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PHD Chamber Bulletin 8 August 2014 

1

SPECIAL FEATURE 

Union Budget 

Pg: 42 

Contents 

PRESIDENT WRITES 5 

CHAMBER AT WORK 6 

FOCUS STATES 22 

COHESIVE INTERFACE 36 

SPECIAL FEATURE 

• Finwiz 41 

• Union Budget 2014-15: Promise of Progress 42 

• Impact of Budget 2014 on Transfer Pricing 44 

EXPRESSIONS 

• May the Most Fertile Win 47 

• Certain Precautions Regarding Employee 

Liabilities When Businesses Are Purchased 48 

• SAARC: The Road Ahead 50 

ECONOMY-WATCH 

• Indian Economy Next Quarter 53 

• Policy Pronouncements and Developments 54 

ROUND THE WORLD 

• Knight of the Legion of Honour Conferred on 

Actor Shah Rukh Khan 59 

HEADWAY 

• Skill Development Initiatives 61 

• Towards Inclusive Growth 63 

COMMUNIQUE 

• Media Buzz 66 

• Exhibitions/Trade Fairs 70 

• Forthcoming Events of PHD Chamber 71 

• Bureaucratic Movements 72 

• New Members of PHD Chamber 72 

PHD CHAMBER ARCHIVES 74 

A monthly news bulletin 

of PHD Chamber 

President 

Mr Sharad Jaipuria 

Senior Vice President 

Mr Alok B Shriram 

Vice President 

Mr Mahesh Gupta 

Editor: 

Mr Saurabh Sanyal 

Executive Director 

For Advertising, Subscription, 

Circulation enquiries please 

e-mail : phdcci@phdcci.in 

Readers please write to us 

We welcome your feedback and 

suggestions: 

phdcci@phdcci.in or 

phdbulletin@gmail.com 

For further information, please contact: 

PHD CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY 

PHD House, 4/2 Siri Institutional Area, August Kranti Marg, New Delhi-110016 

Phone : 91-11-26863801-04 Fax : 91-11-26855450 Email : phdcci@phdcci.in Website : www.phdcci.in 

2 August 2014 PHD Chamber Bulletin 


3

President Writes 



Mr. Sharad Jaipuria 

President, PHD Chamber 

Chairman & Managing Director, Ginni International Ltd 

Friends, 

It is heartening to note that under Mr. Narendra Modi’s regime, India’s macro economic indicators are looking up with 

lower inflation, high industrial production with robust exports and high imports. Combined with this positive news, Finance 

Minister, Mr. Arun Jaitley in his budget for FY 2014-15 indicates promise of economic progress and reflects the government’s 

priority in making the environment investment friendly in the coming times. Going ahead, Mr. Modi’s recent quote, “this is 

a budget that converts hopes and aspirations of the people into trust” signals an era of continuity and fresh potential over 

the course of the next five years of the new government. The proposals aim to reinforce confidence and enhance growth, 

create additional employment and rein in inflation while garnering the much-needed investments, both public and private. The 

budget’s focus on rural and agri-infrastructure, manufacturing, real estate, roads, airports, ports, housing, tourism, education, 

banking and finance and FDI hikes in insurance and defense are highly inspiring. 

Industry would like to thank the Finance Minister for announcing wide ranging measures to promote investments and 

entrepreneurship at large, particularly for the SME sector. The budget’s biggest move was reserved for the infrastructure 

sector, which got a host of incentives and an allocation of Rs. 620 billion for FY 2014-15. Industry really appreciates the 10 

years tax-holiday for undertakings that generate and transmit power. Investment allowance of 15 percent to manufacturing 

companies investing Rs. 25 crores in plant and machinery are likely to accelerate capital investments and manufacturing 

growth. The focus on industrial infrastructure such as the plan to establish seven industrial cities in India would enhance 

industrialization and help create more jobs. 

However, industry is still concerned about the retrospective tax amendments and the issue of transfer pricing as these issues 

may dampen investment sentiment. I feel that for speedy implementation of projects, the requisite environment and land 

acquisition bills need to be resolved at the earliest. The budget does not say much on these or on a dispute resolution 

mechanism or labor laws. I suggest that the government should remove all ambiguity and implement the Constitutional 

Amendment Bill to pave the way for the introduction of GST and set a time frame for introducing DTC at the earliest. 

Despite the shortcomings, I feel that the budget is well-grounded, pragmatic and forward-looking and the measures announced 

would go a long way to restore macro economic stability in the coming times. Rightly said that Mr. Modi does not only believe 

in big business, he also wants small and medium enterprises to flourish. In this context, members of PHD Chamber express 

their happiness as the budget seems to touch almost every sector of the Indian economy. However, the proof of the pudding 

will lie in how many of these announcements indeed materialize at the ground level within the next six months. We at the 

Chamber promise to extend our full support to the new government to usher an era of reforms urgently needed that hold 

immense potential to reboot growth and productivity. And as rightly quoted by James Cash Penney, “Growth is never by mere 

chance; it is the result of forces working together” which of course is PHD‘s forte of achieving success in every sphere for 

achieving sustained growth. 

“Let us work together for a better and a prosperous tomorrow to bring in ‘ache din’ for everyone!” 



5

Chamber at Work 


National Roads And Highways 

SUMMIT 2014 

Ms. Meenakshi Lekhi, Member of Parliament; Mr. Sudarshan Mundhra, Chairman, Roads, Ports and Other Infrastructure Committee and Mr. Sharad Jaipuria, President, 

PHD Chamber; Mr. Nitin Gadkari, Hon’ble Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways and Shipping and Ministries of Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and 

Drinking Water & Sanitation Government of India; Mr. Mahesh Gupta, Vice President, PHD Chamber; Mr. Anil Swarup (IAS), Additional Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, 

Government of India; Dr. Ranjeet Mehta, Director PHD Chamber. 

The Roads, Ports & Other 

Infrastructure Committee 

of PHD Chamber 

organized the ‘National Roads 

& Highways Summit’ on July 15, 

2014 at PHD House, New Delhi. 

The summit was attended by 

over 150 distinguished delegates 

comprising of senior embassy 

officials; senior Government 

officials from the Ministry of Road 

Transport & Highways, NHAI, 

BRO, CPWD as well as PWD 

officials from state governments; 

industry representatives; senior 

representatives from private sector 

working in the highways as well as 

the transport sector; representatives 

from road construction industry; 

representatives of legal firms; 

infrastructure consultants; media 

and many more. 

in his inaugural address, Chief 

Guest, Mr. Nitin Gadkari, Hon’ble 

Minister, Ministry of Road 

Transport, Highways and Shipping 

informed that 189 projects worth 

Rs. 1800 billion are stuck up in 

the highway sector due to land 

acquisition and environmental 

clearance issues. He assured that 

these projects would be cleared by 

August 15, 2014. He stated that 

projects through PPP mode are 

not feasible in the next two years 

and only EPC mode will be the 

norm. The Minister elaborated 

his plans for accelerating highway 

development by building good 

quality cemented roads. One lakh 

kms of National highways will be 

connected through optical fibres, 

gas pipelines as well as transmission 

and distribution lines to enable 

transit of gas and power. 

Mr. Anil Swarup (IAS), Additional 

Secretary, Cabinet Secretariat, 

Government of India apprised 

the delegates whereby the project 

monitoring group in the Cabinet 

Secretariat has created a portal 

where information about projects 

above Rs. 1000 crores or more 

are highlighted which is a uniform 

single platform facilitating seamless 

transmission of information. 

While welcoming the delegates, Mr. 

Sharad Jaipuria, President, PHD 

Chamber emphasized on the need 

for a single window clearance for 

road and highway projects and 

also for speedy implementation of 

projects. The President opined the 

need to promote sustainable green 

technology for the construction of 

road projects. 

Mr. Mahesh Gupta, Vice President, 

PHD Chamber in his introduction 

of the Hon’ble Minister lauded 

athe efforts of Mr. Nitin Gadkari 

to develop the roads and highways 

sector through initiating schemes 

such as Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak 

Yojna in the previous NDA regime. 

Mr. Sudarshan Mundhra, 

Chairman, Roads, Ports & Other 

Infrastructure Committee, PHD 

Chamber suggested issues such as 

creation of a time-bound dispute 

resolution body, separation of 

bridge contractors from highway 

contractors and resolving financial 

issues for speeding up of road 

projects in the country. 

Mr. Saurabh Sanyal, Executive 

Director, PHD Chamber 

delivered the vote-of-thanks to 

the participants at the end of the 

inaugural session. 

The summit had three technical 

sessions wherein distinguished 

speakers from the government as 

well as the road industry deliberated 

on the need to revisit financial and 

contractual issues, global advances 

in technology and the way forward 

for the development of the roads 

and highways sector in India. 

Dr. Ranjit Mehta, Director, PHD 

Chamber delivered the vote-ofthanks 

to the audience at the end 

of the summit. 

Col. Surinder Nath Kuda, Executive Director, Ashoka Buildcon; Dr.P Shekhar ,Chairman, Microtech Global Foundation; Mr. Sudhir Hoshing, CEO, Reliance Roads; 

Ms. Debjani Chakravarty, D.S (Highways), Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India; Mr. Sudarshan Mundhra, Chairman, Roads, Ports & Other 

Infrastructure Committee, PHD Chamber; Mr. Pawan Kumar Aggarwal ,Executive Director & Regional Business Leader – Corporate Finance, Yes Bank 



7


Interactive Session on doing Business with 

Kenya and Rwanda 


Seminar on Non-woven Technical Textiles: 

Opportunities and Challenges 

Ms. Shabnam Pareek, Secretary, International Affairs, PHD Chamber | H.E. Mr. Ernest Rwamucyo, High Commissioner of Rwanda to India | Dr. J. S. Juneja, Former 

Chairman, International Affairs Committee for Africa, PHD Chamber | H.E. Ms. Florence Imisa Weche, High Commissioner of Kenya to India and Mr. Saurabh Sanyal, 

Executive Director, PHD Chamber 

PHD Chamber organized an 

interactive session on ‘Doing 

Business with Kenya and 

Rwanda’ on July 17, 2014 at PHD 

House, New Delhi. H.E. Ms. Florence 

Imisa Weche, High Commissioner of 

Kenya to India and H.E. Mr. Ernest 

Rwamucyo, High Commissioner 

of Rwanda to India addressed the 

members. 

Dr. J. S. Juneja, Former Chairman, 

International Affairs Committee 

for Africa, PHD Chamber, while 

welcoming the guests, spoke about the 

tremendous potential for enhancement 

of bilateral trade between India and 

East Africa. He said that India offers 

development assistance to Kenya and 

Rwanda in the form of loans and 

credit; EXIM Bank of India gave a 

loan of US$ 61 million for utilization 

in the power transmission sector 

to Kenya and the Government of 

Rwanda and the EXIM Bank last year 

signed a US$ 120 million concession 

loan agreement for investment in 

the agriculture sector. Dr. Juneja 

added that the Indian industry should 

strive towards enhancing its business 

cooperation with companies in Kenya 

and Rwanda by establishing joint 

ventures, technological transfers, etc. 

Speaking on the occasion, H.E. Ms. 

Florence Imisa Weche, 

High Commissioner of Kenya, said 

that India and Kenya historically 

share cordial relations and with the 

new Indian government in place, new 

pinnacle of economic cooperation 

could be achieved between both the 

countries. She said that India could 

collaborate with Kenya in the solar 

energy sector specifically for solar 

panels. She also mentioned about the 

dearth of medical facilities in Kenya, 

and this is one of the key areas where 

India can help Kenya by sharing 

its expertise, particularly in setting 

up diagnostic centres. The High 

Commissioner stated that Kenya has a 

fairly large Indian population, mostly 

those who came to East Africa to work 

on the railroads; this contributes to 

close links between the two countries. 

H.E. Mr. Ernest Rwamucyo, High 

Commissioner of Rwanda to India 

focused on speedy visa clearances 

and ease in setting up of business in 

Rwanda. The High Commissioner also 

added that India and East Africa are 

separated only by the Indian Ocean 

and India should take advantage of the 

similarities that India and Africa share 

- rich and diverse natural resources, 

similar demography, use of English, 

similar family values and cultural ties, 

and continuity. 

Talking about the need to boost 

trade and investment between India 

and East Africa, H.E. Mr. Ernest 

Rwamucyo spoke about the one visa 

regime in East Africa which currently 

exists for 3 countries - Kenya, Rwanda 

and Uganda; this should help in 

encouraging business ties. 

Both the High Commissioners 

highlighted some of the potential 

areas of economic cooperation 

between India and these two East 

African countries -agriculture, ICT, 

infrastructure, road, railways, real 

estate, energy, mining, education, 

healthcare, tourism, banking, amongst 

many others. It was felt that India 

should look at East Africa as an 

integrated market. It also highlighted 

the need to look at the existing 

bottlenecks in trade facilitation, 

particularly reduction in costs and 

time in transportation. 

Mr. Saurabh Sanyal, Executive 

Director, PHD Chamber, while 

thanking the High Commissioners 

and his colleagues stressed on the 

fact that although the agro-sector has 

been at the forefront of the transition 

in India-Africa trade relations, there 

is a need to look to other avenues 

for value additions such as setting 

up of manufacturing bases in these 

countries, wherein MSME sectors 

of both the countries could play an 

important role. 

Mr. Ram Singh, Director, Ministry of Textiles | Mr. Anil Khaitan, Chairman, Industry Affairs Committee, PHD Chamber | Mr. Ajay Shankar, Member Secretary, NMCC and Mr. Vivek Seigell, 

Senior Secretary, PHD Chamber releasing the Knowledge Report 

PHD Chamber organized the 

second National Seminar on 

‘Non-Woven Technical Textiles: 

Opportunities and Challenges’ on July 

4, 2014 at PHD House. At the seminar, 

a report on “Non-Woven Technical 

Textiles: Opportunities and Challenges” 

jointly prepared by PHD Chamber and 

Technopak was released by Mr. Ajay 

Shankar, Member Secretary, National 

Manufacturing Competitiveness 

Council (NMCC), Mr. Anil Khaitan, 

Chairman, Industry Affairs Committee, 

PHD Chamber and Mr. Ram Singh, 

Director, Ministry of Textiles. 

The report revealed that India’s 

technical textiles market which 

currently is estimated at US $14 billion 

is likely to reach a level of US $32 

billion by 2023, hitting a CAGR of 9 

percent. It further stated that textiles 

and apparel industry size would total 

US $226 billion by 2023 indicating 

the dynamism and reflecting the 

way the domestic textiles industry 

is diversifying towards non-woven 

technical textiles with technological 

innovations and building global 

partnerships with its counterparts. 

Mr. Ajay Shankar pointed out that 

“given the scope of the technical 

textiles in emerging economies, the 

Technical Textiles has often been 

referred to as the sunshine sector 

in India and these are functional 

fabrics that have applications 

across various industries including 

automobiles, civil engineering 

and construction, agriculture, 

healthcare, industrial safety and 

personal protection. Based on 

usage, there are 12 technical textile 

segments; Agrotech, Meditech, 

Buildtech, Mobiltech, Clothtech, 

Oekotech, Geotech, Packtech, 

Hometech, Protech, Indutech 

and Sportech. Exports of 

technical textiles have increased 

by nearly 15% to Rs. 4,237 crores 

in 2012-13 from Rs. 3,678 crores 

in 2011-12. In India, the Indian 

technical textile industry has 

grown at an annual rate of 11% 

to reach an estimated market size 

of Rs. 70,151 crores in 2012-13 

from Rs. 41,756 crores in 2007- 

08. The technical textile industry 

is expected to reach a market size 

of Rs. 1,58,540 crores by 2016-17 

with a projected growth rate of 

20% year-on- year. 

Indian Government and the industry 

need to build a close partnership and 

roll out their joint vision for develop 

ment and promotion of technical 

textiles and setting targets for 2025.” 

Mr. Anil Khaitan, Chairman, Industry 

Affairs Committee, PHD Chamber 

in his welcome address said that 

inadequate awareness about the 

benefits of technical textiles among 

end-users; lower scale of production; 

absence of defined regulations; lack of 

indigenous availability of specialized 

raw-materials; lack of skilled 

manpower for new technologies in 

Nonwovens; lack of technology/ 

consultancy support to manufacturers; 

lack of basic infrastructure and 

training were the hindrances for the 

promotion of technical textiles and 

setting targets for 2025. 

During the technical session, experts 

spoke on the various government 

schemes to promote Technical 

Textiles and other related issues such 

as protective textiles, geosynthetics, 

agrotextiles, advancements and 

innovations in technical textiles and 

technology for non-woven technical 

textiles. 



9



3rd International Conference on CSR: 

Partnering for a Better India 

Creating Awareness of IPR through e-learning tool 

‘Indian IP Panorama’ 

Mr. Jatinder Singh, Senior Secretary, PHD Chamber; Dr. S Y Quraishi, Former Chief Election Commissioner of India; Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, Padma Bhushan Recipient 

and Founder, Sulabh Sanitation & Social Reform Movement; Mr. Parul Soni, Executive Director, EY; Mr. Mahesh Gupta, Vice President, PHD Chamber; Ms. Gayatri 

Subramaniam, Convener & Chief Program Executive, National Foundation for Corporate Social Responsibility (NFCSR), IICA and Mr. Vinod Bansal, Co-Chairman, 

Task Force on CSR, PHD Chamber 

Mr. Vipin Kumar, Patent Engineer, C-DAC India | Mr. Parimal Khade, Senior Executive (Planning & Co-ordination), C-DAC India | Mr. Vishwa Nath, Chairman, 

Taskforce on MSMEs, PHD Chamber | Mr. R. Saha, Ex-Adviser, DST & Director, Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC) | Ms. Anju 

Bajaj, Co–Chairman and Ms. Kanchan Zutshi, Secretary, Taskforce on MSMEs, PHD Chamber 

PHD Chamber organized 

its 3rd annual International 

Conference on CSR with the 

theme ‘Partnering for a Better India’ 

on July 16, 2014 at PHD House, New 

Delhi. 

The conference attempted to create 

a consensus within all stakeholders 

to comply with the CSR norms as 

prescribed in The Companies Act, 

2013 and also sought clarity on certain 

contravention provisions of the Act. 

In his welcome address, Mr. Mahesh 

Gupta, Vice President, PHD Chamber 

highlighted that with the involvement 

of all the stakeholders, the Act can 

prove to be a critical tool for sustained 

development of the nation. 

Key speakers during the inaugural 

session included Ms. Gayatri 

Subramaniam, Convener and Chief 

Program Executive, NFCSR, IICA; 

Dr. S Y Quraishi, Former Chief 

Election Commissioner of India; 

Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, Padma 

Bhushan Recipient and Founder, 

Sulabh Sanitation and Social Reform 

Movement; Mr. Parul Soni, Executive 

Director, Ernst & Young and Mr. Vinod Bansal, Co-Chairman, Task Force on 

CSR, PHD Chamber. 

In her presentation, Ms. Subramaniam called upon corporates to perform CSR 

activities as per the government’s expectation, get the approval of such activities 

from corporate boards and disclose their intent. 

The technical sessions focused on operationalizing CSR in India and stakeholder 

engagement. 

The event was sponsored by NTPC, Central Warehousing Corporation and Ficus 

Securities Private Limited and supported by Department of Public Enterprises 

and Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs. Ernst & Young was the knowledge 

partner of the conference. 

Effective April 1, 2014, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs has notified 

Section 135 and Schedule VII of the Companies Act 2013 as well as the 

provisions of the Companies (CSR) Rules, 2014. Every company which 

either has a net worth of Rs 500 crore or a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore or 

net profit of Rs 5 crore, needs to spend at least 2% of its average net profit 

for the immediately preceding three financial years on CSR activities. The 

activities undertaken by a company to fulfil its CSR obligations include 

eradicating hunger, poverty and malnutrition, promoting preventive 

healthcare, education and gender equality, setting up homes for women, 

orphans and the senior citizens, measures for reducing inequalities faced 

by socially and economically backward groups, ensuring environmental 

sustainability and ecological balance, animal welfare, protection of 

national heritage and art and culture. 

PHD Chamber in collaboration 

with Centre for Development 

of Advanced Computing 

(C-DAC) organized a workshop on 

‘Creating Awareness of IPR through 

E Learning tool - Indian IP Panorama’ 

on June 19, 2014 at PHD House, New 

Delhi. 

