The Bengal Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Kolkata, India

Seminar on Climate Change - Towards a Low Carbon Future, 21st March 2009, Chamber premises

The seminar was organized in association with the Indo-British Scholars' Association.

The programme was inaugurated by Shri Sunil Mitra, IAS, Principal Secretary, Department of Power and Non Conventional Energy Sources, Government of West Bengal. Mr. Aloke Mookherjea, Past President (BCCI) and Chairman, Flakt (India) Limited was the Keynote Speaker. He spoke about the need for the shift towards a low carbon economy and the problems and prospects related to it.

The seminar provided delegates with the opportunity to exchange views with their colleagues and the expert panel of speakers on the economics of Climate Change and implications for industrial growth, market failure induced by Climate Change, adaptation to climate change, innovation and technology & climate change. Importantly, the programme brought together the Government, industry representatives across sectors, consultants, faculty from leading engineering colleges / universities and think tanks sharing experiences and knowledge on low carbon technologies, energy efficiency aspects, carbon mitigation plan for industries and measuring carbon footprints in process / product and supply chain. There were also presentations on the voluntary carbon market and related business models, and carbon transactions.

The speakers covered a number of topics in the two technical sessions. The first technical session was on ‘Climate Change in industry – A case for low carbon technologies’. The focus was on energy efficiency, fuel switching, industrial process and waste management. The session’s uniqueness was in the case studies presented by Mr. Sanjib Bezbaroa, Senior Specialist- Corporate EHS, ITC Limited and Mr. Sitansu Banerjee, Wholetime Director, Howrah Mills Comapany Limited. Mr. Bezbaroa addressed the means to achieve a low carbon future and Mr. Banerjee narrated the implications of Climate Change in jute industry and the initiatives undertaken by his organization. There was another speaker in the session – Mr. Prabir Chattoraj, Additional Director, Petroleum Conservation Research Association, who spoke about ‘Winning strategies for industries through energy conservation’.

The post lunch session had speakers from the academia and consultants. It was chaired by Prof. D.N. Bose, CSIR Emeritus Scientist and member of the Indo British Scholars’ Association. Prof Joyashree Roy, Department of Economics, Jadavpur University spoke about Climate Change induced market failure. Mr. Surojit Bose, Associate Director, PricewaterhouseCoopers spoke about Carbon Markets and Carbon Transactions and focused on strategic business plan and implementation. Mr. Sudipta Das, Partner, Ernst & Young addressed the importance of measuring carbon footprint and developing an appropriate strategy in the transition to a low carbon economy. Mr. Rajib Kumar Debnath, Operational Head- Environmental and Sustainability Services Stream of Deloitte & Touche Consulting India Private Limited presented the potential benefits of the growing voluntary carbon market.

The delegates, totaling more than 130, got an excellent opportunity to interact with the speakers and their colleagues from the industry in the open house sessions following each technical session.

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BCCI Thought Leadership Meet - Impact of Global Financial Crisis on IT - An Industry and a CIO Perspective, 28th March 2009, Chamber premises

The global economic meltdown had created an entirely new paradigm for businesses. These being difficult times, a sustained focus on the working of the IT sector and IT budgets (including IT infrastructure) in corporates was necessary. Times like these also lead to innovation and new applications in IT usage. In such a scenario, the endeavour of the Bengal Chamber was to initiate a dialogue and devise common strategies that we could follow in IT businesses and IT applications / infrastructure in corporate entities during recession.

The objective was to discuss and clear our perspectives on how to align our business priorities with our information technology-related strategies. Taking the crisis as a warning, there was a need to revise strategies and practices and create new opportunities. This was what the programme addressed. The common objective was to discuss the way forward and devise strategies to assess and then overcome the adverse impact of the financial crisis on IT spends.

Shri Siddharth, IAS, Principal Secretary, Department of Information Technology, Government of West Bengal was the Chief Guest and Inaugural Speaker. He was quite optimistic about the future and urged companies to look at opportunities in the domestic market.

Dr. Shanto Ghosh, Principal Economist, Deloitte Haskins & Sells was the Keynote Speaker. He focused on the aspect of moving up the value chain while not deviating from cost consciousness. Dr. Ghosh also explained what the downturn meant for the Indian IT industry and spoke about looking beyond price arbitrage.

