is a hard
look at barriers to movement of goods and services across states. India’s ascent as a global
economic power is intrinsically connected to the country becoming an Economic Union in policy
and spirit. The GST is a key element in this agenda.”
Laying emphasis on the critical need to introduce GST, he said that FICCI will not relent in its
effort to promote the adoption of GST by all States as GST subsumes all local level taxes,
making it easier to administer. Moreover it is a transparent levy and can be self regulated. It is
likely to lead to better tax compliance. In addition it is easily refunded in case of exports which
is necessary for WTO compliance.
In the proposed Direct Tax Code, Mr. Kanoria said, “I would like to see a drastic reduction in
discretionary taxes. In Indirect Taxes, GST does away with multiplicity of rates. In Direct Taxes,
we should also keep a moderate rate at the national level, reduce discretion in applying and
administering taxes.”
He admitted to the daunting nature of the task in view of the current fiscal situation, but
emphasized that it is critical to enable the country to attain high levels of growth in the medium
and long term.
Further, FICCI shall closely engage in the finance sector since major reform of this sector is
proposed.
Mr. Kanoria indicated that FICCI will strengthen its physical presence in States by opening FICCI
offices in all major States to deepen its engagement at state level with all stakeholders.
(At present, FICCI has 8 fully functional offices in the States of Maharashtra, Gujarat, West
Bengal, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan. We have also recently
started our activities in Punjab and Haryana through our representative office. For instance,
FICCI’s flagship event on Entertainment – FICCI FRAMES (which is organized every year in
Mumbai) has also been organized recently at Chennai and Kolkata with a regional perspective.
Similarly, Tourism vertical in Delhi is conceptualizing State focused programmes for promoting
tourism).
One of the priority areas for FICCI, as enunciated by Mr. Kanoria, is to work on modernizing
Indian agriculture which would result in increasing net returns to farmers. FICCI has been
working closely with the Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India in ushering policy
changes in the agriculture sector. We feel that the following changes, if initiated would lead to
second green revolution in the country:
(a) Productivity enhancement in various crops for which private sector should be involved in
a PPP mode to infuse efficiency at every stage in crop value chain
(b) Accord special status to perishables and horticulture commodities and de-list fruits and
vegetables from schedule-1 of APMC Act
(c) Restructuring of the agriculture extension system using PPP models in a way that it
becomes more responsive to farmers needs
(d) Encouraging farmers to form producer associations which can be a win win model for
both farmers and the private sector.
Two major initiatives that FICCI will embark upon during this current year are
1. Farmers’ Confidence Index: Undertake a primary survey of 10,000 plus farmers in 20
states to develop a farmers’ confidence index, which would be a reflection of aspirations
of farming community and policy changes required by them
2. Million Farmers’ Initiative: Connect million farmers to companies for integrated
agriculture development, where in companies would provide end to end solutions to
farmers. The guiding principle in this PPP initiative is combining the operational
efficiencies of the private sector with the public investment to bring about integrated
agriculture development in a cluster of 10,000 or more farmers.
FICCI will also be setting-up four task forces during this year:
Task Force on Dairy
Task Force on Poultry
Task Force on Fisheries
Task Force on Storage and Logistics
FICCI to work on efficiency in industrial water use this year
FICCI Water Mission was set up with the objective of encouraging industry members to take
concrete and measurable steps towards water conservation. It seeks to drive water
conservation and sustainability agenda across FICCI membership and beyond, with a focus on
those industry sectors where water is either a key input or its consumption is otherwise
significant.
Through programmes of research, advocacy and awareness creation, the mission is working to
make industry more responsive in managing our scarce water resources.
The mission undertook a survey on water use with its membership which has provided useful
insights into water usage patterns and risks perceived by the industry. “In the coming year, the
mission will launch a Knowledge Initiative, constitute an annual water awards and work on
water efficiency in industrial water use,” said Ms. Naina Lal Kidwai, Senior Vice President,
FICCI.
FICCI sees a constructive role for Indian Industry in contributing to the economic growth
through better management of our natural resources.
FICCI will actively work with global counterparts to provide business linkages to the local
industry. FICCI State offices will also work in close coordination with Invest India - a body
promoted by FICCI and DIPP, GoI (with equity participation from States Govts as well) to
facilitate foreign investments in the States.
Mr. Kanoria observed that FICCI’s Parliamentary Forum has the potential to emerge as a key
public policy discussion platform. “We can not only leverage the Forum from FICCI’s standpoint
on different issues, but we can also help in evolving consensus among parliamentarians from
different political backgrounds.”
The effort will be to sensitize our honourable representatives in Parliament what they believe
we, the business class, must do better so that we can refocus our common mandate.
“We have undertaken a new initiative which is to help expand the political interaction between
India's political classes with those of all the countries of South Asia. FICCI's Forum for
Parliamentarians has mounted an extremely successful experiment over the last decade
between India's elected parliamentarians and their counterparts in several countries across the
world, from the US, UK, Germany and the European Union to China, Japan and Singapore,” M.
Kanoria said.
“We now intend to expand this project to India's neighbourhood -- to Pakistan, Afghanistan,
Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Bhutan and the Maldives. The idea behind this project is simple -
as the largest country in the region, India must be able to take responsibility for the entire subcontinent,
and what better way to generate trust. In fact, we intend to make 2012 the Year of
South Asia at FICCI”.
No comments:
Post a Comment