The workshop aimed at creating 

awareness amongst the SME 

sector towards protecting their 

own intellectual property (IP) and 

to provide basic guidance on IPR 

through e-learning modules. 

Mr. Parimal Khade, Senior Executive 

(Planning & Co-ordination), C-DAC 

India opined that MSMEs by 

protecting their IP can increase their 

competitiveness in a variety of areas. 

Mr. Vishwa Nath, Chairman, 

Taskforce on MSMEs, PHD Chamber 

said IPR is recognized as a key element 

in competitive advantage for SMEs. 

Their creativity and innovative abilities 

are threatened by counterfeiting, 

piracy and uncertainty about how to 

enforce their rights. Practical support 

for IPR enforcement is rather patchy 

and at present far less developed than 

the promotion of general awareness 

of IPR. 

Mr. R. Saha, Ex-Adviser, DST & 

Director, Technology Information, 

Forecasting and Assessment Council 

(TIFAC) said IP PANORAMA was 

designed to help SMEs utilize and 

manage Intellectual Property (IP) in 

their business strategy. 

He commented that the biggest 

challenge was the mindset of the 

people. 

The cost of registering a patent in India 

is very low compared to developed 

countries. Awareness is required about 

the relevance and importance of IPR 

for any business. 

Ms. Anju Bajaj, Co–Chairman, PHD 

Chamber said Intellectual Property 

strategy may vary from organization to 

organization while the IP cost factor 

plays an important role. She felt that 

there was a need for development of 

skills and competence to manage IPR 

and leverage its influence amongst 

SMEs in India. 

The Cabinet Committee on 

Economic Affairs has approved the 

continuation of the Plan scheme to 

modernise and strengthen Intellectual 

Property (IP) offices during the 12th 

Plan period. The overall project cost 

would be Rs.309.6 crores, of which 

Rs.258 crores will be spent during 

12th Plan and Rs.51.6 crores in the 

13th Plan. The implementation 

of the scheme will strengthen the 

Office of the Controller General of 

Patents, Designs and Trademarks 

and address the increase in the 

number of fillings of IP applications. 

It will also address the growing 

international commitments due to 

the operationalization of the Madrid 

Protocol and status of International 

Search Authority /International 

Preliminary Examining Authority. In 

the 12th Plan, the focus would be on 

enhancement of human resources, 

upgradation of IT, construction of 

buildings, improvement in library 

facilities and sensitization and 

awareness creation on Intellectual 

Property Right matters. 



11

Workshop Series on ‘Indirect Taxes’ 

Mr. Bimal Jain, Co-Chairman, Indirect Taxes Committee and Mr. Devinder Arora, Consultant (Finance), PHD 

Chamber | Mr. Atul Gupta, Central Council Member, ICAI and Mr. J K Mittal, Chairman, Indirect Taxes 

Committee, PHD Chamber 

PHD Chamber’s Indirect Taxes 

Committee plans to organize 

a series of workshops on 

Indirect Taxes covering ‘Service Tax, 

Central Excise, Customs & VAT/ 

CST’. The first such workshop on the 

theme ‘Service Tax (Determination of 

Value) Rules, 2006’ was held on June 

27, 2014 at PHD House, New Delhi. 

Mr. Atul Gupta, Central Council 

Member, ICAI, Ms. Anshul Aggarwal, 

Associate Director, BMR Advisors and 

Mr. Bimal Jain, Executive Director, 

A2Z Taxcorp LLP interacted with the 

participants. 

Welcoming the delegates, Mr. J K 

Mittal, Chairman, Indirect Taxes 

Committee, PHD Chamber shared 

that the objective of holding the series 

of workshopswas to keep the members 

updated with the latest amendments 

in laws and rules on indirect taxes. He 

stated that Service Tax Valuation is a 

major area of dispute and litigation. 

He briefly touched upon the issue of 

availing of Cenvat credit in the case 

of restaurant and outdoor catering 

services. 

Participants at the workshop 

MOU signed between 

PHD Chamber and ITPO 


Mr. Atul Gupta spoke on ‘Valuation 

of Services’ and cited numerous case 

studies. He explained the statutory 

provisions relating to Valuation of 

Taxable Services and Determination 

of Value Rules, 2006. 

Ms. Anshul Aggarwal highlighted 

on the Statutory Provisions relating 

to Service Tax Valuation along with 

different provisions on Valuation for 

Works Contract; Money Changing 

Services; Restaurant or Outdoor 

Catering Service; Inclusion in or 

Exclusion from Value and Rejection 

of Value. 

Mr. Bimal Jain explained the persisting 

issues under the Service Tax Valuation 

Rules. He emphasized on the 

contentious issues being faced by the 

industry on services. 

The seminar was followed by active 

floor participation and had useful 

deliberations. 

A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between PHD Chamber and India Trade Promotion Organisation 

on July 11, 2014 for partnership in the 3RD Auto Ancillary Show – an interna tional exhibition- which will be 

organized by ITPO at Pune, October 10-13, 2014. PHD Chamber would be the Associate Partner for this expo and 

its members will get special privileges for participating in this event. The theme of the expo is ‘Light Weighting’ with 

focus on ‘Composites’. 


Seminar on ‘Risk Management in Base Metals using 

Commodity Futures’ 

Mr. Devinder Arora, Consultant (Finance), PHD Chamber | Dr. Ravi Singh, Head of Research Commodities, SMC Group of Companies | Ms. Rashmi Nihalani, 

Assistant Vice-President, Product Knowledge Management Team, Multi-Commodity Exchange | Mr. D K Aggarwal, Chairman and Mr. B K Sabharwal, Co-Chairman, 

Task Force on Commodity Exchanges, PHD Chamber and Ms. Vandana Bharti, Assistant Vice-President, Commodity Fundamental Research Division, SMC Global 

Securities Limited 

PHD Chamber in association 

with Multi-Commodity 

Exchange organized a seminar 

on ‘Risk Management in Base Metals 

using Commodity Futures’ on July 4, 


Mr. D K Aggarwal, Chairman, Task- 

Force on Commodity Exchanges, 

PHD Chamber in his welcome address 

highlighted that base metal sector in India 

is very closely interlinked with the global 

markets. While Indian consumption is 

still relatively a small portion of the global 

consumption in most of the base metals, 

the growth rate in Indian consumption 

of base metals is the highest in the 

world. Given the high consumption 

growth rate, dependence on imports and 

foreign exchange risks, the price risk in 

base metals is indeed very high. Hence, 

it becomes imperative to hedge the risk 

incurred by the uncertainty of the price 

of the commodity by taking an opposite 

position in the futures market in an 

attempt to offset the exposure to price 

change in the physical commodity. 

Ms. Rashmi Nihalani, Assistant 

Vice President-Product Knowledge 

Management Team, Multi-Commodity 

Exchange in her presentation on 

‘Hedging in Base Metals through 

Futures’ highlighted that raw-material 

prices (especially metals) have gone up 

The Multi Commodity Exchange of 

India Limited (MCX) is a state-of-theart, 

commodity futures exchange that 

facilitates online trading, and clearing 

and settlement of commodity futures 

transactions, thereby providing a 

platform for risk management. MCX 

offers trading in varied commodity 

futures contracts across segments 

including bullion, ferrous and nonferrous 

metals, energy, agri-based and 

agricultural commodities. The Exchange 

focuses on providing commodity value 

chain participants with neutral, secure 

and transparent trade mechanisms, and 

formulating quality parameters and 

trade regulations, in conformity with the 

regulatory framework. The Exchange 

has an extensive national reach, with 

over 2100 members, operations through 

more than 400,000 trading terminals 

(including CTCL), spanning over 1900 

cities and towns across India. MCX 

is India’s leading commodity futures 

exchange with a market share of about 

86 percent in terms of the value of 

commodity futures contracts traded 

in 9M FY2013-14. The Exchange’s 

flagship index, the MCXCOMDEX, is a 

real-time composite commodity futures 

price index which gives information on 

market movements in key commodities. 

significantly in the last decade. Even 

more critical is price volatility, which 

has accentuated the problem. She 

demonstrated the process of hedging 

risk against domestic sales and export 

order and highlighted the reasons why 

MCX Contracts are most suitable in 

depth and correlation. 

Dr. Ravi Singh, Head of Research- 

Commodities, SMC Group of 

Companies spoke on ‘Use of Technical 

Indicators in Trading and Hedging.’ 

Ms. Vandana Bharti, Assistant Vice 

President of Commodity Fundamental 

Research Division, SMC Global 

Securities Limited in her presentation on 

‘Price Outlook of various Base Metals’ 

discussed the fundamental factors 

influencing prices of base metals. She 

said that Base metals could see a “healthy 

performance” in 2014, even though 

inventories for some metals are stout 

and added capacity could keep a lid on 

excessive gains. She highlighted the price 

outlook of aluminium, copper, lead, 

nickel and zinc futures. 

Mr. B K Sabharwal, Co-Chairman, 

Task Force on Commodity Exchanges, 

PHD Chamber delivered a hearty voteof-thanks 

to the speakers, sponsors and 

delegates. 



13



Seminar on ‘Significant Issues relating to Appeals, Tax 

Payers Practical Difficulties & Role of Settlement Commission’ 

Mr. Mukul Bagla, Co–Chairman, Direct Taxes Committee, PHD Chamber | Mr. Sarabjeet Singh, Additional Director of Investigation and Ms. M Sailo, Member, Income 

Tax Settlement Commission | Mr. Anil K Chopra, Chairman, Direct Taxes Committee, PHD Chamber | Mr. A P Saxena, Chairman and Mr. Jaspal Singh, Member, 

Income Tax Settlement Commission | Mr. S. R. Wadhwa, Retired Chairman, Income Tax Settlement Commission and Mr. Niraj Jain, Partner, Niraj Jain & Associates 

The Direct Taxes Committee of 

the PHD Chamber organized 

a seminar on ‘Significant 

Issues relating to Appeals, Tax Payers 

Practical Difficulties & Role of 

Settlement Commission’ on May 23, 


Eminent dignitaries who addressed 

the seminar included Mr. A P Saxena, 

Chairman, Income Tax Settlement 

Commission (ITSC); Ms. M Sailo 

and Mr. Jaspal Singh, Members, 

ITSC; Mr. Sarabjeet Singh, Additional 

Director of Investigation, ITSC; Mr. 

D S Saxena, Chief Commissioner of 

Income Tax, Central Circle-Delhi; Mr. 

Arvind Kumar, CIT (Appeals) and 

Mr. Ashok Manchanda, Income Tax 

Ombudsman, Delhi and Chandigarh. 

While welcoming the participants, 

Mr. Anil Chopra, Chairman, Direct 

Taxes Committee, PHD Chamber 

shared that ITSC provides an extra 

platform to the tax payers to resolve 

their disputes with the tax authorities. 

He urged the members to approach 

the ITSC for quick redressal of their 

grievances. 

Mr. A P Saxena, Chairman, ITSC shared 

that the Settlement Commission was 

set up to create a channel where by tax 

disputes could be settled expeditiously. 

He shared that the Commission does 

not provide an escape route for the 

tax evaders; however, it provides a 

balanced resolution to the impending 

litigation. He urged the members of 

trade and industry to come forward 

and make applications before the 

Settlement Commission disclosing 

the manner in which the income has 

been derived. He shared that since 

there is no provision of Settlement 

Commission in the proposed Direct 

Taxes Code, ITSC is making all efforts 

to have it accommodated in the DTC 

statute. He urged the Chambers’ of 

Commerce to sensitize and spread 

awareness about the relevance of the 

ITSC. 

Ms. M. Sailo & Mr. Jaspal Singh, 

Members, ITSC felt that inspite 

of innumerable advantages of 

approaching the ITSC, very few 

applications are filed for redressal. 

Mr. Sarabjeet Singh, Additional 

Director of Investigation, ITSC made 

a comprehensive presentation about 

the broad role, functions, objectives 

and the limitations of ITSC. 

Mr. Krishan Malhotra, Amarchand 

Mangaldas stated that many issues are 

being faced by the tax payers in filing 

appeals and in complying with the 

various provisions of the Income Tax 

Act. He felt that the CBDT should 

come out with a mechanism such 

that any assessee does not face undue 

harassment and litigation. 

Mr. Ashok Manchanda, Income Tax 

Ombudsman, urged the participants to 

assert themselves for their rightful Acts 

and urged the members to approach 

the institution of Ombudsman in case 

they face unnecessary harassment at 

the hands of errant officers. 

Mr. Anil Chopra, Chairman, Direct 

Taxes Committee, Mr. Mukul Bagla 

and Mr. Dinesh Chandra Agrawal, Co- 

Chairmen, Direct Taxes Committee 

PHD Chamber moderated the 

seminar and also clarified the issues 

raised by the participants at the event. 

Gujarat Fluorochemicals Limited 

sponsored the event. 

The Central Board of Direct Taxes 

recently notified new rules for online 

filing of ITRs saying taxpayers filing 

their returns for assessment year 2014- 

15 will have to mandatorily share 

their personal e-mail IDs and mobile 

numbers with the Department. 

Interactive Session with Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh 

We all know that election 

mandate to a single party 

has created a history 

and the nation is looking to be a 

global power in the times to come. 

Hence, the Government is very 

keen for industrialization and to 

match international standards. The 

government is moving towards 

amending/modifying 50-60 years 

old labour laws which are no longer 

relevant in today’s global economy 

where survival of industry depends 

on competition. Industry for a long 

time has been requesting for changes 

in outdated laws in order to create a 

conducive investment climate. 

As an initiative in this direction, an 

interactive session with Central Trade 

Union leaders of BMS and senior 

Interactive Session With Vigilance Commissioner 

At an interactive session with 

Members of the Managing 

Committee, Mr. Sharad 

Jaipuria, President, PHD Chamber 

welcomed Mr. J. M. Garg, Vigilance 

Commissioner, for sparing his valuable 

time to interact with the Members. 

Mr. Garg has been associated with 

banks for over 37 years with expertise 

in industrial credit, corporate finance, 

foreign exchange etc. 

Mr. Garg while interacting with the 

members on ‘Corporate Governance 

and Corporate Frauds’, mentioned 

Members at the interactive session 

industry members was held on July 14, 

2014 for free exchange of ideas, views 

and suggestion to reach a consensus 

on the needed changes in the present 

labour laws and submit the proposal 

to the newly formed Government to 

have an insight into the proposal. Mr. 

Alok B Shriram, Senior Vice President 

and Mr. Mahesh Gupta, Vice President 

presided over the meeting 

Mr. Mahesh Gupta, Vice President, PHD Chamber; Mr. Alok B Shriram, Senior Vice President; Mr. Sharad Jaipuria, President, PHD Chamber; Mr. J M Garg, Vigilance 

Commissioner and Mr. Saurabh Sanyal, Executive Director, PHD Chamber interacting with the Managing Committee Members 

that both the subjects are interrelated. 

The culture of ethics and values in an 

organization lowers the chances of 

risk and fraud in an entity. 

He quoted an article from the 

‘Business Line’ which highlighted that 

around 69% of Indian corporates 

experienced frauds and around 89% 

of the people surveyed had stated that 

the frauds were committed with the 

help of insiders. He recommended 

that the supervisory role and control 

of the executives and management 

has to be strengthened in the 

While industry representatives 

mentioned about needed changes in 

the labour laws, the Union was keen 

to work jointly in welfare activities, 

training and retraining of workers and 

joint participation in industry. The 

meeting was held in a very cordial 

atmosphere where both parties could 

understand each other’s views. 

corporate as improper control would 

eventually increase the chances of 

frauds and highlighted the need of 

risk management architecture in the 

corporate sector. 

Mr. Garg said there is a huge trust 

deficit between the corporate, 

government, bankers and politicians 

and there is a need to find ways to 

bridge this gap. 

Mr. Alok B Shriram, Senior Vice 

President, PHD Chamber proposed a 

hearty vote-of-thanks to Mr. Garg and 

the members. 



15



Budget Viewing Session 2014-15 

Conference on ‘National Energy Security 2014’ 

Mr. Anil Chopra, Chairman, Direct Taxes Committee and Mr. Alok B Shriram, Senior Vice President, PHD Chamber | Dr. Ashok V Desai, Eminent Economist and 

Consultant Editor, The Telegraph | Mr. Sharad Jaipuria, President, PHD Chamber | Prof Dr. B B Bhattacharya, Eminent Economist and Former Vice Chancellor, 

Jawaharlal Nehru University | Mr. Mahesh Gupta, Vice President, Mr. Gopal Jiwarajka, Chairman, Economic Affairs Committee and Mr. J K Mittal, Chairman, Indirect 

Taxes Committee, PHD Chamber 

PHD Chamber organized the 

Budget viewing session on July 

10, 2014 at PHD house, New 

Delhi. Eminent speakers at the session 

were Prof. Dr. B B Bhattacharya, 

Eminent Economist and Former 

Vice Chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru 

University and Dr. Ashok V Desai, 

Eminent Economist and Consultant 

Editor, The Telegraph. Mr. Sharad 

Jaipuria, President, Mr. Alok B Shriram, 

Senior Vice President, Mr. Mahesh 

Gupta, Vice-President, Mr. Gopal 

Jiwarajka, Chairman, Economic Affairs 

Committee, Mr. Anil Chopra, Chairman, 

Direct Taxes Committee, Mr. J K Mittal, 

Chairman, Indirect Taxes Committee, 

PHD Chamber and Mr. D K Agarwal, 

Chairman & Managing Director, SMC 

Investments and Advisors Limited were 

the other panelists. 

Mr. Sharad Jaipuria extended a warm 

welcome to the invitees and highlighted 

the role of the Chamber in providing 

suggestions on election manifestos 

and roadmap to new government. Mr. 

Alok B Shriram, presented the industry 

perspective on the Union Budget. 

The Budget speech was tabled 

by Hon’ble Finance Minister, Mr. 

Arun Jaitely. During his speech, he 

announced that the government 

would aim for sustained growth of 

7-8% in the next 3-4 years and would 

retain the fiscal deficit target of 4.1% 

of GDP for FY 2014-15. Significant 

announcements were made for rural 

infrastructure, agri-infrastructure, 

urban infrastructure, manufacturing 

revival, tourism, education, banking 

and finance and foreign direct 

investments. Mr. Arun Jaitely said that 

there would be no changes in rules on 

retrospective taxation. However, all 

pending cases of retrospective tax for 

indirect transfers would be examined 

by a high-level committee before action 

is taken. Other major announcements 

were the increase in FDI limits in 

defense and insurance sector from 26 

percent to 49 percent, consolidation 

of PSU banks, enhancement of the 

income tax limit from Rs. 2 lakhs to Rs. 

2.5 lakhs, enhancement of investment 

limit under Section 80C from Rs. 1 

lakhs to Rs. 1.5 lakhs and enhancement 

of rebate on investments in self owned 

houses from Rs. 1.5 lakhs to Rs. 2 lakhs. 

For the agriculture sector, increasing 

irrigation facilities, farm markets, 

financial help to landless farmers 

and Kisan TV to provide real time 

information to farmers were announced 

by the Hon’ble Finance Minister. 

Further, investment allowance of 15% 

to manufacturing companies investing 

Rs 25 crores in plant and machinery 

would accelerate capital investments 

were also announced. The allocation 

for urban infrastructure earmarked at 

Rs. 50,000 and Rs. 10,000 crore funds 

for start up firms were other significant 

measures announced in the Budget. 

Prof. B. B. Bhattacharya presented his 

views on the budget. He spoke about 

three confidences which are Consumer, 

Investor and general confidence.He 

welcomed the FDI in insurance. In his 

view, the Union Budget 2014-15 was a 

conventional budget. The Budget did 

not entail any specific point for future 

investment. He concluded by saying 

that the revival of industry will shape 

the Indian economy. 

Dr. Ashok V Desai said that the 

Hon’ble Finance Minister presented 

a budget, which was, above his 

expectations. He said that the setting up 

of various committees on Expenditure 

Management, CBDT, High level 

Committee on Retrospective Taxes and 

Infrastructure Investment Trust were 

inspiring and the extra money invested 

by the Hon’ble Minister in sectors such 

as tourism, education, drinking water, 

women safety and health are moves in 

the right direction. Mr. Arun Jaitely has 

considered the correlation of decline in 

the manufacturing sector and decline 

in growth rate and has taken several 

measures to accelerate the manufacturing 

sector which is encouraging. 