Mr. Gunter Wehrmann, Consul General, Consulate General of the Federal Republic of Germany shared his thoughts as a diplomat from Germany, which was a key IT partner and destination for Indian IT products. He addressed the overseas perspectives in the present scenario. He focused on the opportunities and challenges facing Indian IT companies in terms of business in Germany. Even in these difficult times, there were 80,000 openings in IT in Germany. He mentioned that Indian business partners were greatly appreciated in the IT Industry in Germany.

The seminar was designed in the form of panel discussions to provide enough scope for interaction. Mr. Rajarshi Sengupta, Co-Chairperson, IT Sub-Committee, BCCI and Executive Director, Deloitte & Touche Consulting India Pvt. Ltd., moderated the first panel discussion. The focus of the panel discussion was how to align network with business priorities in an economic downturn. The focus was on aligning networking goals with strategic needs and business priorities for reducing expenses; aligning people, process and technology; strategic alignment of goals; steps for cost reduction enabling the business to compete in an economic crisis and determination of technical strategies in an economic downturn. The panelists were Mr. Gautam Mukherjee, IDU Head, Tech Mahindra Limited and Mr. Subho Samanta, Vice President, Cognizant Technology Solutions India Limited.

The second panel discussion addressed CIO perspectives on strategic agility and resilience embracing change to drive growth. It focused on strategic agility and resilience for today’s organization; essence of effective leadership; process of developing the right team to communicate and implement strategies as they evolve; compelling communication strategies to lead change in the organization and sustainability for tomorrows’ consumers. Mr. Siddhartha Mukherjee (former VP and regional head, Cognizant) was the moderator. The panelists were Mr. Amit Mukherjee, Vice President- Systems, RPG Retail and Group CIO, RPG Enterprises and Mr. Arindam Dey, General Manager, IT Services, ITC Limited.

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HR Thought Leadership Meet - HR Management Excellence in Current Economic Scenario, 3rd April 2009, Chamber premises

The seminar was organized in association with the George Group of Colleges. The programme was inaugurated by Shri Subesh Das, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Government of West Bengal. He spoke about the impact of the economic crisis on HR Management mainly focusing on industry relations with Human Resource Management and Employment Relations. Prof. Sabyasachi Sengupta, Vice Chancellor West Bengal University of Technology gave a special address on the “Industry-Academia Interface”. He spoke about the need of industry academics relationship and its mutual interdependence.

The seminar provided delegates with the opportunity to exchange views with their colleagues and the expert panel of speakers on the opportunities of HR restructuring, assessing HR requirements and HR planning and strategic change in keeping with Key Performance. Importantly, the programme brought together the Government, industry representatives across sectors, consultants, faculty from leading colleges / universities and think tanks sharing experiences and knowledge on emerging new roles and responsibilities of HR managers, new goals and targets based on business goals, assessing employee productivity and moving from recruitment to employee development and engagement are some of the numerous issues which were discussed. There were also presentations on the issues such as unexpected changes & impact on HR, HR Managers’ Excellence in the current crisis and many others.

The speakers covered a number of topics in the two technical sessions. The first technical session was on 'Understanding the global economic scenario & its impact on HR'. The focus was on HR management excellence in the current economic scenario. The session was chaired by Dr. N R Banerjea, Chairman, WEBEL. Mr. Anjan Bose, Head - HR & CIO, Haldia Petrochemicals Limited and Ms. Suchitra Guha Head - HR / IR (Commercial), Tata Steel were the speakers. Mr. Bose addressed the lifecycle of unexpected changes and its impact on the HRD function. Ms. Suchitra Guha spoke about the requirement of revisiting processes in an organization and also focused on the importance of communication as a vital tool for any HR Manager in an organization.

The second technical session was on "Setting the perspective - Implementing and adjusting with the environment". This session had speakers from the academia, industry and consultants. It was moderated by Mr. Ambarish Dasgupta, Executive Director, PricewaterhouseCoopers Pvt. Ltd. Mr. Ashoke Mukherjee, Vice President - HR, Tata Consultancy Services Limited spoke about the new roles and responsibilities of Human Resource Management. Mr. Sourav Daspatnaik, Director – HR & Strategy, Apeejay Group spoke about redefining the role of HR during economic slowdown. Mr. Sujoy Banerjee, Vice President - HR, Eveready Industries India Limited addressed the opportunities in HR restructuring. Prof. (Dr.) Subhas Chandra Saha, Director, School of Management Sciences, Bengal Engineering and Science University presented the potential benefits of developing human capital for the all round development of human resource in the current economic scenario.

The delegates, totaling more than 110, got an excellent opportunity to interact with the speakers and their colleagues from the industry in the open house sessions following each technical session.

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