Mr. Mahesh Gupta proposed the voteof-thanks 

and said that the Budget is 

truly inspiring and would go a long way 

in fostering growth of the economy. 

Mr. Saurabh Sanyal, Executive Director, PHD Chamber | Ms. Neerja Mathur, Chairperson, Central Electricity Authority | Dr. Harish Ahuja, Co-Chairman, Energy 

Committee, PHD Chamber | Mr. Anil Kumar Jain, IAS, (Adviser Energy), Planning Commission and Dr. Ranjeet Mehta, Director, PHD Chamber 

The Energy Committee of 


a conference on ‘National 

Energy Security 2014’ on July 17, 

2014at PHD House, New Delhi. The 

conference was attended by many 

distinguished delegates comprising of 

senior officials from the Ministry of 

Power, CEA & Planning Commission, 

officials from State distribution 

companies; senior embassy 

officials that included Bulgarian 

Ambassador; experts in the energy 

sector; infrastructure consultants; 

representatives from industry; media 

and many more. 

In her inaugural address,Chief Guest, 

Ms. Neerja Mathur, Chairperson, 

Central Electricity Authority asserted 

that energy generation has increased 

over the years but at the same time 

we need to keep an eye on carbon 

footprints. She further added that 

sustainability is an important parameter 

which can be attained through increase 

in generation from hydro and renewable 

sources. The Chief Guest also called for 

amendment of the Electricity Act 2003 

and the need to make State Regulatory 

Commissions more accountable and 

creation of Green energy corridors to 

address energy needs. 

The Indian power sector witnessed 

the highest shortage in the past 

three months owing to late 

monsoon and fuel supply issues. 

The month of July shows that the 

country faced a shortage of 5,409 

million units (MUs) compared 

with 3,907 MUs for June and 4,557 

MUs for May 2014. Indian Energy 

Exchange(IEX), a power trading 

platform also showed that 2.3 billion 

units(BUs) was traded at an average 

market clearing price of Rs 3.76 

per unit, which is lower than the 

June price of Rs 3.89 per unit, but 

still trumps May figure of Rs 3.28 

per unit. In the last two months, 

hydro-power producers were not 

coming to market due to low level 

of water in reservoirs owing to a 

harsh summer. Similarly, the wind 

season faced fluctuations and 

thermal power plants did not have 

sufficient fuel supply. The monsoon 

season was also delayed by over a 

month this year, exacerbating the 

low water-levels in dams. 

Mr. Anil Kumar Jain, IAS, (Adviser, 

Energy), Planning Commission in his 

address advocated the need for an 

integrated energy policy which would 

provide a roadmap to energy planning 

and accelerate investments into the 

energy sector. He apprised the delegates 

about a Planning Commission report 

on India’s Energy Scenario upto 2047. 

While welcoming the guests, Mr. 

Saurabh Sanyal, Executive Director, 

PHD Chamber called for the need to 

have a stable regulatory environment 

to increase investments in the oil and 

gas sector which are the main energy 

sources. 

Dr. Harish Ahuja, Co-Chairman, 

Energy Committee, PHD Chamber 

emphasized that, to make 24x7 power 

supply a reality, Electricity Act 2003 

needs to be amended and power supply 

treated as USO. 

The conference had one technical 

session followed by a panel discussion 

on the future energy potential and 

sustainable fuel security for the future. 

Dr. Ranjeet Mehta, Director, PHD 

Chamber delivered the vote-of-thanks 

to the audience. 



17


Roundtable on ‘Indian Air Cargo- Future Outlook’ 


Logistics Conclave - 2014 

Mr. Yogesh Srivastav, Director and Mr. M K Narayana Rao, Chairman, Civil Aviation Committee | Ms. Canan Celebioglu, Vice Chairperson, Celebi Holdings, Istanbul 

Turkey | Mr. Ashok Lavasa, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation | Mr. Alok B Shriram, Senior Vice President and Mr. Saurabh Sanyal, Executive Director, PHD Chamber 

Dr. Ranjeet Mehta, Director, Mr. Sudhanshu Pachisia, Co-Chairman, Task Force on Logistics Management and Mr. Alok B Shriram, Senior Vice President, PHD 

Chamber; Mr. Dinesh Rai, Chairman, WDRA; Dr. Santosh Kumar Sarangi, Chairman and Secretary, APEDA, Ministry of Commerce and Industry and Mr. R S Bedi, 

Chairman, Task Force on Logistics Management, PHD Chamber 

The PHD –GMR Roundtable 

on ‘Indian Air Cargo-Future 

Outlook’ organized on 

July 11, 2014, brought together all 

stakeholders of the air cargo industry 

on one platform to work as a catalyst in 

bringing forward sustainable solutions 

for the Aviation Industry. 

While inaugurating the roundtable, Mr. 

Ashok Lavasa, Secretary, Ministry of 

Civil Aviation stated that the Ministry 

of Civil Aviation would shortly allow 

airport developers to clear the air 

cargo, provided the required customs 

related formalities are completed as 

per established rules and regulations. 

He informed that while the air freight 

station policy would be announced 

within a month’s time to ensure 

facilitation of smoother clearances 

of air cargo, the work on issuance of 

aviation security circular within the 

concerned stake holders of aviation 

sector including its regulator was in 

process. He was also happy to share 

that Air India was formally admitted 

to Star Alliance on July 11, 2014. 

In her special address, Ms. Canan 

Celebioglu, Vice Chairperson, Celebi 

Holdings, Istanbul Turkey sought to 

build a sustained partnership between 

Turkey and India for growth of the 

civil aviation sector. 

Mr. Alok B Shriram, Sr. Vice President, 

PHD Chamber while thanking the 

Chief Guest and dignitaries for 

being a part of the discussions, 

complemented the Finance Minister 

for announcing a number of sops and 

incentives to fuel and stoke growth in 

the Indian civil sector in its budget for 

the current fiscal year. 

Mr. M K Narayana Rao, Chairman, 

Civil Aviation Committee and Mr. 

Saurabh Sanyal, Executive Director, 

PHD Chamber shared their inputs 

regarding widening the reach of the 

Indian Air Cargo Industry. 

Mr. Sandeep M. Bhatnagar, Joint 

Secretary (Customs), Central Board 

of Excise & Customs; Dr. A. 

Ramkishan, Deputy Drugs Controller 

of India and Mr. Sanjiv Edward, Head 

of Cargo, Delhi International Airport 

Private Limited discussed the current 

regulatory policy framework. 

Mr. Muktesh Chander, IPS, Special 

Commissioner (Traffic), Delhi Police; 

Mr. Pradeep Panicker, President, Air 

Cargo Forum India- ACFI; Mr. B K 

Mehrotra, General Manager-Cargo, 

Airports Authority of India; Mr. 

Mahesh Trikha, President, Air Cargo 

Agents Association of India and Mr. 

Manoj Soni, President of Supply 

Chain, Jubiliant Life Sciences shared 

their experience and ways in which 

the country could have seamless and 

efficient Air Cargo Supply Chain 

that drives growth. Mr. LI Qianguo, 

Deputy Director, China National 

Tourist Office commented on the 

correlation between the aviation and 

the tourism industry. 

Mr. Ashok Lavasa, Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation and Mr. Alok B Shriram, Senior Vice President, PHD 

Chamber 


‘Logistics Conclave -2014’ on 

July 21, 2014 at PHD House, 

New Delhi. 

Chief Guest, Mr. Dinesh Rai, 

Chairman, Warehousing Development 

and Regulatory Authority (WDRA), 

Government of India emphasized on 

the need for cost effective solutions 

for the logistics and supply chain and 

for the promotion of logistics in the 

agricultural sector. He also expressed 

concern over the cost of land being a 

major bottleneck in the development 

of warehousing infrastructure. 

India’s logistics sector, valued at 13-14 percent of GDP is 

expected to touch US$ 200 billion by 2020 due to volume growth 

in containerization, new terminals at ports, the Dedicated Freight 

Corridors and the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor. Large 

volume of freight traffic had facilitated growth opportunities in all 

facets of logistics, including transportation, warehousing, freight 

forwarding, express cargo delivery, container services, shipping 

services etc. The PHD Chamber pitched for FDI in organized 

food retail, arguing that it can attract hundreds of crores of rupees, 

and double its cold storage capacity to over 61 million tons by 

2015-16 from its 2012-13 estimated level of 31 million tons, and 

drastically minimize its agri-produce losses, currently estimated to 

be between 18 and 32 percent. 

Mr. Vineet Kanaujia, Vice President-Marketing, Safexpress Private Limited; Mr. S.L. Sharma, President, The Air Cargo Agents Association of India (ACAAI); Dr. 

Ranjeet Mehta, Director, PHD Chamber; Mr. M.S. Mathur, Executive Director / Traffic/ PPP, Ministry of Railways; Mr. B.N. Puri, Executive Director, Asian Institute 

of Transport Development; Mr. Sudhanshu Pachisia, Co-Chairman, Task Force on Logistics Management, PHD Chamber; Mr. Vanish Ahluwalia, General Manager- 

Northern Region-NVOCC, All Cargo Logistics Limited; Mr. Vinod Nautiyal, Chairman and Managing Director, EXPAN Logistic and Mr. Vipin Sahni, Manager- Business 

Development, GS1 India 



19



Innovation HR - 2014 

Mr. Deepak Takkar, Vice President-Sales & Marketing and GM, Emerson Climate Technologies (India) Limited; Mr. Pankaj Mehta, Country Head and Director, Carrier 

Transicold India; Dr. Ranjeet Mehta, Director, PHD Chamber; Mr. Rajesh Agarwal, Director, Crystal Group; Mr. Vijit Madan, Head Sales and Service – Thermo King 

(Climate Solutions), India and Mr. Jasmohan Singh, Managing Director, Frick India Limited 

Guest of Honor, Dr. Santosh 

Kumar Sarangi, IAS, Chairman 

and Secretary, Agricultural and 

Processed Food Products Export 

Development Authority (APEDA), 

Ministry of Commerce and Industry 

apprised the delegates that the 

country losses nearly Rs. 440 billion 

every year on fruits and vegetables. 

In order to develop cold chain and 

warehousing infrastructure, there is 

need to invest US$ 550 billion. In 

the present scenario, India is able to 

store only 2% of its farm produce 

as against 85 per cent in the leading 

economies in the world. 

In his welcome address, Mr. Alok 

B Shriram, Senior Vice President, 

PHD Chamber highlighted that 

the logistics sector is an area of 

priority. Years of high growth in 

the Indian economy have resulted 

in a significant rise in the volume of 

freight traffic moved. 

This large volume of traffic has 

provided for growth opportunities 

in all facets of logistics including 

transportation, warehousing, food 

supply chain, freight forwarding, 

express cargo delivery, container 

services, shipping services etc. He 

also complemented the WDRA 

for making efforts for granting 

infrastructure status to logistics. 

Mr. R.S. Bedi, Chairman, Task Force on 

Logistics Management, PHD Chamber 

emphasized on the requirement for 

a large number of cold storages 

& warehouses in the country. He 

also expressed concern at the poor 

maintenanace of warehouses and the 

lack of cold chain infrastructure. 

Mr. Sudhanshu Pachisia, Co-Chairman, 

Task Force on Logistics Management, 

PHD Chamber delivered the formal 

vote-of-thanks while Dr. Ranjeet Mehta, 

Director, PHD Chamber moderated 

the panel discussion on ’Need of 

Investments in cold-chain sector in 

India’ and gave the concluding remarks. 

Ms. Khushboo Khanna, Executive Officer, Mr. Varun Bhardwaj, Senior Assistant Secretary and Dr. Ranjeet Mehta, Director, PHD Chamber; Mr. V.R. Khusro, DGM, 

NABARD; Mr. Ranvir Singh, IFS, Joint Secretary, WDRA; Mr. R S Bedi, Chairman, Task Force on Logistics Management, PHD Chamber; Dr. Rakesh Gupta, General 

Manager, Punjab National Bank and Dr. C. Prabhu, Partner, Rabo Equity Advisors, New Delhi 

Mr. S.K. Sarkar Chairman , Committee on Innovation and Mr. Saurabh Sanyal, Executive Director, PHD Chamber; Prof. Nageshwar Rao, Pro-Vice Chancellor, IGNOU; 

Dr. Priya Somaiya, Executive Director, Mawana Sugars Limited; Mr. Salil Bhandari, Former President, PHD Chamber & Managing Partner, BGJC & Associates and Mr. 

Bharat Mehta, CEO, HR Synergy 

The Innovation Committee 

of PHD Chamber organized 

‘Innovation HR-2014’ with the 

theme- Innovate for a Better Tomorrow 

on July 18, 2014 at PHD House. 

The objective of the conclave was to 

promote Innovation as a panacea for 

businesses like employee engagement, 

retention, growth and evolve innovative 

HR practices. 

Mr. S K Sarkar, Chairman, Committee 

on Innovation, PHD Chamber gave 

the welcome address. Mr Salil Bhandari, 

Former President PHD Chamber and 

Managing Partner, BGJC & Associates 

said that leadership is about vision, 

about creating a climate where the 

truth is heard and the facts confronted. 

He emphasized that for a good HR 

SYSTEM in an organization one 

has to inject adrenalin or energy into 

employees and the ecosystem of an 

organization has to be such that people 

innovate. The culture of creativity 

has to be inculcated in order to retain 

employees. 

Dr. Priya Somaiya, Executive Director 

of Mawana Sugars Limited, a very well 

known figure in the HR field shared her 

experiences of employee management 

and stressed on innovating ideas 

to empower employees so as to 

bring out the best in them. She laid 

emphasis on communication, support 

to employees, help them discover 

themselves and said that a conducive 

environment be created for employees 

where creativity can be enhanced and 

innovation flows. 

Mr. Bharat Mehta, CEO, HR Synergy 

gave his viewpoints on promoting 

innovation amongst employees in an 

organization. He deliberated on the 

role of leadership in an organization 

to take the lead and be open to 

innovating processes. 

Prof. Nageshwar Rao, Pro Vice 

Chancellor IGNOU asserted that 

ambiguity creates creativity and 

innovation. One has to take risks and 

not fear failure which is the stepping 

stone to innovation. In organizations, 

the mindset has to change and 

divergent thinking is the need of the 

hour to innovate and bring out the 

best talent in an employee. 

Other prominent speakers included 

Mr. Virender Kapoor, Founder, MILE 

-Management Institute for Leadership 

and Excellence; Mr. Sanjiva Dubey, 

Country Head and Principal, IBM 

Consulting; Mr. Rajeev Bhadauria, 

Director Group, HR, Jindal Steel & 

Power Ltd.; Mr. A.K. Jha, Director 

General, National Institute of 

Entrepreneurship and Small Business 

Development (NIESBUD); Mr. Sumit 

D. Chowdhury, President, Reliance 

Jio; Dr. Deepak Malhotra, Vice 

President, Human Resources, IL&FS 

and Mr Rajive Chawla, Chairman, 

Jairaj Group and Unique Mouldings. 

Mr. Sanjiva Dubey, Country Head and Principal, IBM Consulting; Mr. Jatinder Singh , Senior Secretary, PHD 

Chamber; Mr. Virender Kapoor, Founder, MILE - Management Institute for Leadership and Excellence and 

Mr. Rajeev Bhadauria, Director Group, HR, Jindal Steel & Power Limited 



21


Focus State- Chhattisgarh 

Affordable Housing: 

Opportunities and Challenges 

Mr. Pradeep Tandon, Chairman, Chhattisgarh Committee, PHD Chamber | Mr. N. Baijendra Kumar, IAS, Principal Secretary to Hon’ble Chief Minister, Housing and 

Environment, Commerce and Industries, Government of Chhattisgarh and Mr. Sanjay Shukla IFS, Commissioner, Chhattisgarh Housing Board 

The Chhattisgarh Committee of 


with Chhattisgarh Housing 

Board organized a conference on 

‘Affordable Housing: Opportunities 

and Challenges in Chhattisgarh’ on 

June 27, 2014 at Raipur. Mr. Pradeep 

Tandon, Chairman, Chhattisgarh 

Committee, PHD Chamber delivered 

the welcome address on the occasion. 

Chief Guest, Mr. Baijandra 

Kumar, IAS, Principal Secretary 

to Hon’ble Chief Minister and 

Chairman, Chhattisgarh Housing 

Board emphasized on the need for 

innovation and new technology in 

the housing sector. He said that 

though the Housing Development 

Commission has done a lot of valuable 

work in the last 10 years, there is scope 

for improvement and suggested to 

the officers of the Housing Board 

to create marketing plans to create 

competition in the market for the 

benefit of the consumers. He added 

that loan facilities and better finance 

schemes should be provided to the 

consumers. 

Mr. Sanjay Shukla, IFS, Commissioner, 

Chhattisgarh Housing Board said that 

Rs. 10,000 lakh crores are required to 

build affordable houses for all. Price 

of houses for lower income group 

people should be in the range of Rs. 

5-6 lakhs and if an individual takes a 

loan for 20 years, the EMI calculates 

to Rs. 5000 per month, which is 

difficult for an individual earning Rs. 

4000-5000 per month to pay. In this 

context, he viewed that affordable 

houses should be constructed. 

Mr. Anand Singhania, President, 

CREDAI, Chhattisgarh and MD 

Avinash Developers, Raipur was 

grateful to the Housing Board for 

allowing private builders to partner 

in affordable housing projects. He 

indicated that private builders have 

constructed almost 75,000 houses in 

the last 10 years and about 10 percent 

have been for lower income group 

people. 

India’s overall housing shortage as 

of today stands at about 22 million 

homes. Within this, the shortage 

of affordable housing - homes with 

price in the range of Rs. 10-20 lakh - 

accounts for a very sizable share. The 

affordable housing sector is clearly 

in need of supply amplification, 

which would only happen if more 

institutional funding were to start 

pouring into this segment. Today, 

affordable housing projects near 

larger cities such as Mumbai, Pune, 

Bangalore and Delhi. have benefited 

from institutional funding and have 

seen encouraging response from 

the buyer market. Institutional funds 

can usually expect an internal rate 

of return (IRR) of approximately 25% 

by investing in residential projects. 

The IRR is even higher for welllocated 

affordable housing projects 

because of the larger volumes and 

faster absorption. Most developers of 

affordable housing continue to fund 

their projects from their own financial 

resources, bank funding as well as 

sale-generated revenue. 



23

Interactive Session with Chief Secretary, Haryana 

Mr. Devender Singh, IAS, Principal Secretary, Government of Haryana, Department of Power; Mr. Alok B Shriram, Senior Vice President, PHD Chamber; Mr. S 

C Choudhary, IAS, Chief Secretary, Haryana; Mr. Mohit Jain, Chairman, Haryana Committee, PHD Chamber and Mr. Y S Malik, IAS, Additional Chief Secretary, 

Government of Haryana 

PHD Chamber organized an 

Interactive Session with Mr. 

S C Choudhary, IAS, Chief 

Secretary, Haryana on July 16, 2014 at 

PHD House, New Delhi. The Chief 

Secretary was accompanied by senior 

state bureaucrats of the government 

of Haryana including Mr. Y S Malik, 

Additional Chief Secretary, Mr. 

Devender Singh, Principal Secretary, 

Department. of Power, Mr. T C Gupta, 

Principal Secretary, Department of 

Town & Country Planning and Dr. 

Mahavir Singh, Principal Secretary, 

Department. of Environment. 

The meeting was organized to discuss 

issues and challenges concerning the 

trade and industry in Haryana and 

address certain specific issues of 

industry associations. 

Mr. Y S Malik, Additional Chief 

Secretary of the Government of 

Haryana stated that the Haryana 

Government may propose 

amendments to labour laws such 

as the Industrial Disputes Act, the 

Factories Act and the Contract 

Labour Act in line with the Rajasthan 

Government which recently obtained 

its cabinet approval to replace the 

three prototype Acts that have lost 

their utility in modern times. In this 

context, Wipro had been hired to make 

the Department’s industrial taxation 

comprehensively online in order 

to reduce paper work and improve 

transparency in tax administration. He 

further informed that PHD Chamber 

had recommended changes in these 

labour laws and after due diligence 

the State government would send it to 

the Union Government for necessary 

endorsement. 

During the interactive session, it was 

recommended that the Government 

of Haryana should bring about 

changes in its APMC Act to ensure 

fair play for the farmers of the State 

and also rationalize its power tariffs 

for industrial consumers as the power 

Focus State- Haryana 

tariffs in the State were extremely 

exorbitant and there was a need to 

be rationalize them to make them 

competitive. 

The Chamber also proposed that the 

State should set up Committees of 

Secretaries to resolve the pending 

issues that hamper industrial 

development in Haryana. 

Mr. Mahesh Gupta, Vice President, 

Mr. Mohit Jain and Mr. Pranav 

Gupta, Chairman and Co-Chairman 

respectively of the Haryana Committee 

and Mr. Dalip Sharma, Director PHD 

Chamber also participated in the 

session. 

Mr. Alok B Shriram, Senior Vice President, PHD Chamber presenting a memento to Mr. S C Choudhary, 

IAS, Chief Secretary, Haryana 

Focus State- Haryana 

Utensils Industry 

Cluster 

PHD Chamber organized a 

five-day ‘Design Awareness 

Workshop for the Utensils 

Industry Cluster’, June 24-28, 2014 at 

Yamuna Nagar (Haryana). 

Mr. Davinder Gupta, President of 

Small Scale Aluminium Utensils 

Manufacture Association said Jagadhri 

is renowned for brass utensils, sheets, 

coils, strips and also for aluminium 

and stainless steel utensils. There are 

about 150-200 brass and aluminium 

industries in the cluster. 

Design Awareness Seminars 

Light Engineering Industry 

A 

Design Awareness Seminar 

for the Light Engineering 

Industry was held on June 

28, 2014 at Yamuna Nagar (Haryana). 

The seminar provided an excellent 

platform to discuss the significance 

of design intervention and application 

for enhancing the competitive 

advantage of MSMEs in the domestic 

and international arena. Mr. Ashok 

Sangwan, IAS, Director Industries 

(Haryana) and Mr. Vijay Kumar, 

Director MSME Institute, Karnal 

were the chief guests for the occasion. 

In her welcome remarks, Ms. Anju 

Bajaj, Co Chairman Taskforce on 

MSMEs, PHD Chamber said that the 

government should be able to create an 

eco-system in which manufacturing is 

accelerated as in the absence of a sound 

eco-system, manufacturing growth has 

slowed in the last couple of years. 

Mr. Ashok Sangwan, IAS, Director 

Industries and Commerce and Special 

Secretary to Government of Haryana 

said Re-Rolling Stainless Steel and 

Aluminium Utensils industry have a 

Ms. Bindoo Ranjan, Coordinator, National Institure of Design, Mr. Bharat Garg, President Haryana 

Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Yamuna Nagar), Ms. Anju Bajaj, Co-Chairman,Taskforce 

on MSMEs, PHD Chamber, Mr. Ashok Sangwan, Director Industries and Commerce and Special 

Secretary to Haryana Government, Mr. Raj Chawla , President Haryana Chamber of Commerce and 

Industry ( Yamuna Nagar ) and Mr. Vijay Kumar, Director, MSME Institute ( Haryana) 

potential to set up common facilities 

centre at Jagadhari and Yamuna 

Nagar. Yamuna Nagar has emerged as 

an important industrial destination in 

the state. 

Mr. Raj Chawala, President, Haryana 

Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 

Yamuna Nagar spoke on the need to 

focus on product development in the 

light of the innovative design concepts. 

He further added that products from 

Yamuna Nagar can compete in the 

national and international markets. 

He said that this sector faces 

deficiencies such as lack of access to 

technology and design technology 

sharing and the inadequacies of strong 

organizational structure, professional 

attitude etc. Mr. Kulveer Singh Bhati 

Ms Bindoo Ranjan spoke on the 

various schemes offered by the 

Ministry of MSMEs under the Design 

Clinic Scheme and the NMCP. 

Mr. Saurabh Singh, CEO, Saarmarm 

Research & Development Private 

Limited and Sumant Kumar were the 

resource persons. Mr. Ashwani Goel, 

Vice President Haryana Chamber of 

Commerce and Industry (Yamuna 

Nagar) delivered the vote-of-thanks 

to the guests. 

Participants at the workshop 

Industrial Designer, Mr Anil Jhanjhi, 

Lean Manufacturing Consultant 

and Mr. Vipin Sarin, Innovator and 

Entrepreneur were the resource 

persons for the workshop. 



25

Entrepreneurship Development Program 

Participants at the seminar 

Under the National Mission 

on Food Processing, a four 

week Entrepreneurship 

Development Program on Food 

Processing Industry was held at Baru 

Sahib District Sirmaur, Himachal 

Pradesh from May 29- June 26, 2014. 

The basic objective of the program 

was to inculcate entrepreneurial skills 

amongst the youth to encourage 

local produce based food processing 

2nd Entrepreneurship Development Program 

Mr. Prakash Chaudhary, Hon’ble Minister for Excise and Taxation, H.P. 

awarding certificate to a trainee 

The second four-week 

Entrepreneurship 

Development Program (EDP) 

on Food Processing Industry was 

organized by PHD Chamber from 

June 16- July 14, 2014 at Nerchowk 

District Mandi, H.P. At the closing 

industry. This was the first of the 

sixteen EDPs which would be 

organized in eight districts of the 

State. 

Procedure for setting up food 

processing industry along with 

practical training was imparted to the 

trainees by hiring technical experts in 

these fields. Industrial exposure visits 

were also organized and interactions 

ceremony held on 

June 13, 2014, Mr. 

Prakash Chaudhary, 

Hon’ble Minister of 

Excise and Taxation, 

Himachal Pradesh. 

appreciated the efforts 

of PHD Chamber. 

for organizing EDPs. 

He said that the 

State Government 

was providing every 

possible help to the 

entrepreneurs who set up food 

processing industry in the State. 

The Hon’ble Minister distributed 

certificates to the participants. 

Mr. Suresh Kumar Sharma, Resident 

Director, PHD Chamber apprised that 

the trainees were imparted practical 

Focus State- Himachal Pradesh 

were arranged with successful 

entrepreneurs. 

Prof. SPS Guleria, Head of 

Department, Akal School of 

Nutrition and Food Technology, 

Eternal University, Baru Sahib was the 

main faculty. 

Mr. Suresh Kumar Sharma, Resident 

Director and Mr. Sandeep Sharma, 

Executive Officer, PHD Chamber 

apprised the trainees about the vast 

business opportunity in the field 

of food processing based on local 

produce. Officials from Department 

of Industries explained the procedures 

and incentives provided by the State 

and Union Governments to set up an 

industry. Mr. Jagjit Singh, Pradhan 

Gram Panchayat Lana Bhalta, 

distributed certificates to the trainees 

in the presence of senior faculty 

members from Eternal University and 

officials of Department of Industries. 

knowledge of food processing 

through hands on practical training 

for two weeks. 

Faculty from Abhilashi Group of 

Institutions, Mandi delivered lectures 

on various topics of commerce and 

management. General Manager, 

District Industries Centre, Mandi 

apprised the trainees about the 

incentives and concessions provided 

by the Department of Industries, 

Himachal Pradesh. 

Mr. Sandeep Sharma, Executive 

Officer, PHD Chamber indicated that 

the EDP will be followed-up for the 

next six months and the prospective 

entrepreneurs will be provided every 

possible assistance at all levels from 

the preparation of the project report 

up to sanction and disbursement of 

tem-loans. 

Focus State- Jammu 

Progressive Jammu: Today and Tomorrow 

Mr. Debjit Talapatra, Director, PHD Chamber; Mr. Yogesh Lohiya, MD & CEO, IFFCO TOKIO General Insurance Co. Limited; Mr. Talat Pervez Rohella, Director, 

Tourism Kashmir; Mr. Vikrant Kuthiala, Chairman, J&K Committee, PHD Chamber; Mr. Shantmanu, IAS, Divisional Commissioner, Jammu; Mr. Soujanya Sharma, 

KAS, Director, Jammu Tourism and Mr. Vibhav Kumar Gaur, CEO Tourism and Promotions, Proplarity Business Group 

PHD Chamber in collaboration with 

Divisional Commissioner’s Office, 

Jammu and Director of Tourism, 

Jammu Region organized a seminar 

on ‘Progressive Jammu: Today and 

Tomorrow - The Way Forward’ on 

July 10, 2014 at Hotel Asia, Jammu. 

Mr. Shantmanu IAS, Divisional 

Commissioner, Jammu was the Chief 

Guest while Mr. Soujanya Sharma 

KAS, Director- Tourism, Jammu 

Region and Mr. Talat Parvez Rohilla, 

Director – Tourism, Srinagar Region 

were the Guests of Honour. 

Mr. Vikrant Kuthiala, Chairman, J 

& K Committee, PHD Chamber 

highlighted on the high potential in 

Jammu Region for the development 

of tourism sector other than religious 

tourism. He emphasised that it is 

imperative to develop the requisite 

infrastructure in the region with 

support of all stakeholders. 

Mr. Shantmanu, IAS, Divisional 

Commissioner, Jammu in his inaugural 

address, complimented PHD Chamber 

for taking the initiative of organizing 

the seminar which would develop 

sustainable linkages amongst the stake 

holders in the context of developing 

the Jammu division exclusively and to 

identify indicators which shall vitalize 

Capt. Anil Gaur, Managing Director, Master Tour and Travel; Mr. Angrez Singh Rana, Chief Executive 

Officer, Bhadarwah Development Authority, Bhadarwah; Dr. Raman Kesar, Chief Executive Officer, Patnitop 

Development Authority, Kud; Mr. Shantmanu, IAS, Divisional Commissioner, Jammu; Mr. Ajit Kumar, Founder 

– Khushigram & CEO Radiance Media and Mr. Vibhav Kumar Gaur, CEO Tourism and Promotions, Proplarity 

Business Group 

Mr. Vijay Sehgal, Chairman, Ladakh Tourism Promotion Council; Mr. Vinod Dhar, Chief Manager , SBI, 

Jammu; Mr. Inderjit Khajuria, President, Hotel and Lodges, Jammu; Mr. Kuldeep Wahi, President Hotels and 

Restaurants Association, Jammu; Mr. Vikrant Kuthiala, Chairman, J&K Committee, PHD Chamber; Mr. S K 

Sethi, Co-Chairman, Insurance Committee, PHD Chamber; Mr. Davinder Choudhary, President, Taxi Union 

Jammu and S. Amrik Singh, President, Jammu Association of Tour Operator 



27

Focus State- Jammu 

Focus State- Madhya Pradesh 

Conference on Corporate & Financial 

Restructuring for SMEs 

Mr. Vijay Sehgal, Chairman, Ladakh Tourism Promotion Council; Mr. Vinod Dhar, Chief Manager , SBI, Jammu; Mr. Inderjit Khajuria, President, Hotel and Lodges, 

Jammu; Mr. Kuldeep Wahi, President Hotels and Restaurants Association, Jammu; Mr. Vikrant Kuthiala, Chairman, J&K Committee, PHD Chamber; Mr. S K Sethi, 

Co-Chairman, Insurance Committee, PHD Chamber; Mr. Davinder Choudhary, President, Taxi Union Jammu and S. Amrik Singh, President, Jammu Association of 

Tour Operators 

the development of the industry. 

CS Vivek Nayak, Secretary and CS Piyush Bindal, Chairman, Bhopal Chapter, ICSI | CS Mahavir Lunawat, MD Pantomath Group, Mumbai | Mr. Ajay Thakur, 

Head, SME BSE Exhange | Mr. Santosh K Choubey, Chancellor, AISECT University, PHD Chamber | Mr. Anil Agrawal, Sanwaria Agro Oils Limited | CS Ragini 

Chokshi, Chairperson and CS Amit Kumar Jain, Treasurer, WIRC-ICSI 

Other speakers at the inaugural session 

included Mr. Soujanya Sharma, KAS, 

Director- Tourism, Jammu and Mr. 

Talat Parvez Rohilla, Director – 

Tourism, Srinagar, Mr. Yogesh Lohiya, 

MD & CEO, IFFCO TOKIO General 

Insurance Co. Limited and Mr. Vibhav 

Kumar Gaur, CEO, Tourism and 

Promotions, Proplarity Business 

Group. 

Mr. S K Sethi, Co-Chairman, 

Insurance Committee, PHD Chamber 

delivered the vote-of-thanks at the 

inaugural session. 

Two Technical Sessions were held as 

part of the seminar. The first Session 

on ‘The Issues and Challenges of 

developing the infrastructure and 

Tourism in Jammu Region’ was chaired 

by Mr. Shantmanu, IAS, Divisional 

Commissioner, Jammu. Other 

speakers were Dr. Raman Kesar, 

Chief Executive Officer, Patnitop 

Development Authority, Mr. Angrez 

Singh Rana, Chief Executive Officer, 

Bhadarwah Development Authority, 

Mr. Vibhav Kumar Gaur, CEO 

Tourism and Promotions, Proplarity 

Business Group and Mr. Ajit Kumar, 

Founder – Khushigram & CEO 

Radiance Media. 

Participate at the conference 

The session on ‘Role of Associations, 

Banking Institutions and Insurance 

Companies in Developing the 

Infrastructure’ in Jammu Region’ 

was chaired by Mr. Vikrant Kuthiala, 

Chairman, J & K Committee, PHD 

Chamber. Eminent Speakers present 

in this session were Mr. S K Sethi, 

Co-Chairman, Insurance Committee, 

PHD Chamber & Vice President, 

Insurance Foundation of India, Mr. 

Kuldeep Wahi, President Hotels & 

Restaurants Association, Jammu and a 

number of Travel Associations. 

Mr. Debjit Talapatra, Director (States) 

PHD Chamber moderated the 

program. 

Jammu region has a lot of 

tourism potential and there 

are various places in Jammu 

which are worth seeing. Bhau 

Fort in Jammu city is the major 

attraction centre for the tourists 

visiting the city. Bage-e-Bahu is 

the another tourist destination. 

Aquarium established by the 

fisheries department is being 

visited by many these days. 

Mata Vaishno Devi is located on 

the Trikuta Hills which is around 

40 to 45 km away from Jammu 

City. Approximately 10 million 

pilgrims visit this holy place 

every year. 


with Institute of Company 

Secretaries of India (ICSI) 

and Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) 

organized a conference on ‘Corporate 

& Financial Restructuring’ on June 

14, 2014 at Bhopal. The conference 

aimed to highlight the importance of 

initial public listing and regulations 

formulated for revitalization and 

business succession of SMEs. 

At the inaugural session, Mr. Santosh 

Kumar Choubey, Chancellor, 

AISECT University, also a member 

of PHD Chamber accentuated the 

need for corporate restructuring in 

Madhya Pradesh as it is the hub of 

SMEs. Mr. Santosh gave an example 

of his own organization- how from 

being a nonprofit organization it got 

transformed into a limited company 

in the services sector. He appreciated 

BSE for introducing such a viable 

concept for enlisting SMEs in BSEs 

to raise equity capital for their growth 

and expansion. 

Mr. Anil Agrawal, Director, Sanwaria 

Agro Oils Limited, Former Chairman 

of PHD Chamber Madhya Pradesh 

Committee stated the importance of 

change management for SMEs and 

commented that during a financial 

crisis such changes happen and are 

completely unexpected. Depending 

upon business activities, there can 

be different ways of corporate 

and financial restructuring such as 

mergers/acquisitions/joint ventures, 

internal restructuring e.g. downsizing, 

business expansion, reallocation etc. 

Mr. Agrawal opined that a restructured 

enterprise will be efficient and better 

organized on its core business with a 

revised strategic and financial plan. 

In the first technical session, Mr. 

Ajay Thakur, Head of SME BSE 

Exchange, rendered information 

on benefits of SME listing on ITP 

including facilitation of capital raising 

by small and medium enterprises 

including start-up companies which 

are in the early stages of growth, 

easier entry and exist options for 

investors like angel investors, VCFs, 

and PEs, relaxed compliance and costeffective 

listing and tax benefits to 

long-term investors. Mr. Ajay Thakur 

also highlighted the eligibility criterion 

for companies covetous of listing, due 

diligence, market-making, valuation, 

pricing and compliances. 

In the second technical session, Mr. C 

S Mahavir Lunawat, MD Pantomath 

Group, Mumbai opined that for his 

group SME listing is not a business 

development initiative, rather a 

market-development initiative. He 

added that his group was taking steps 

to take SME listing to the doorsteps 

of progressive SME businesses. 

In the third technical session, CS Amit 

Kumar Jain, Treasurer, WIRC-ICSI 

discussed the importance of finance 

management especially for SMEs. He 

stated that major reforms are required 

in banking system as well as in capital 

markets to provide for timely and 

cost-effective financing solutions to 

develop business ideas for the SMEs. 

CS Ragini Chokshi, Chairman, WIRC- 

ICSI, CS Piyush Bindal, Chairman, 

Bhopal Chapter ICSI and CS Vivek 

Nayak Secretary, Bhopal Chapter 

ICSI were the eminent faculties at the 

conference. 

Mr. Piyush Bindal proposed the voteof-thanks 

to the distinguished guests 

and the organizers. 



29

Focus State- Punjab 

Launching The Real Estate Development- 

Council (REDCO) 

Focus State- Punjab 

Safety Awareness Workshop on Self Defense for all : 

A must-attend for females 

Participants during the release of Realty Magazine 

City-Based stakeholders of 

Amritsar in association 

with PHD Chamber came 

together to launch the Real Estate 

Development-Council (REDCO) – in 

Amritsar, Punjab on June 13, 2014 for 

development of the city of Amritsar. 

REDCO is an apex body of 

stakeholders in the housing 

and construction industry. The 

Government of Haryana, along with 

the Ministry for Urban Development 

are its patrons. 

The mandate of REDCO is to 

encourage co-ordination and cooperation 

amongst the entities 

dealing with real estate development 

issues- like land development, 

layout, planning and construction 

of residential, commercial and 

institutional buildings, complexes, 

townships and enhancement of urban 

infrastructure, architecture and town 

planning in Amritsar. 

Col Pithvi Raj, REDCO-Haryana, 

described the vision of the council 

to be the development of Amritsar, 

including its physical and social 

infrastructure, to make it the top most 

city of the world in the next 20 years 

while adhering to a code of ethics and 

conduct through self-regulation. 

Almost all stakeholders, including 

builders, residents, politicians and 

the state government are likely to be 

involved in it. This vision would be 

applied to Punjab as well as in North 

India. “REDCO-Haryana will provide 

a dedicated focus on urban, town 

planning, land and infrastructure 

policies”, said Mr. Raj 

Col Prithvi Raj and Mr. Dalip Sharma, 

Regional Director of PHD Chamber 

gave assurance to the local residents 

for raising up issues related to Amritsar 

with the newly formed government 

of the country. Major issues discussed 

with local builders were Jaliawala Bagh 

cultural evening time clash with Wagah 

retreat ceremony, development of 

Ram Tirath, an important pilgrimage 

of Amritsar and how to develop 

Amritsar as a tourist hub. 

India is making efforts by allowing real-estate companies to launch public Real Estate 

Investment Trusts (REITs), partly to make more capital available for real-estate investments. 

In budget 2014-15, Finance Minister, Mr. Arun Jaitley announced that REITs will get passthrough 

entity status and other incentives, including exemption from long-term capital gains 

tax. This should bring in about US$ 10 billion by March 2015, of course subject to the 

regulations by SEBI and stamp duty concessions by the state governments to put REIT in 

place. A REIT is a company that owns, and in most cases, operates income-producing real 

estate properties by pooling in money from several investors. REITs will reduce the pressure 

on the banking system, avail fresh equity and attract long-term finance from foreign as well 

as domestic sources. 

Mr. Rajeev Pal Singh, President-cum-Chief Technical Director of Karate-de-Indo- Ryu Association International; Chief Guest, Mr. Sukhchain Singh Gill, IPS SSP, 

UT-Chandigarh; Mr. Dalip Sharma, Director and Ms. Rimneet Kaur, Sr. Asst Secretary, PHD Chamber 

PHD Chamber organized a 

self-awareness workshop on 

‘Self Defense for All : A mustattend 

for Females’ on 25 June 2014 at 

PHD House, Chandigarh. 

Mr. Dalip Sharma, Director, PHD 

Chamber, Chandigarh welcomed the 

participants and said that personal 

safety was an issue of great concern 

for everyone, especially for women. 

The present scenario has increased the 

need for women, to be aware of basic 

self-defense techniques that can be 

used in a potential hostile situation. It 

is against this backdrop that the event 

was organized to train individuals 

and women so that they are better 

protected and can fight back in case 

of any mishap. 

Mr. Sukhchain Singh Gill IPS SSP, UT- 

Chandigarh was the Chief Guest for 

the occasion. He apprised participants 

of the various initiatives taken by the 

Chandigarh Police for the safety of 

women in the city of Chandigarh. 

He informed participants that Antihuman 

Trafficking Unit of Chandigarh 

Police have also started Self-Defence 

Training for the girls/women of 

Chandigarh to make them independent 

so that they can save themselves 

in case of any untoward incident. 

He further informed that they 

would be publicizing this message 

in newspapers on their website so 

that people can attend such training 

camps. 

Trainer, Mr. Rajeev Pal Singh, 

President-cum-Chief Technical 

Director of Karate-de-Indo- 

Ryu Association International 

(Recognized by the Ministry of 

Women in India face myriad cultural and social challenges that impede social 

advancement. A United Nations report indicates that the Indian constitution prohibits 

discrimination on the basis of sex, but the position of women remains unequal. Women 

in India have long been subject to entrenched cultural bias that perpetuate the valuing of 

sons over daughters, who are often seen as an economic burden to families that fear high 

dowries and wedding costs. It is really a combination of factors hindering women’s rights, 

including gender sex selection, literacy, child marriage, and violence. Under the Indian 

Penal Code, crimes against women include rape, kidnapping and abduction, molestation, 

sexual harassment, torture, homicide for dowry, and the importation of girls. India’s slow 

and weak criminal justice system has exacerbated the plight of rape and sexual assault. 

In March 2013, India’s parliament passed a new law further protecting women against 

sexual violence. The legislation criminalizes stalking, voyeurism, and sexual harassment, 

and imposes the death penalty on repeat offenders and for rape attacks that lead to the 

victim’s death. The law also makes it a crime for police officers to refuse reporting cases 

when victims file complaints of sexual attacks. In June 2014, the new government pledged 

“zero tolerance” for violence against women in response to the gang-rape and lynching of 

two lower-caste cousins in Uttar Pradesh. 

Youth & Sports World Karate 

Federation and International Olympic 

Committee) imparted training in 

different techniques of self-defense. 

Participants were given demos on 

knife protection, front fall; body hold 

and neck hold techniques. Participants 

applied the learnt techniques to 

mock situations under the guidance 

of the instructors. As per the 

feedback received, the program was 

highly useful and appreciated by the 

participants. 



31

Uttar Pradesh Green Banking 

Summit 2014 

Mr. V K Joel, Former General Manager, Punjab National Bank | Mr. R K Khandal, Vice Chancellor, Uttar Pradesh Technical University | Mr. Karnam Sekar, Chief 

General Manager, State Bank of India | Ms. Supriya Pattanaik, Regional Director, Reserve Bank of India | Mr. Satyendra Tomar, Joint Managing Director, Proplarity 

Group and Mr. K K Gupta, Chief General Manager, NABARD during the inaugural session of the Summit 

The Uttar Pradesh Committee of 

PHD Chamber in association with 

Reserve Bank of India organized 

‘Uttar Pradesh Green Banking 

Summit 2014: Explore Green Banking 

Solutions: Eco Friendly Banking’ on 

June 26, 2014 at Hotel Taj Vivanta, 

Lucknow. The aim of the summit was 

to bring public and private sector banks 

and financial institutions on the same 

platform and unite industry to discuss 

issues related to deforestation in the 

city, paperless banking, technological 

up-gradation, etc. 

Mr. R K Sharan, Regional Director, 

PHD Chamber moderated the event 

while Mr. Debjit Talapatra, Director 

-States, PHD Chamber, delivered 

the welcome address. Mr. Satyendra 

Tomar, Co-Chairman, PHD Chamber 

in his global prospective of green 

banking said that “India is far ahead 

of US and European banks when it 

comes to the use of technology in 

banking.” 

Chief Guest, Ms. Supriya Pattnaik, 

Regional Director, Reserve Bank of 

India (RBI) said that RBI’s circular 

issued in 2007 on making CSR and 

non-financial disclosures will soon 

be made mandatory for banks. She 

promised all the possible assistance 

on the part of RBI for making the city 

cleaner and greener. She advised banks 

to take up stretches in and around 

Gomti Nagar area of Lucknow and 

plant more trees in order to make the 

city green. 

Dr. Dinesh Sharma, Mayor, Lucknow 

Municipal Corporation promised that 

steps would be taken by Lucknow 

Municipal Corporation for making 

the city clean. Dr. R K Khandal, 

Vice-Chancellor, UPTU in his theme 

address talked about implementation 

of Kyoto Protocol and Equador 

Principles. Mr. K K Gupta, Chief 

General Manager, NABARD said, 

“Activities that support environment 

need to be motivated. People using 

e-banking or other ways of banking 

must be incentivized and also 

customers using branch banking or 

paper based banking modules must be 

charged to motivate customers.” 

Mr. Karnam Sekar, Chief General 

Manager, State Bank of India added 

that SBI is encouraging green channel 

banking at branches also. SBI already 

has 40 ATM’s which are solar-powered 

and requested the participants to 

use e-way of banking rather than 

using contemporary ways. Dr. Dev 

Murti, Chairman, Sri Ram Murti 

Smarak Institutions, raised concerns 

Focus State- Uttar Pradesh 

on e-ways of banking as a customer 

and security loopholes. He also 

agreed with the forum on the need of 

plantation required for making the city 

clean and green. He indicated that he 

had planted more than 2500 plants till 

now. 

Mr. V K Joel, Former General 

Manager, Punjab National Bank, 

raised a concern about how e-waste 

is disposed off by the banks and 

spoke on recycling and reuse of 

resources. Mr. S. N. Sabat, Inspector 

General of Police, CRPF, emphasized 

on use of public transport in order 

to avoid congestion and pollution 

and congratulated the residents of 

Lucknow for getting the metro. Mr. 

Manoj Kumar Ranjan, Deputy General 

Manager, RBI talked about RBI’s vision 

of making the environment green 

and planting more trees. Ms. Richa 

Singh, Associate Director, Proplarity 

Group said that real estate sector has 

already taken a leap in environmental 

practices as environmental clearances 

are mandatory for any new project. 

She added that measures like green 

building, rain water harvesting, etc. 

will help the real estate companies 

to contribute towards environment. 

Ms. Shalini Sinha, Principal, Study 

Hall suggested schools to participate 


through dedicated forums like PHD 

Chamber’s assistance to create “green 

awareness” drive. Mr. Vinay Kumar 

Verma, Deputy General Manager, 

Andhra Bank talked about initiatives 

taken by Andhra Bank on green 

banking. Mr. M K Gupta, Deputy 

General Manager, Bank of India 

spoke on the offerings extended by 

the Bank of India to customers under 

the green banking initiative. 

The discussions focused on promoting 

sustainable green and ecological 

systems for the city of Lucknow 

through the ongoing endeavor of 

PHD Chamber. 

Workshop On Companies Act, 2013 

CS Sanjay Grover; CS Alka Kapoor; CS Anuj Tiwari | CS Meenakshi Srivastava and CS Deepak Kukreja 

Uttar Pradesh Committee of PHD 

Chamber in association with Lucknow 

Chapter of ICSI organized a workshop 

on ‘Companies Act, 2013, Rules Made 

There Under and its Implementation’ 

on July 12, 2014 at PHD House, 

Lucknow. 

The workshop imparted the knowledge 

of rules under Companies Act, 2013 

and also gave an opportunity to the 

audience to interact with industry 

experts from various domains. 

Mr. Anuj Tiwari, Chairman, Lucknow 

Chapter, NIRC in her introductory 

remarks talked about the provisions 

of Companies Act, 2013. Mr. 

Ms. Supriya Pattnaik, Regional Director, Reserve Bank of India felicitated by Mr. Satyendra Tomar, Joint 

Managing Director, Proplarity Group 

Shyam Aggarwal, Chairman, NIRC 

emphasized on due-diligence 

measures. 

Mr. Sanjay Grover, Chairman, 

Corporate Laws & Governance 

Committee, NIRC gave an insight 

about the rules related to public 

and non-public disclosures under 

Companies Act, 2013. He indicated 

the things to be kept in mind while 

preparing Annual Report, Annual 

Return, Website, etc. and also spoke 

on rules regarding Secretarial Audits. 

Mr. Atul Mittal, Director, Deloitte and 

an expert in the field of Corporate 

Restructuring and Regulatory aspects 

of the business, shared the rules 

related to board and governance and 

gave insights into the prohibition on 

insider trading and forward dealing. 

Mr. Lalit Kumar, Partner, J Sagar 

Associates, an expert in the field of 

corporate and commercial laws related 

to business made a presentation on 

‘Loans, Investments & Related Party 

Transactions’. 

Ms. Alka Kapoor, Joint Secretary, 

ICSI shared the new provisions under 

Companies Act, 2013 with respect 

e-governance and CSR. 



33

Football Cup: World Cup Edition 


Focus State- Rajasthan 

Budget Viewing Session 

In wave of ongoing FIFA World Cup, 

MB Club of Lucknow organized a 

Corporate Liga in the city from June 

27 29, 2014. In this Seven-a-Side 

night football championship, 12 teams 

from various corporate segments of 

the city participated. PHD Chamber 

was the winner of the tournament. 

In league stage, PHD Chamber won 

both the matches with a margin 

of 2-0 and 2-1 respectively. In the 

semi-finals, PHD Chamber defeated 

Lucknow Chartered Account by 1-0 

which was played exceptionally well 

by both the teams. In the final match, 

PHD Chamber scored the solitary 

goal of the match thus lifting the first 

Corporate Liga (Soccer World Cup 

Edition) 7-A Side night tournament. 

Mr. R K Sharan, Regional Director, 

PHD Chamber & Captain of PHD 

Winning team posing with the trophy 

Chamber’s team in the prize winning 

ceremony said that every team player 

contributed to the success of the 

tournament. 

Members at the Budget Viewing Session 

Seminar on Loans, Borrowings & Related Party 

Transactions 

Mr. Anuj Tiwari, Chairman, LCNIRC; Mr. Ranjeet Pandey, Past Chairman, NIRC; Mr. Rajeev Kumar, Past 

Chairman, LCNIRC 


with Lucknow Chapter of NIRC 

of ICSI organized a seminar on 

‘Loans, Borrowings & Related 

party Transactions’ under the New 

Companies Act 2013 on June 26, 2014 

at Hotel Taj Vivanta, Lucknow. 

Mr. Ranjeet Pandey, Past Chairman, 

NIRC of ICSI, Mr. Anuj Tiwari, 

Chairman, LCNIRC, Mr. Subhash 

Tiwari, Vice Chairman, LCNIRC and 

Mr. Rajeev Kumar, Past Chairman, 

LCNIRC were the key speakers. 

Chief Speaker, Mr. Ranjeet Pandey 

warned that professionals should be 

very careful while there is transaction 

of loans and borrowings amongst 

group companies as strict penalty 

and prosecution exists if there is 

misutilization and passing of funds 

amongst the group companies. He 

stated that the amendments to the 

New Companies Act were likely to be 

notified by mid-July 2014. 

Mr. Ranjeet Pandey said that under 

the new Companies Act, the Chief 

Financial Officer and Company 

Secretary and his relatives are also 

covered under the Related Party 

clause. Hence companies need to be 

more careful while dealings with such 

entities. As all Foreign Companies and 

MNCs having subsidiaries/offices in 

India are covered under the Related 

Party clause, the MNCs are facing 

problems under the new law. The 

Ministry has invited suggestions on 

draft regulations under Related Party 

transactions. 

Mr. Anuj Tiwari thanked the 

participants for making this seminar a 

grand success. 

A 

Budget Viewing Session 

was organized by Rajasthan 

State Committee on July 10, 

2014 at Hotel ITC Rajputana, Jaipur. 

The session was chaired by Mr. M. L. 

Gupta and Mr. Arun Kumar Palawat 

Co-Chairmen, Rajasthan State 

Committee, PHD Chamber. 

Mr. M.L. Gupta stated that the budget 

is very comprehensive and the relief 

given on plant and machinery would 

help trade and industry to grow. The 

promises made are being reflected in 

the budget. 

Mr. Arun Kumar Palawat was of the 

view that the budget is all–inclusive 

and the states would benefit from it. 

Mr. Arun Dhandhania, Member, 

PHD Chamber said that the budget 

could be appreciated for raising the 

tax exemption limit from Rs. 2 lakhs 

to Rs. 2.5 lakhs and relief in interest 

on home loan. The relief given to 

senior citizens from Rs. 2 .5 lakhs to 

Rs. 3.00 lakhs was also commendable. 

Mr. Sunil Dutt Goyal , Member, PHD 

Chamber, while voicing his opinion 

on the budget said that for first time 

all sectors i.e. Agriculture, Industry, 

Tourism and Education have been 

focused upon in the budget and it 

should give the country a strong base 

to grow upon. 

BIG PICTURE 

Mr. Shalini Rajvanshi, Member, PHD 

Chamber said that in a short span 

of time, the NDA Government has 

presented a wonderful budget as it has 

addressed the needs of all sections of 

the society. 

Prof. S.P. Garg termed the budget as 

‘pragmatic and growth-oriented’. 



35



Cohesive 

Interface 

Meeting with Union Minister for 

Road Transport and Highways 

A PHD Chamber delegation led by Mr. Sharad 

Jaipuria, President, Mr. Mahesh Gupta, Vice 

President, Mr. Bharat Joshi, Member, Managing 

Committee and Dr. Ranjeet Mehta, Senior 

Secretary met Mr. Nitin Gadkari, Hon’ble Union 

Minister for Road Transport and Highways, 

Shipping on June 30, 2014 at his office in 

Transport Bhawan, New Delhi. 

Meeting with Minister of 

State for Tourism and Culture 

(Independent charge) 


Jaipuria, President, Mr. Mahesh Gupta, Vice 

President, Mr. Saurabh Sanyal, Executive Director, 

Mr. Vijay Mehta, Chairman, Tourism Committee, 

Mr. Satish Girotra, Chairman, Culture and Sports 

Committee, Mr. Mukesh Gupta, Chairman, 

Entertainment and Media Committee, Mr. Yogesh 

Srivastav, Director and Ms. Manisha Singh, Deputy 

Secretary, Tourism Committee met Mr. Shripad 

Yesso Naik, Hon’ble Minister of State for Tourism 

and Culture (Independent Charge), Ministry of 

Tourism and Culture on July 11, 2014 at Transport 

Bhawan, New Delhi. 

Meeting with Minister 

of Information and 

Broadcasting 


Jaipuria, President, Mr. Alok B. Shriram, Senior Vice 

President, Mr. Mahesh Gupta, Vice President, Mr. 

Saurabh Sanyal, Executive Director, Mr. Mukesh 

Gupta, Chairman, Entertainment and Media 

Committee, Mr. Yogesh Srivastav, Senior Secretary 

and Ms. Manisha Singh, Senior Secretary, 

Entertainment and Media Committee met Mr. 

Prakash Javadekar, Hon’ble Minister for Information 

and Broadcasting, Government of India on July 10, 

2014, New Delhi 

Meeting with Minister for 

Tourism, Government of 

Uttarakhand 

Mr. S.P Kochhar, Chairman, Uttarakhand, Mr. 

Manu Kochhar Member and Mr. Anil Taneja, 

Resident Director, Uttarakhand, PHD Chamber met 

Mr. Dinesh Dhane, Hon’ble Minister for Tourism, 

Government of Uttarakhand on July 10, 2014 to 

discuss issues related to the growth of tourism 

sector in Uttarakhand 

Meeting with Minister 

of State for Textiles, 

(Independent Charge) 


Jaipuria, President, Mr. Alok B. Shriram, Senior 

Vice President, Mr. Anil Khaitan, Chairman, 

Industry Affairs Committee and Mr. Mukesh Gupta, 

Chairman, Entertainment and Media Committee 

called on Mr. Santosh Kumar Gangwar, Hon’ble 

Minister of State for Textiles, (Independent Charge) 

on July 2, 2014 at New Delhi. 

Meeting with Secretary of 

Sports 

A PHD Chamber delegation led by Mr. Alok B. 

Sriram, Senior Vice President, Mr. Satish Girotra, 

Chairman, Culture and Sports Committee, Mr. 

Saurabh Sanyal, Executive Director and Mr. Yogesh 

Srivastav, Senior Secretary met Mr. Ajit M. Sharan, 

Hon’ble Secretary of Sports, Ministry of Youth 

Affairs and Sports on June 23, 2014 to invite him 

as Guest of Honour for the PHD Global Sports 

Convention-2014-’SPORTS FOR ALL-The Track 

Ahead’. 



37



Cohesive 

Interface 

Meeting with Minister of 

State for Youth Affairs & 

Sports & Skill Development & 

Entrepreneurship 

A PHD Chamber delegation led by Mr.Sharad 

Jaipuria , President, Mr. Alok B Shriram, Senior 

Vice President, Mr. Satish Girotra, Chairman, 

Culture & Sports Committee, Mr.Saket Dalmia, 

Chairman, Young Business Leader Forum, Mr. 

Sudarshan Mundhra, Chairman, Road, Ports & 

Other Infrastructure, Mr. Yogesh Srivastav, Director 

and Ms. Shikha Sabharwal, Joint Secretary and 

Mr. Sumit Kumar Aggarwal, Principal Associate, 

Tanjun Associate met Mr. Sarbananda Sonowal, 

Minister of State for Youth Affairs & Sports & Skill 

Development & Entrepreneurship (IC) at Shastri 

Bhavan on July 23,2014. New Delhi to invite him on 

the occasion of ‘International Youth Day’. 

Meeting with Secretary, 

Ministry of Coal 

A PHD Chamber delegation led by Dr. Harish Ahuja, 

Co-Chairman, Energy Committee, Dr. Ranjeet 

Mehta, Senior Secretary and Mr. Varun Bhardwaj, 

Assistant Secretary met Mr. S.K. Srivastava, IAS, 

Secretary, Ministry of Coal on July 4, 2014 at 

Shashtri Bhavan, New Delhi. 

Meeting with Secretary, Ministry 

of Urban Development 

Mr. Sudarshan Mundra, Chairman, Roads, Ports 

and other Infrastructure and Dr. Ranjeet Mehta, 

Director, PHD Chamber met Mr. Shankar Agarwal, 

IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development, 

Government of India on July 22, 2014 at Nirman 

Bhavan, New Delhi to invite him for the upcoming 

conference on ‘National Real Estate Summit 

– Building Smart Cities and Housing for All by 

2022’. 

Meeting with Ambassador, 

Embassy of Bosnia and 

Herzegovina 

Mr. Mukesh Gupta, Chairman, Entertainment 

& Media Committee , Mr. Yogesh Srivastav, 

Director, Ms. Manisha Singh, Deputy Secretary, 

International Affairs Committee, Europe, PHD 

Chamber met Dr. Sabit Subasic, Ambassador 

and Mr. Momcilo Vukovic, Counsellor, Embassy 

of Bosnia and Herzegovina on July 16, 2014 to 

discuss about the delegations’ visit to attend the 

Sarajevo Film Festival in Europe. 

Meeting with Chairman, 

Inland Waterways Authority 

of India, Ministry of Shipping 

Mr. Amitabh Verma, IAS, Chairman, Inland 

Waterways Authority of India, Ministry of Shipping 

met Mr. Sudarshan Das Mundhra, Chairman, 

Roads, Ports and Other Infrastructure Committee 

and Dr. Ranjeet Mehta, Senior Secretary, PHD 

Chamber on July 3, 2014 at his office, New Delhi 

Meeting with High 

Commissioner of Rwanda to 

India 

A PHD Chamber delegation led by Mr. Sanjeev 

Sardana, Chairman, International Affairs Committee 

for Africa, Mr. Saurabh Sanyal, Executive Director, 

Ms. Shabnam Pareek, Secretary and Ms. Komple 

Sharma, Executive Officer met H.E. Mr. Ernest 

Rwamucyo, High Commissioner of Rwanda to India 

on June 24, 2014 to discuss bilateral trade relations 

between the two countries. 



39



41

Special Feature 


Union Budget 2014-15: 

Promise of Progress 

PHD Research Bureau 

The Union Budget 2014-15 

is encouraging as it aims at 

enhancing growth, creating 

employment opportunities and 

containing inflation with the desired 

focus on garnering much needed 

investments, both public and private. 

In reality, it is an attempt to kick-start 

India’s Growth Story once again with 

a vision of long-term sustainability. 

Core to the growth of any developing 

economy is its manufacturing growth 

and competitiveness. The budget has 

laid tremendous emphasis on creating 

world-class manufacturing facilities. 

To facilitate the manufacturing 

sector, the government plans to 

create an eBiz platform by making 

all business and investment-related 

compliances available on a single 

portal with an integrated payment 

gateway. The government is also 

setting up a national industrial 

corridor authority to coordinate the 

development of industrial corridors 

with smart cities. The government is 

keen on skill development initiatives 

which will complement the thrust 

on manufacturing. Steps have been 

envisaged to revive SEZs to rejuvenate 

the investment cycle. 

To revive the foreign investors’ 

confidence, FDI limits have been 

raised for the defence and insurance 

sectors which would attract foreign 

capital in the coming times. Though 

the government has not repealed the 

retrospective tax laws, it has tried to 

accommodate investor concerns by 

setting up a committee to resolve the 

key ongoing issues. 

The proposals unveiled in Union 

Budget on various socio-economic 

fronts of the economy indicate 

promises of progress in the coming 

times. One of the biggest drivers 

of gross fixed capital formation is 

entrepreneurship. To kindle the spirit 

of entrepreneurship, the government 

plans to set up a venture capital fund 

in the MSME sector with a corpus 

of Rs100 billion. Focus on GST 

implementation and discussions with 

state governments in this regard are 

encouraging. GST is expected to 

streamline tax administration, avoid 

harassment of the business and result 

in higher revenue collection both for 

the Centre and the States. 

Key Announcements 

• y Vital Statistics – Fiscal deficit is 

pegged at 4.1% of GDP in 2014-15, 

3.6% in 2015-16 and 3% in 2016- 

17. Revenue deficit is estimated at 

2.9%. Sustainable growth of 4% in 

agriculture will be achieved. 

• y Agriculture – Farming as an 

activity contributes nearly 1/6th 

to our National GDP and a 

major portion of our population 

is dependent on it for livelihood. 

The budget proposes to establish 

two more Agricultural Research 

Institutes of Excellence, in Assam 

and Jharkhand with an initial sum 

of Rs. 1 billion. An amount of Rs. 

1 billion has been set aside for Agritech 

Infrastructure Fund. To meet 

the vagaries of climate change a 

National Adaptation Fund with 

an initial amount of Rs. 1 billion 

will be set up. An amount of Rs. 

1 billion has been earmarked to 

launch a scheme to provide every 

farmer a soil health card in a 

Mission mode and additional Rs. 

56 crores has been allocated to 

set up for 100 mobile soil testing 

laboratories across the country. 

• y Industry – A sum of Rs. 1 billion 

has been provided for setting up 

a National Industrial Corridor 

Authority. Amritsar-Kolkata 

Industrial master planning would 

be completed expeditiously. 

Perspective plan for the Bengaluru- 

Mumbai Economic corridor 

(BMEC) and Vizag-Chennai 

corridor would be completed with 

the provision for 20 new industrial 

clusters. An amount of Rs. 50 

crore has been earmarked to set 

up a Trade Facilitation Centre and 

a crafts museum to develop and 

promote handloom products and 

carry forward the rich tradition of 

handlooms of Varanasi. 

• y Infrastructure – An institution to 

provide support to mainstreaming 

PPPPs called 4PIndia to be set up 

with a corpus of Rs. 5 billion. A 

sum of Rs. 7060 crore is provided 

in the current fiscal for the project 

of developing one hundred 

Smart Cities. An investment of 

an amount of Rs. 37,880 crores 

in NHAI (National Highways 

Authority of India) and state roads 

is proposed which includes Rs. 

3000 crores for the North East. 

The vision of the Government is 

that 500 urban habitations would 

be provided support for renewal 

of infrastructure and services in 

next 10 years through PPPs. Slum 

development would be included 

in the list of Corporate Social 

Responsibility (CSR) activities to 

encourage the private sector to 

contribute more. 

• y Social Sector – An sum of Rs. 50 

crores has been proposed for pilot 

testing the scheme on Safety for 

Women on Public Road Transport. 

An amount of Rs. 150 crores has 

been earmarked for a scheme to 

increase the safety of women in 

large cities. A provision of Rs. 500 

crores has been made for setting up 

AIIMS like institutions in Andhra 

Pradesh, West Bengal, Vidarbha 

in Maharashtra and Poorvanchal 

in Uttar Pradesh. States’ Drug 

Regulatory and Food Regulatory 

Systems would be strengthened 

by creating new drug testing 

laboratories and strengthening the 

31 existing State laboratories. An 

amount of Rs. 28,635 crore is being 

funded for Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan 

and Rs. 4966 crore for Rashtriya 

madhyamic Shiksha Abhiyan. 

• y Expenditure— Plan expenditure 

has been placed at Rs. 5,75,000 

crores for the year 2014-15 and 

non-plan expenditure estimates 

for the 2014-15 has been placed at 

Rs. 12,19,892 crores for the same 

period. Plan increase targeted 

towards agriculture, capacity 

creation in health and education, 

rural roads and national highways 

infrastructure, railways network 

expansion, clean energy initiatives, 

development of water resources 

and river conservation plans. 

• y Taxation – Enhancement of the 

income tax limit from Rs. 2 lakhs 

to Rs. 2.5 lakhs, enhancement of 

investment limit under section 

80C from Rs. 1 lakhs to Rs. 1.5 

lakhs and enhancement of rebate 

on investments in self owned 

house from Rs. 1.5 lakhs to Rs. 2 

lakhs. Basic customs duty on LCD 

and LED TV panels of below 19 

inches reduced from 10 % to Nil 

to encourage production of LCD 

and LED TVs below 19 inches in 

India. Concessional basic customs 

duty of 5 % extended to machinery 

and equipment required for setting 

up of a project for solar energy 

production and for setting up of 

compressed biogas plants (Bio- 

CNG). To incentivize expansion 

of processing capacity, reduction 

in excise duty on specified 

food processing and packaging 

machinery from 10 % to 6 %. 

Focus on industrial infrastructure 

such as the plan to establish 7 

industrial cities in India would 

enhance industrialization and create 

employment opportunities in the 

economy. 

The allocation for urban infrastructure 

earmarked at Rs. 500 billion are really 

appreciable and these announcements 

would speed up the pace and 

urbanization in the country and help 

economic growth to move faster. 

Agriculture sector has seriously 

focused upon with provisions for 

increased irrigation facilities, farm 

markets, financial help to landless 

farmers and Kisan TV to provide 

real time information to farmers. 

All these moves will help to increase 

productivity of the farm sector in the 

coming times. 

The ambitious and critical project of 

linking of rivers and Inland waterways 

gets impetus in the budget. First 

waterway from Allahabad to Haldia 

will be developed with an estimated 

cost of Rs. 42 billion. Apart from 

these, the budget emphasizes on 

roads, ports, airports and metros with 

requisite budgetary allocations. 

The government plans to create 

infrastructure investment trust in-line 

with Real Estate Investment Trusts to 

augment long-term financing needs. 

Also recognizing the weaknesses of 

the PPP framework, the rigidities 

in contractual arrangements, 

government would focus on more 

nuanced and sophisticated models of 

contracting and develop quick dispute 

redressal mechanism. 

Tourism and Solar power are clearly 

the focus areas in the budget. 

Development of five tourist circuits 

with a dedicated corpus of Rs 5billion 

and setting up of Ultra mega solar 

power projects have been given high 

priority. 

Also, the growth prospects envisaged 

by Economic Survey 2013-14 are 

rational and inspiring as the real GDP 

growth is anticipated to scale up in the 

5.4% to 5.9% trajectory in 2014-15. It 

is encouraging to know that the fiscal 

outcome of the Central Government 

in 2013-14 was achieved despite the 

complex macroeconomic challenges 

such as slowdown in economic growth, 

rise in global crude oil prices and 

slow growth of investments. Going 

ahead, the government has laid down 

a roadmap for fiscal consolidation 

which eventually targets a fiscal deficit 

of 3% by FY2017. The current task 

is to prune it from 4.5% of FY2014 

to 4.1% for FY2015. The government 

is setting up an Expenditure 

Management Commission to make 

recommendations on various aspects 

of expenditure reforms. This will help 

rationalize government expenditure. 

However, the theme on taxation 

suggests foregoing of potential direct 

taxes in favour of more revenue from 

indirect taxes. The net effect of this 

will boost consumer spending in terms 

of demand for goods and services 

vis-à-vis increased disposable income, 

going forward. The much expected 

enhancement of the income tax limit 

and other tax benefits would restore 

consumers’ and investors’ confidence 

and propel growth. Though the Union 

Budget for FY2014-15 offers no Big 

Bang proposals, it is well grounded 

with focus on boosting confidence 

of investors as well as consumers in a 

bid to revive the investment cycle and 

to channelize household savings into 

financial assets. 

However, the industry is still 

concerned about the retrospective 

tax amendments and the issue of 

transfer pricing. No roadmap has been 

provided to address the stringent labor 

laws, tedious environment clearances 

and problematic land acquisition bill. 

Also, there should be a clear cut date 

for implementation of GST. 

In a nutshell, though the Union 

Budget for FY2014-15 offers no Big 

Bang proposals, it is well grounded 

with focus on boosting general 

confidence, investor’s confidence as 

well as consumer’s confidence. 



43



Impact of Budget 2014 on Transfer Pricing 

After winning a landslide 

victory in May 2014, India’s 

newly elected Government 

presented the Finance Bill 2014 in the 

Parliament on July 10, 2014. It is very 

heartening to note that the focus of 

the new Government is to reduce the 

ever increasing litigation in Transfer 

Pricing which has a very negative 

impact on the investment and business 

climate of the country. 

A few significant amendments in 

the transfer pricing (TP) regulations 

have been proposed in this year’s 

Finance Bill which once passed by 

the Parliament is likely to reduce 

transfer pricing litigation and usher 

in more certainty for taxpayers. 

Key amendments proposed are as 

follows: 

1) Rollback mechanism in Advance 

Pricing Agreements (APAs): 

The concept of APA was introduced 

in FY 2012 to bring down Transfer 

Pricing litigation for future years 

and provide certainty in tax arena 

for companies having cross border 

transactions. Industry was very 

appreciate of the mechanism and 

more than 400 applications were 

filed in the first two years. Given 

the progress, taxpayers have 

been requesting for a rollback 

mechanism and strengthen the 

APA team to cater to the increasing 

interest of the taxpayers. 

Considering the Government’s 

commitment to reduce litigation, 

both of these form a part of the 

key proposals in the Finance Bill 

2014. The Finance Minister has 

Vijay Chaudhuri, Director, PHD Chamber 

specifically mentioned that the 

current APA administrative set-up 

will be strengthened to expedite 

disposals. 

Further, amendments have been 

proposed to introduce a rollback 

mechanism, wherein: 

• APAs are presently available for 

a period not exceeding five years, 

starting from 1st April 2013. The 

proposed amendment will allow 

an APA entered into from 1st 

April 2013 to be applied to four 

previous years for the international 

transactions. 

• Rules/regulations and the rollback 

will apply to bilateral APAs in the 

near future. 

2) Documentation Penalty: 

It is proposed that Transfer 

Pricing Officer (TPO) apart 

from the Assessing Officer (AO) 

& Commissioner (Appeals) are 

authorized to levy a penalty of 

two percent of the value of 

international transactions for 

failure to furnish information or 

documentation under Section 

92D(3) of the Income Tax Act, 

1961. This is being done to ensure 

that taxpayers submit their transfer 

pricing documentation within the 

Statutory timeline. 

3) Range concept: 

It has been proposed to introduce 

the concept of price/margin range 

for determination of the Arms 

Length Price in the Income Tax 

Rules, 1962 to align the Indian TP 

regulations with best international 

practices. 

4) Multiple year data for 

benchmarking: 

Till date, the TPOs have been 

carrying out TP assessments and 

adjusting the transfer price based on 

A scenario where these provisions could be applied is illustrated 

below: 

single year data as per the existing 

TP regulations. It is now proposed 

that multiple year data will be 

allowed to be used for comparability 

analysis. This move is again being 

aligned to international practices of 

conducting comparability analysis. 

5) Deeming Provisions: 

Under the existing regulations, 

where a taxpayer enters into a 

transaction with an unrelated 

person, then such transaction 

is construed as an international 

transaction if there exists a prior 

arrangement between the taxpayer’s 

associated enterprise (AE) and 

the unrelated person, whereby 

the terms of the transaction are 

determined in substance between 

the AE and such unrelated person. 

The current provisions require 

either the taxpayer or the unrelated 

person to be a non-resident for the 

arrangement to qualify as a deemed 

international transaction. 

Under the earlier provisions, a 

position could have been taken that 

since neither X India nor Y India are 

non-residents, the TP provisions 

are not applicable in respect of the 

transactions involving provision of 

services by X India to Y India. 

It is now proposed that whether 

the taxpayer or the unrelated 

person is a non-resident or not, 

the transaction between taxpayer 

and such unrelated person shall 

be deemed to be an international 

transaction covered within the 

ambit of the transfer pricing 

regulations. As such, under 

the proposed provisions, the 

Delhi Budget 

arrangement between X India 

and Y India would constitute an 

international transaction that is 

required to comply with the arm’s 

length standard. 

The Finance Minister has also 

proposed to set-up a high level 

committee to interact with trade 

and industry on a regular basis and 

ascertain areas where clarity in tax 

laws is required. 

Transfer Pricing is a major area 

of litigation for both resident and 

nonresident taxpayers. These are long 

pending urgent dispute resolution 

measures considering a tax demand 

of more than Rs. four lakh crore 

currently under dispute and litigation 

before various Courts and Appellate 

authorities. 

Delhi Government has presented Rs 36,776 crores for budget 2014-15. The non 

plan expenditure has been estimated at Rs 19,066 crore. The budget has announced 

subsidy of Rs 0.80 to Rs 1.20 per unit to small power consumers while Rs 260 crore 

has been earmarked for power subsidy. The budget has given priority to health sector 

and announced to set up multi-speciality hospital in Rohini and 50 dialysis centres in the 

different parts of National Capital Territory. One more multi speciality hospital has been 

proposed to be set up in South Delhi in the current year. The plan outlay under pension to 

senior citizens has been increased from Rs 538 crore in 2013-14 to Rs 600 crore in the 

current fiscal. Further, in order to resolve water supply constraints in the capital region, 

construction of long pending Renuka Dam would be taken up on priority while four new 

sewage treatment plants have been planned for Delhi. The budget has announced to float 

tenders for procurement of 1,380 semi-low floor buses for DTC in order to provide better 

transportation facilities. An automated fare collection system through electronic ticketing 

machines and card readers will also be introduced by DTC so as to provide convenience 

to the commuters. The budget has focused on providing basic amenities to the people 

as Rs 35 crore has been allocated in the budget for building toilets in the poor clusters. 



45

Expressions 

May the Most Fertile Win 

One day, during a yoga class, 

one of the students was 

counting the number of 

times he was doing a particular asana. 

The teacher stopped the student 

saying, “This is not a competition. 

This is yoga. Don’t count. Just focus 

on the experience of doing it.” 

This attitude is sadly missing in our 

democracy, which is based on counting, 

and is all about notching up votes, 

capturing more and more seats in 

the assembly. It is competitive, full 

of fierce rivalries. It is based on the 

assumption that one with most votes 

is most popular hence most worthy of 

managing the country. Popularity has 

become the measure of capability. This 

makes democracy much like ancient 

fertility rituals where more was good. 

In the Vedic mantras we find that the 

yajaman prays to the devas and hopes 

to get more cows, more horses, more 

grain, more gold and more sons, because 

having more made him richer and more 

powerful than everyone else around 

him. Vedanta philosophy, however, 

questions this logic. Stories are told to 

make us aware that what matters more 

than quantity is quality. Its not how 

many asanas we do; the benefit of yoga 

comes from how we do each one. 

In the Mahabharata, keeping score 

is the cause of many battles. It starts 

generations before, at the dawn of 

time, when Kashyapa is given the task 

of populating the world with various 

creatures through his many wives. 

His wife, Kadru, says, “I want many 

children.” Another wife, Vinata, says, “I 

want just two, but who will be stronger 

than all of Kadru’s children put 

together.” Kadru’s children turn out to 

be snakes or nagas while Vinata’s child 

(the first one is delivered prematurely 

and so is malformed) turns out to be a 

hawk or garuda. The snakes are more 

numerous but the hawk is much more 

strong. This results in a lifetime of 

rivalry between the insecure snakes and 

the powerful eagle. 

This pattern repeats itself later in the 

epic. Shatanu’s first wife, the rivergoddess 

Ganga, gives him just one son 

while his second wife, the fisherwoman 

Satyavati, bears two. The only son of 

the first wife, Devavrata, is strong but 

is asked to stay celibate and give up 

claims on the throne so that the sons of 

the second wife can inherit the throne. 

But both sons of Satyavati prove to be 

useless. The first is killed by a gandharva 

and the second dies childless despite 

being given two wives. Thus numerical 

superiority does not grant the desired 

results and ends up creating a mess. 

Much later, Pandu is unable to father 

children and so begs his wife, Kunti, to 

take advantage of her mantra and call 

upon devas who will give her a child. 

She calls upon Yama, Vayu and Indra 

and begets Yudhishtira, Bhima and 

Arjuna. Pandu asks for more sons, but 

Kunti says she cannot it use it more than 

three times. So Pandu begs her to share 

the mantra with his second wife, Madri. 

Kunti does as advised but is quite 

irritated when using one mantra Madri 

begets two children by simply calling the 

Ashwin Kumars who always come in a 

pair. She refuses to give Madri the mantra 

again as she wants to be the mother of 

more children. This little detail from 

the Sanskrit work is often avoided in 

popular retellings of the Mahabharata as 

we find the idea of a competitive Kunti 

Devdutt Pattanaik 

unappealing. This tale also reveals the 

competitive anxiety of Pandu when he 

seeks more and more sons, for he wants 

to have more sons than his very virile 

brother, Dhritarashtra. Unfortunately, 

Dhritarashtra’s wife, Gandhari, is so 

upset that Kunti bears children before 

her that she makes her midwife strike 

her pregnant belly with an iron bar and 

force the child out. What she delivers 

instead is a ball of flesh, cold as iron. 

This she divides and transforms, with 

the aid of Rishi Vyasa, to get hundred 

sons, 98 more than Madri, 97 more than 

Kunti, 100 more than Pandu, to establish 

her and her husband’s superiority. 

The counting continues as the sons 

of Pandu, the Pandavas, and the 

sons of Dhritarashtra, the Kauravas, 

continuously compete. Arjuna keeps 

securing wives for himself such as 

Uloopi, Chitrangada and Subhadra and 

in Tamil folk Mahabharata he has ‘more 

wives than stars in the sky’ including 

the Amazon princess Alli. We wonder 

if this stems from his competitive spirit 

being challenged when he is asked to 

share Draupadi, the bride he won, with 

his brothers. 

And finally, in the Kurukshetra war, 

using various political tricks, the 

Kauravas end up with 11 armies, 4 more 

than the 7 armies of the Pandavas. They 

have more, and still they lose, for they 

reject Krishna. 



47

Expressions 

Expressions 

CERTAIN PRECAUTIONS REGARDING EMPLOYEE 

LIABILITIES WHEN BUSINESSES ARE PURCHASED 

Business transfers in India may 

be accomplished by adopting 

the asset sale route, or by 

way of a merger, slump sale etc. The 

decision to adopt one method over 

the other is usually driven by factors 

such as tax implications, stamp duty 

payable, time-lines for completion 

etc. The transfer of a business as a 

going concern involves the transfer of 

substantially all the assets and liabilities 

in relation to that particular business. 

Therefore, in all situations other than 

a pure asset sale, the purchaser of the 

business has to necessarily assume the 

liabilities in relation to whatever assets 

he chooses to acquire. 

In all cases, one of the assets which 

is crucial to the smooth functioning 

of an enterprise is its employees. 

Rarely would one come across a 

scenario where the employees of an 

undertaking have not been transferred 

along with the remaining assets and/ 

or liabilities. Consequently, one would 

have to understand the implications 

of the transfer of employees as a 

part of the transfer of business as a 

going concern. The most obvious 

issue that needs to be addressed is 

that of successor liability – who will 

be held liable for any past statutory 

non-compliances and pre-dated 

claims made by employees relating 

to statutory benefits they are entitled 

to Unfortunately, there are very few 

labour legislations which deal with the 

transfer of employment in case of a 

business transfer. 

The Employees State Insurance Act, 

1948 and the Employees’ Provident 

Suneeth Katarki, Partner, IndusLaw and Sherill Pal, Associate, IndusLaw 

Fund and Miscellaneous Act, 1952 

have specific provisions dealing with 

the ‘transfer of an establishment’. 

Under Section 17B of the Employees’ 

Provident Fund and Miscellaneous 

Provisions Act, 1952 and Section 

93A of the Employees State 

Insurance Act, 1948, upon transfer 

of an establishment, all the liabilities 

attached to the establishment are also 

transferred to the purchaser. The 

purchaser then becomes jointly liable 

with the seller for any payments that 

were required to be made prior to the 

transfer. This is a statutory obligation 

which cannot be contracted out of. 

Similarly, another legislation which 

discusses the consequences of a 

business transfer is the Industrial 

Disputes Act, 1947. Section 25FF 

of the act states that where the 

ownership or management of an 

undertaking is transferred to a new 

employer (purchaser), every workman 

who has been in continuous service 

for not less than one year in that 

undertaking immediately before such 

transfer shall be entitled to notice and 

retrenchment compensation at the rate 

of fifteen days’ average pay for every 

completed year of continuous service 

or any part thereof in excess of six 

months. However this retrenchment 

compensation will not have to be 

paid, if the following conditions 

are satisfied: (a) the service of the 

workman has not been interrupted 

by such transfer; (b) the terms and 

conditions of service applicable to 

the workman after such transfer are 

not in any way less favourable to the 

workman than those applicable to 

him immediately before the transfer; 

and (c) the purchaser is, under the 

terms of such transfer or otherwise, 

legally liable to pay to the workman, 

in the event of his retrenchment, 

compensation on the basis that his 

service has been continuous and has 

not been interrupted by the transfer. 

The Income Tax Act, 1961 (“IT Act”), 

provides for rules relating to a slump 

sale. Under this act a slump sale is 

defined as the transfer of one or more 

undertakings as a result of the sale 

for a lump sum consideration without 

values being assigned to the individual 

assets and liabilities in such sales. 1 

Similarly, the Companies Act, 1956 

provides that a the Board of directors 

of a public company, or of a private 

company which is a subsidiary of a 

public company, shall not, except with 

the consent of such public company 

or subsidiary in general meeting, sell, 

lease or otherwise dispose of the 

whole, or substantially the whole, of 

the undertaking of the company, or 

where the company owns more than 

one undertaking, of the whole, or 

substantially the whole, of any such 

undertaking. 2 

As can be seen, the IT Act as well as 

the Companies Act speaks about the 

transfer of an ‘undertaking’. This may 

be confusing, given that the labour 

legislations cited above speak in 

terms of a transfer of ‘establishment’. 

The question that therefore arises is 

whether a transfer of an undertaking 

as a going concern, is akin to a transfer 

of an establishment under these 

legislations. 

The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, 

defines an ‘Industrial establishment 

or undertaking’ to mean an 

establishment or undertaking in 

which any industry is carried on. It 

provides that where several activities 

are carried on in an establishment or 

undertaking and only one or some 

of such activities is or are an industry 

or industries, then, (a) if any unit of 

such establishment or undertaking 

carrying on any activity, being an 

industry, is severable from the other 

unit or units of such establishment 

or undertaking, such unit shall be 

deemed to be a separate industrial 

establishment or undertaking; and (b) 

if the predominant activity carried on 

in such establishment or undertaking 

is an industry and the other activity or 

each of the other activities carried on 

in such establishment or undertaking is 

not severable from such predominant 

activity, the entire establishment or 

undertaking, as the case may be, 

shall be deemed to be an industrial 

establishment or undertaking. 3 

The term ‘establishment’ has not been 

defined in either of the Employees 

State Insurance Act, 1948 or the 

Employees’ Provident Fund and 

Miscellaneous Act, 1952. In the 

absence of statutory definition, we will 

have to study the meaning assigned to 

the term, by the courts of law in light 

of these provisions. 

In relation to the definition of 

“establishment” in the Employees 

State Insurance Act, 1948, the Orissa 

High Court 4 has held that as an 

“‘Establishment’ has not been defined 

in the Act and, therefore, must carry 

the ordinary meaning of the term. The 

Shorter Oxford English Dictionary 

gives the meaning of the term as 

an organised staff of employees or 

servants including or occasionally 

limited to the building in which they 

are located.” 

In relation to the definition of 

“Establishment” in the Employees’ 

Provident Fund and Miscellaneous 

Provisions Act, 1952, the Hon’ble 

Madras High Court 5 has held that “the 

decision in this appeal rests mainly 

on the answer to the question as to 

what is an establishment. The word 

‘establishment’ has not been defined 

in the Act. Anantanarayanan, J., as he 

then was, has considered the definition 

of ‘establishment’ given in the Oxford 

Dictionary, namely, “organized body 

of men maintained for a purpose,” as 

the most helpful definition, at least in 

the context of usage of that word in 

the Act.” 

An undertaking is defined in the 

IT Act to include “any part of an 

undertaking or a unit or division of 

an undertaking or a business activity 

taken as a whole, but does not include 

individual assets or liabilities or any 

combination thereof not constituting 

a business activity”. 6 

The Hon’ble Supreme Court 7 has 

held that ‘undertaking relates to the 

entire business although there may 

be separate ingredients or items of 

work or assets in the undertaking. The 

undertaking will therefore be the entire 

integrated organization consisting of 

all property, movable or immovable, 

and the totality of undertaking is one 

concept which is not divisible into 

components or ingredients’. 

Analyzing the provisions and 

judgments cited above, we understand 

that the terms undertaking and 

establishment, in effect mean an 

organized body of persons and 

property, maintained for carrying on 

a specific yet comprehensive business 

activity. 

There can be no substantial distinction 

that can be drawn to differentiate an 

establishment (as defined under the 

aforementioned labour legislations) 

and an undertaking (as defined under 

the IT Act). Therefore, the transfer 

of a business as a going concern 

will be considered as a transfer 

of establishment under labour 

legislations in India. Consequently, the 

purchaser will be jointly and severally 

responsible for all liabilities relating to 

the establishment, more particularly 

the employees, relating to a period 

prior to the transfer. 

Flowing from this, it is important 

to note that liability is also fixed on 

the purchaser for employee dues 

notwithstanding that the business 

purchase agreement specifies that all 

employee and labour related liabilities 

prior to the acquisition are that of the 

seller. Of course, this is not to say 

that the purchaser should not have a 

back-to-back indemnity arrangement 

with the seller, wherein the latter 

will indemnify the purchaser for all 

such liabilities. Such a clause in the 

contract will enable the purchaser to 

claim from the seller, any statutorily 

imposed liabilities on the purchaser. 

However the lesson here is that 

since statutory liability cannot be 

contracted out of, one needs to be 

extra careful about the due diligence 

exercise conducted and should ensure 

that all issues or potential labour and 

employee related liabilities discovered 

during the due diligence are settled 

before the purchase is consummated. 

3 

Section 2 (ka) of the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947. 

4 

Sundar Paper Box Co. and Anr. vs. State of Orissa and Ors.: 43 (1977) CLT 359 

1 

Section 2 (42C) of the Income Tax Act, 1961. 

2 

Section 293 of the Companies Act, 1956. 

5 

Regional Provident Fund Commissioner vs. Vittaldas Jagannathadas: (1969) IILLJ 145 Mad 

6 

Section 2 (19AA) of the Income Tax Act 1961. 

7 

R. C. Cooper vs. UOI (1970) 40 ComCas 325 (SC) 



49

Expressions 

Expressions 

SAARC: The Road Ahead 

Komple Sharma, Executive Officer, PHD Chamber 

“You can change friends but 

not neighbours”, these golden 

words by former Prime Minister 

Mr. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, is now 

becoming the cornerstone for a sound 

foreign policy of every country. 

Keeping this view in mind and amidst 

the importance given by our new 

Government to its neighbours, it 

becomes imperative to look at SAARC 

with greater interest. 

SAARC or South Asian Association 

for Regional Cooperation was formed 

in the year 1985 by seven countries 

of South Asia, namely Bangladesh, 

Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, 

Pakistan, and Sri Lanka; Afghanistan 

became its 8th member in April 2007. 

It was formed with the purpose 

of promoting greater regional 

coordination in economic, social, and 

cultural issues and to present a unified 

voice to the rest of the world. But 

till date SAARC has not been able 

to outpace its counterparts present 

globally. The basic parameter to judge 

any regional bloc’s performance is by 

its level of intra-regional economic 

activity. 

But sadly for SAARC, its story 

didn’t go as per the plan. So far it 

has not reached the desired level, in 

comparison to NAFTA, EU, ASEAN, 

etc where the intra bloc trade 

constitutes more than half of the 

their total trade, intra SAARC trade is 

still in an embryonic stage, accounting 

for a dismal 5-7% of their total trade. 

Also, the FDI inflows from the SAARC 

nations are almost negligible. The 

below pie graph states the respective 

amount of investment received from 

these nations and the total trade of 

India with SAARC nations. 

With the gradual saturation of the 

western markets, the time has come 

to practically implement the “Look 

East” policy. 

There is a dire need to understand 

the reasons for the failure of SAARC 

and to find ways to fix the problems 

hampering its success. 

Political Instability 

The fundamental reason behind 

SAARC’s failure is the persistent 

mistrust amongst its members. The 

countries are plagued with political 

differences within and outside 

their borders which acts as a major 

roadblock for any economic agenda 

on cards. The Indo-Pak unrest, LTTE 

issue in Sri Lanka, continuous unrest 

in Afghanistan or Nepal’s shaky 

journey towards democracy, all are 

restricting economic freedom in every 

possible way. 

There should be complete freezing of 

the prevailing political differences and 

the focus should shift from politics to 

economic cooperation. 

Failure of SAPTA 

SAARC Preferential Trading 

Arrangement (SAPTA) was unable 

to produce encouraging results. 

The arrangement had two major 

drawbacks; firstly its inability to handle 

trade-related disputes and secondly 

the non-inclusion of trade in services. 

To overcome the drawbacks, it was 

elevated to SAFTA- South Asian Free 

Trade Area. More comprehensive 

than SAPTA, it led towards a 

customs union, common market and 

economic union. SAFTA specified 

a phased reduction in tariffs for the 

member countries and includes trade 

of services as well. For instance, the 

Indo-Lanka Free Trade Agreement 

has brought many benefits to both the 

nations, enabling two-way investments 

in many key sectors. 

Restriction on free flow of factors 

of production 

Unlike EU & NAFTA, SAARC 

doesn’t permit free flow of labour 

and capital movement across borders; 

instead they are subjected to numerous 

checks. The region has not been able 

to reap advantage from its abundant 

labour supply. 

There should be full mobility of capital 

and labour, particularly skilled labour. 

The “people” are the binding force 

of any structure; here also, facilitating 

easy flow of personnel will allow more 

people to people interaction. 

Absence of Comparative 

Advantage 

SAARC countries share a lot in 

common, from natural resources 

to cultural similarities; which make 

their output in the global market 

competitive rather than being 

complementary to each other. The 

trade basket for almost all of these 

countries constitute same products, 

namely, textiles, agro products, food 

products, spices tea, coffee, etc. The 

composition as well as the direction of 

trade is similar. This obvious similarity 

is proving to be detrimental for the 

entire region’s economic performance. 

Since the region is in the same line of 

industries, instead of individualism, 

efforts should be made to unify the 

available expertise of all the countries. 

Centres of excellence should be set 

up in different cities depending on the 

comparative advantage it is offering 

vis-à-vis its counterparts. SAARC 

label should reach the world instead 

of “Made in India/ Bangladesh/ 

Bhutan” etc. 

Insignificant Demand Levels 

SAARC countries like Nepal, Bhutan, 

Sri Lanka, and Maldives offer very 

small consumer markets compared to 

world markets. This makes the bigger 

countries like India and Pakistan 

export outside the region. To boost 

intra SAARC trade, the region should 

come together and understand the 

group dynamics. Larger economies 

should start importing from the 

relatively smaller economies, this move 

will have a twin impact, at one side 

the intra SAARC trade will increase 

and on the other hand it will develop 

industries and infrastructure in the 

smaller economies. The government 

should work not only to reduce 

tariff and non-tariff barriers, but to 

provide preferential treatment to each 

other. India should start importing 

more from the region; a successful 

example is the India-Bhutan trade 

relationship; with India’s support, 

Bhutan developed its hydro-electricity 

project and exported energy to India. 

Not only did it help India’s energy 

requirements but also developed 

infrastructure in Bhutan. 

Poor Connectivity & Infrastructural 

Bottlenecks 

In the present era of high end 

technology, the SAARC region is 

still unable to capitalise on their 

geographical proximities. These 

loopholes cause delay in shipments 

and the total time taken to reach the 

destination increases manifold. The 

time taken for a shipment from India 

to reach Pakistan is same as that to any 

country in Europe. Underdeveloped 



51

Expressions 

Economy-Watch 

infrastructure, inadequate rail and 

road linkages, poor communication 

facilities, etc., disrupts the entire 

transport channel causing massive 

losses to the exporter. 

Governments should invest more in 

development of ports, railways, road 

linkages, and warehouses amongst 

many others which will give a fillip 

to trade locally and internationally as 

well. Also, since communication holds 

the key to development, the calling 

tariffs across the SAARC nations 

should be in sync with domestic 

rates. SAARC should be treated as 

one single territory and not individual 

nations. 

Lack of Production Networks 

Unlike its counterparts, SAARC 

hasn’t really developed a world class 

production network. The region is 

blessed with skilled personnel and 

expertise in sectors like textiles, 

agriculture & agro products, 

pharmaceuticals, gems, jewellery and 

so on. 

Countries should identify products 

which would provide them with a 

competitive edge at a global level. The 

right targeting of tradable products 

and developing excellence in the area 

of information technology (IT) to 

make SAARC an IT hub should be 

the top priorities in the forthcoming 

SAARC summit scheduled for 

November 2014. 

Lack of a developed Financial 

Institution 

Till date, there is not a specialised 

institution that looks after the finances 

of the SAARC region. Such an 

institution could also grant loans to the 

smaller economies at subsidised rates. 

Presence of such an institution will 

encourage investments, joint ventures, 

technology transfer, etc. Investments 

within SAARC will stabilise economic 

co-operation amongst the countries. 

With one – fifth of the world’s 

population, SAARC is blessed with 

Indian Economy Next Quarter 

By Sumita Kale and 

Laveesh Bhandari 

• y Budget gives little respite on 

subsidies front, inflationary 

pressures to persist over the year 

• y Growth to move in 5-5.5% trough 

this year 

• y Capex plans, if realised for roads 

and other infra, will push growth 

only next year 

• y Monsoon progress brings some 

relief, but overall deficit will still 

dent consumer markets growth 

Recent releases of data have been 

supportive of tiny green shoots: 

IIP and PMI data point to the 

manufacturing sector holding its 

own, vehicle sales have improved, the 

power sector has turned in excellent 

growth, consumer and wholesale 

price inflation has not stepped 

up significantly despite the poor 

monsoon. And yet, all this does not 

mean the picture has turned all rosy. 

The recent rise in IIP numbers shows 

that the decline has stemmed, growth 

for the manufacturing sector will be 

positive but low in the 3- 4% range 

for the next two quarters. The power 

sector that has shown phenomenal 

growth last quarter is reportedly in a 

critical situation for coal supplies, this 

can go either way depending on how 

the government manages stocks. For 

the agri sector, the skies have opened 

up finally but this is small relief. While 

the national rainfall deficit is now 

down to 29%, large parts of important 

crop regions are still suffering from a 

deficit greater than 40%. This will not 

only impact price pressures in certain 

crops like onions, pulses, sugarcane 

etc. it will also hit farm incomes. 

With parts of India now moving away 

from a drought situation, markets are 

looking up, though marginally. It is 

time for companies to pull out all tricks 

in the bag to get sales up- small packs, 

discounts, commissions etc. - this is 

not going to be easy as consumers have 

been battered by persistent inflation 

and low growth. Yet, while there is no 

clear pointer from economic indicators 

for a dramatic turnaround by Diwali, 

Nielsen’s Global Consumer Confidence 

Survey shows Indians to be the world’s 

most optimistic consumers. There will 

be better days ahead, but we need to 

wait another year! 

a favourable demographic dividend 

along with abundant natural resources, 

a growing middle class market and 

geographical proximity, which, if 

fully utilised to the mutual benefit of 

the member countries through new 

polices and programmes, can make 

this region one of the most dynamic 

economic forces in the world. 

The key to its success lies in keeping 

political differences at bay amidst 

all other factors. India, as the largest 

economy of the region must come 

forward and facilitate access to its 

large market for SAARC members. 

Its above average growth, expanding 

middle class population and demand 

for global goods can prove to be an 

engine of growth for the region. The 

recent initiative undertaken by the new 

Government under the leadership of 

Mr. Narendra Modi is indicative of the 

government’s intent and commitment 

to build cordial, friendly and inclusive 

ties with the countries of South Asia. 

As said earlier, economic co-operation 

is the pre-requisite for the success of 

any regional block. We as SAARC 

residents can hope for better days in 

future with the bloc performing as per 

our expectations. 

India’s Industry and Commerce (State) 

Minister, Ms. Nirmala Sitharaman 

was quoted to have recently said that 

developed countries such as India must 

have the freedom to use food reserves 

to feed their poor without the threat 

of violating international obligations 

because this is their sovereign right. 

India scuttled the Trade Facilitation 

Agreement (TFA) which is a part of 

the Bali package because it was not 

satisfied with the progress on finding 

a permanent solution to the issue of 

allowing it higher public stockholding 

of foodgrains. The TFA is meant to 

simplify customs procedures, facilitate 

the speedy release of goods from ports 

and cut transaction costs. India is ready 

to engage with member countries of the 

WTO after it opens on September 1 

after the summer break. 

Sumita Kale is Chief Economist, and Laveesh Bhandari is Director, Indicus Analytics. They can be contacted at sumita@indicus.net and laveesh@indicus.net. 



53

Economy-Watch 

Economy-Watch 

Policy Pronouncements and Developments 

IMF projects India to grow by 

5.4% in FY15 

The International Monetary 

Fund (IMF) has stuck to its 5.4% 

economic growth forecast for India 

in 2014-15 while reducing its growth 

projections for the world and most 

developing countries. The IMF said 

that in India, growth appears to 

have bottomed out, and “activity is 

projected to pick up gradually after 

the post-election recovery in business 

sentiment, offsetting the effect of an 

unfavourable monsoon on agricultural 

growth.” In 2015-16, it has projected 

India’s economy to grow at 6.4%. The 

Economic Survey released by Finance 

Ministry projected that the Indian 

economy would expand between 

5.4% and 5.9% in the year 2014-15 

after growth slowed to sub-5% levels 

for two consecutive years. Growth will 

most likely be close to its lower range 

of 5.4% in the current fiscal year, 

and economic expansion in the range 

of 7-8% is possible only beyond the 

current and the next fiscal years, the 

survey said. The IMF report indicated 

that a slow rebound in the investment 

cycle, benign growth outlook in China, 

elevated inflation and below normal 

monsoon rain were risks to growth in 

the near term. 

India’s GDP per capita set to rise 7 

times in 50 years: OECD 

The OECD in its latest policy 

note titled, ‘Shifting Gear: Policy 

Challenges for the next 50 years’ has 

estimated that incomes in emerging 

and low-income economies including 

India and some African countries will 

grow faster than other regions, with 

GDP per capita increasing sevenfold. 

Consequently, income convergence 

will lead to a reduction in crosscountry 

inequality continuing to lift 

masses of people out of poverty. By 

2060, GDP per capita in China will 

be comparable to the current US 

levels, while India’s will be half the 

US level. At the global level, growth 

will slow from 3.6% in 2010-2020 

to 2.4% in 2050-2060 due to ageing 

and gradual deceleration in emerging 

economies and will be increasingly 

driven by innovation and investment 

in skills. The global economic balance 

will continue to shift towards the 

non-OECD area (e.g. India), which 

will have an economic structure 

and exports similar to those of the 

OECDs. 

India will hold the Presidency of 

the BRICS Bank 

The BRICS Bank, which the leaders 

of India, China, Brazil,Russia and 

South Africa endorsed on July 

15 at a summit in Brazil, will be 

headquartered in Shanghai in China’s 

business capital. BRICS leaders 

announced at the summit that India 

will preside over its operations for 

the first five years, followed by Brazil 

and then Russia. They also launched 

a US$100 billion development bank 

and a currency reserve pool as a first 

concrete step towards reshaping the 

Western-dominated international 

financial system. The bank will begin 

with a subscribed capital of US$ 50 

billion divided equally between its five 

founders, with an initial total of US 

$10 billion in cash put in over seven 

years and US $40 billion in guarantees. 

It is scheduled to start lending in 2016 

and be open to membership by other 

countries, but the capital share of the 

BRICS cannot drop below 55%. 

India signs an Agreement with 

China for setting up Chinese 

Industrial Parks 

A Memorandum of Understanding 

(MoU) on Cooperation on Industrial 

Parks in India was signed between India 

and China’s Ministries of Commerce 

and Industry on June 30, 2014. Both 

countries have agreed to cooperate 

to increase mutual investment in each 

other’s economies in accordance with 

the relevant domestic laws of each 

country. Both countries will also 

share relevant information on the 

regulatory framework and investment 

priorities/projects required during 

the preparation of investment 

proposals. Widening trade deficit with 

China is a major concern for India. 

The MoU will facilitate investment 

from Chinese companies into India, 

allow an orderly flow of production 

factors from China into India and 

increase development of competitive 

manufacturing sector in India as a 

result of which many goods which 

are now being imported from China 

could be expected to be produced in 

the country which in turn is expected 

to reduce the country’s trade deficit. 

Increase in manufacturing growth will 

lead to provide jobs to large number 

of youth in the country. 

India ranks 135th on Human 

Development Index: UNDP 

The 2014 Human Development 

Report’ ranked India at 135th position 

for the year 2013 and categorized 

the country amongst the medium 

human development category. India’s 

HDI value is reported at 0.586 which 

is a marginal increase from 0.583 

registered in 2012, leaving India’s rank 

unchanged from the previous year. 

Between the years 2000-2013, HDI 

value for India increased from 0.483 

to 0.586, an annual average growth 

rate of 1.49%. The sub-index called 

Multidimensional Poverty Index, 

which considers health, education 

and living standards reported an 

index value of 0.282 down from 

0.283 in 2010. The poverty index 

further enumerated that 32.86% of 

people in India lived on US$ 1.25 

a day. On gender inequality index, 

India is ranked at 127th position 

with an index value of 0.563. In 

education, India registered a literacy 

rate of 62.8% in adults and 81.1% 

in youth. The percentage of GDP as 

expenditure on education was 3.3%. 

The report also highlighted the social 

competencies wherein it posted 9.3% 

for unemployment rate, 10.7% for 

youth unemployment and 11.8% for 

child labour. 

Power rates in Delhi to rise by 2.5% 

to 25% 

Effective July 24, 2014, Delhi 

households will spend 25% more 

on their monthly power bills and 

commercial consumers up to 12% 

as the state electricity regulator 

announced revised tariffs for FY 

2014-15. 

This would mean an additional 

revenue of 8.32% for each of the 

capital’s three distribution companies 

— BYPL, BRPL and TPDDL , 

enough to cover their operating costs, 

return on equity and interest on unpaid 

regulatory dues. For households using 

up to 400 units a month, the tariff 

hike would be marginal at 2.5%. For 

larger household consumers, the hikes 

will be as follows: 14% for 401-800 

units, 15% for 801-1,200 units and 

a steep 25% for consumption above 

1,200 units. 

The three discoms will together 

generate a revenue of Rs 17,655 crores 

for FY15. Per capita consumption of 

power in Delhi is estimated at 1,600 

units per year, more than double the 

national average 

Steps to check prices of food items 

The Government has taken a number 

of steps recently to improve the 

availability and rein in prices of 

essential food items. States have been 

advised to allow free movement of 

fruits and vegetables by delisting 

them from the APMC Act. The 

government has issued an advisory 

to State Governments to take action 

against hoarding and black marketing 

and effectively enforce the Essential 

Commodities Act, 1955 and the 

Prevention of Black-marketing and 

Maintenance of Supplies of Essential 

Commodities Act, 1980. A decision 

has been taken to amend the Essential 

Commodities Act to make hoarding 

and black marketing a non-bailable 

offence and increase the period of 

detention to one year from existing six 

months. The government has imposed 

stock limits in respect of onion and 

potato for a period of one year with 

effect from July 3, 2014 under the 

Essential Commodities Act. 

RBI allows telcom and NBFCs to 

set up banks 

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) 

has proposed major reforms to 

boost financial inclusion, issuing 

draft guidelines allowing the likes 

of supermarkets and cellular phone 

companies to set up Payment Banks 

and permitting NBFCs and others to 

set up Small Banks whose licenses will 

be restricted to specified areas. 

These two types of banks will have 

uniform capital requirement of Rs 1 

billion but will have to follow distinctly 

different business models. The RBI 

proposals set an era of differentiated 

banking licenses, as suggested by RBI 

Governor, Dr. Raghuram Rajan. 

The first reform proposal will 

potentially enable the likes of Future 

Retail and Idea Cellular to set up 

Payment Banks. A Payment Bank will 

be able to take deposits, but cannot 

lend. All funds will be invested in 

government securities. A Small Bank 

on the other hand will be allowed to 

lend, but with restrictions on where 

they can operate. Lending would 

be directed at farmers and small 

enterprises and half of the loans must 

be less than Rs 25 lakhs. 

SEBI issues draft guidelines for 

infrastructure investment trusts 

The Securities and Exchange Board 

of India (SEBI) on July 17 put out 

regulations for so-called infrastructure 

investment trusts that were announced 

in the Finance Minister’s budget 

speech on July 10 to provide easier 

financing options to developers of 

public works. Such trusts will be able 

to invest in infrastructure projects only 

directly or through special purpose 

vehicles (SPVs), the market regulator 

said. For public-private partnership 

(PPP) projects, investments can be 

routed only through an SPV, it said. A 

special purpose vehicle is a company 

created for a specific purpose. A PPP 

is one that usually involves a private 

entity building public infrastructure 

that is owned by the government, but 

from which it earns revenue (through 

a user charge, toll or a revenue share) 

over the duration of its agreement 

with the government. For such trusts, 

the minimum investment and trading 

lot will be of Rs.1 crore. Finance 

Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley, in his budget 

speech was quoted to have said, “As 

an innovation, a modified REITs 

(real estate investment trusts) type 

structure for infrastructure projects is 

also being announced as Infrastructure 

Investment Trusts, which would have 

a similar tax efficient pass through 

status, for PPP and other infrastructure 

projects.” 

Implementing Food Security Act, 

2013 

The Centre has started allocation 

of foodgrains to 11 States/Union 

Territories under the National Food 

Security Act, 2013 based on the 

identification of beneficiaries by the 

state. Out of these, in 6 States, namely 

Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Karnataka, 

Maharashtra, Punjab and Rajasthan, 

complete identification under the 

Act has been reported and in the 

remaining 5 States/UTs, namely Bihar, 

NCT of Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, 



55

Economy-Watch 

Madhya Pradesh and Chandigarh, 

identification is partial. The 

Uttarakhand Government has also 

reported completion of identification 

of beneficiaries. 

The remaining States/UTs have been 

directed to complete the identification 

and implement the Act within the 

next three months. The Food Security 

Act, 2013, notified in October 

2013 aims to provide for food and 

nutritional security, by ensuring access 

to adequate quantity of quality food at 

affordable prices to people. 

Cabinet approves 49% FDI in 

insurance 

In a major reform initiative, the 

Cabinet Committee on Economic 

Affairs on July 24, 2014 approved 

the FDI cap hike in insurance to 49 

percent from 26 percent at present 

with a rider that the management 

control will remain in the hands of 

Indian promoters. 

The move may pave way for inflow 

of about Rs. 25,000 crores in foreign 

funds in the sector. Allowing 49 per 

cent FDI in the sector would apart 

from initiating new insurance products 

in the markets will also help the sector 

attract global standards and practices, 

and lead to product innovation. 

Industry has hailed the initiative 

and PHD Chamber’s President 

Sharad Jaipuria was quoted to have 

said, “Foreign Direct Investment in 

insurance sector will also strengthen 

the capital flows in the coming time. 

It would go a long way to rebuild 

investment sentiments in the country.” 

At present there are about two dozen 

private sector insurance firms both in 

life and non-life segment. The total 

market size of the insurance sector 

in India was US$ 66.4 billion in FY13 

and is projected to touch US$ 350-400 

billion by 2020. 

FII limit for investment in 

government securities increases 

Late July 2014, the Reserve Bank 

of India (RBI) decided to enhance 

the investment limit in government 

securities available to FIIs (Foreign 

Institutional Investors)/QFIs 

(Qualified Foreign Investors)/FPIs 

(Foreign Portfolio Investors) by US$ 

5 billion by correspondingly reducing 

the amount available to long-term 

investors from US$ 10 billion to US$ 

5 billion within the overall limit of 

US$ 30 billion. 

RBI also mentioned that the 

incremental investment limit of US$ 5 

billion shall be required to be invested 

in government bonds with a minimum 

residual maturity of three years. 

Further, all future investment against 

the limit vacated when the current 

investment by an FII/QFI/FPI runs 

off either through sale or redemption 

shall also be required to be made in 

government bonds with a minimum 

residual maturity of three years. 

Government may ask SEZ to export 

51% of output 

Media reports that the government 

is considering a proposal to make 

it mandatory for special economic 

zones (SEZs) to export at least 51% 

of goods and services they produce. 

Currently, these zones, hit by the 

imposition of minimum alternate tax 

(MAT) and dividend distribution tax 

(DDT) in 2012 Budget, need only 

to be postitive net foreign exchange 

(NFE) earners over a period of five 

years from the start of operations. 

The Public Accounts Committee in 

August 2012 said that since SEZ units 

enjoy considerable tax benefits and 

are expected to fuel economic growth, 

the misuse of the SEZ scheme must 

be prevented by revisiting the policy 

and plugging the loopholes in its 

implementation. 

The Finance Ministry had objected to 

the “positive NFE norm”, saying it 

will not result in more exports from 

SEZs as units that are not importing 

any inputs will not be obliged to 

export in this case. 

Defense Ministry clears defense 

acquisition proposals 

In July 2014, the government cleared 

procurement proposals worth over Rs 

21,000 crore and also okayed a project 

for the production of transport 

aircraft which is open only to Indian 

private sector companies. 

Among the major proposals to receive 

approval was a Rs 9,000 crore tender 

to provide five fleet support ships for 

the Navy, for which the Request for 

Proposal (RFP) would be issued to all 

public and private sector shipyards. 

The majority of the proposals cleared 

would involve only Indian public and 

private sector firms and are aimed 

at increasing the indigenisation of 

military hardware. 

The government also okayed a proposal 

for supply of 32 HAL-built Advanced 

Light Helicopter, ‘Dhruv’, to the 

Coast Guard and the Navy at a cost of 

Rs 7,000 crores. Under the proposal, 

state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics 

Ltd will supply 16 helicopters each 

to the Coast Guard and the Navy 

and also provide maintenance for 

the machines to ensure the “highest 

level of operational maintenance and 

efficiency”. 

An IAF proposal for issuance of 

a tender for construction of 56 

transport aircraft by private industry 

players to replace the force’s fleet of 

Avro aircraft was also cleared. 



57

Round the World 

Knight of the Legion of Honour 

Conferred on Actor, Shah Rukh Khan 

Mr. Shah Rukh Khan was 

conferred the title of 

“Knight of the Legion 

of Honour” in recognition of his 

outstanding contribution to cultural 

diversity across the world. 

H.E. and Minister of Foreign Affairs 

and International Development of 

France, Mr Laurent Fabius declared 

that the French people hail Shah 

Rukh Khan’s talent and generosity, 

which arouse the enthusiasm of 

a vast audience across the world, 

transcending cultural and historical 

differences and bringing together 

people from all walks of life to his 

films. 

On this occasion, Mr. Shah Rukh 

Khan thanked the President of 

France, Mr. François Hollande 

and Minister of Foreign Affairs 

and International Development of 

France, Mr. Laurent Fabius for this 

honour. “I am a part of the Indian 

Film Fraternity and it makes me feel 

proud to be recognized for the field 

I am most passionate about. This 

honour has further motivated me to 

take Indian Cinema to the next level 

of acceptance, love and glory” he 

said. 

From studying acting under 

celebrated theatre director, Barry 

John, through television serials, and 

numerous blockbusters, Shah Rukh 

Khan’s magnetic persona has won 

hearts across the globe, including 

for the French. The French public 

remember his participation at the 

Cannes Film festival, notably in 2002 

when he presented “Devdas”. 

Shah Rukh Khan once said to Paris- 

Match magazine, the fire that burnt 

in him at the age of twenty continues 

Created in 1802 by Napoleon Bonaparte, the Legion of Honour is the 

highest award given by the French Republic for outstanding service to 

France, regardless of the nationality of the recipients. The President of 

the French Republic is the Grand Master of the Order of the Legion of 

Honour. Other renowned Indian recipients of this honour in the field 

of the arts include legendary Actor, Amitabh Bachchan, renowned film 

Director, Satyajit Ray and Sitar Maestro, Pt. Ravi Shankar. 

to remain kindled. This perhaps 

explains the numerous industry 

awards he has won, including a 

record eight Film Fare awards in the 

Best Actor category. Among others, 

he was awarded the Padma Shri by 

the Government of India (2005) 

and Knight in the Order of Arts and 

Letters by the Government of France 

(2007) for his contribution to films. 

A philanthropist promoting various 

causes, he received the UNESCO 

Pyramide con Marni award for his 

work on children’s education in 2011. 



59

Headway 

Skill Development Initiatives 

Workshop on ‘Lean Management’ 

The PHD Chamber under 

its PHD-KAS Cooperation 

Project in collaboration with 

IILM Institute for Higher Education 

organized a workshop on ‘Lean 

Management’ on June 26, 2014 at 

PHD House, New Delhi. 

Lean Management Systems are used 

to eliminate waste and improve 

productivity and performance through 

identifying production inefficiencies 

in organizations. It helps management 

to understand how all the processes 

work together. The goal is to provide 

a better product or a service at a lower 

cost. When technology changes in 

industry, Lean Management helps in 

integrating processes into an effective 

system of productivity with speed 

as the focus. It makes it possible to 

Participants with Mr. C M Krishna, Hony Advisor, PHD Chamber and Faculty – Dr. Anupama Prashar 

manage changes faster and boost the 

performance of the employees and 

the products to provide satisfaction to 

the customers. 

The topics covered in the workshop 

were: Philosophy and Concept of 

Lean Management; TQM – KAIZEN 

– MUDA and Process Management 

and Lean Production System. 

Dr. Anupama Prashar, Associate 

Professor (Operations), IILM Institute 

for Higher Education and a lean six 

sigma Black Belt certified trainer and 

Mr. CM Krishna, Honorary Advisor, 

PHD Chamber, Fellow & Advisor, 

WAPS; Former President (Personnel) 

Crompton Greaves Ltd and Director 

(P&A) Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd 

were the faculty at the workshop. 

Workshop on ‘Digital Marketing: Cutting Edge Skills for SMEs’ 

media-computer, mobile phone, 

television, or a combination of these. 

Particpants with Mr. C M Krishna, Honorary Advisor, PHD Chamber; Prof. Jasdeep Chadha and Ms. Shegorika Lalchandani, 

Associate Professors, IILM Institute for Higher Education 

PHD Chamber under the PHD- 

KAS Cooperation Project 

organized a workshop on 

‘Digital Marketing: Cutting Edge Skills 

for SMEs’ on July 10, 2014 at Lucknow. 

India’s Internet population (people 

with Internet access) is growing at an 

exponential rate propelled by factors 

like de-regulation in the telecom sector, 

increased use of social networking 

sites, adoption of e-commerce, and 

daily deals portals trading goods and 

services in economical ways, etc. 

Consequently, to tap the growing 

internet audience, marketers are now 

increasingly exploring opportunities 

to connect to them through digital 

mediums like the internet, search 

engines, e-mail, social media, mobiles, 

etc. Digital marketing (DM) is no 

different from traditional marketing, 

though some people might think 

that DM only involves the internet 

or it is just about advertisements 

on Google. Digital marketing does 

involve the internet, but it also refers 

to marketing through any electronic 

E-commerce refers to the process 

of buying and selling products and 

services online. E-commerce also 

refers to all the efforts involved in 

creating the most effective systems 

in this process, which includes digital 

marketing and the logistics involved 

in delivering the product to the 

consumer. 

The topics discussed during the 

workshop were: Understanding digital 

marketing; How to put social media 

marketing into use effectively by SMEs; 

Using web analytics by SMEs and Why 

SMEs need to do Digital Marketing. 

Prof. Jones Mathew, Professor and 

Assistant Professor Monica Mor from 

Fortune Institute of International 

Business, New Delhi were the faculty 

at the workshop. 



61

Headway 

Towards Inclusive Growth 

PHD FAMILY WELFARE FOUNDATION (PHDFWF) 

PHD RURAL DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION (PHDRDF) 

MEETING WITH MINISTERS 

Mr. Sharad Jaipuria, President, Mr. Mukesh Gupta, Chairman, Media & Entertainment Committee and Ms. 

Anuradha Goel, Chairperson, PHD Family Welfare Foundation, PHD Chamber called on Mr. Thaawar 

Chand Gehlot, Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment on July 2, 2014. Mr. Jaipuria briefed the 

Minister about the core activities of the PHD Chamber and the CSR activities undertaken through its Foundations - 

PHDFWF and PHDRDF. Mr. Gehlot evinced keen interest in the welfare and development projects being implemented 

by the Foundations. 

Mr. Mukesh Gupta, 

Chairman, Media & 

Entertainment Committee 

and Ms. Anuradha Goel, Task Force on 

Women & Child Development, PHD 

Chamber called on Ms. Maneka Sanjay 

Gandhi, Union Minister for Women 

& Child Development on July 2, 2014. 

Ms. Anuradha Goel informed the 

Minister about the activities of Task 

Force and PHDFWF. The Minister 

was happy to note these initiatives 

of the Chamber particularly the self 

defence training being conducted by 

the PHDFWF for girls living in slums 

and resettlement colonies of Delhi. 



63

Headway 

Headway 

Rashitriya Mahila Kosh 

Project: 

Under this project, 80 trainees are 

availing training in computer education, 

tailoring, beauty culture and self defence. 

Seth Madanlall Palriwala 

Foundation Skill 

Development Project: 

A health awareness program including 

dental check-up was organized at the 

centre. 75 trainees benefitted from 

the program.The centre is providing 

training in tailoring & embroidery, 

beauty culture & mehendi application, 

English speaking and nursing. 

Target Intervention Project 

on HIV/AIDS: 

During this period, 107 ICTC, 

49 RPR, two DICs, 8 supervision 

meetings and four review meetings 

with educators and outreach workers 

were held. 266 patients were treated at 

project clinic. 17 group meetings were 

held at different slum areas. 

Free Health Check-up Camp 

PHDFWF in association with PNB organized a free health check-up camp at 

Kanak Durga Camp, Sector 12, R K Puram on July 4, 2014. Free medicines 

were distributed and 215 patients benefitted from the camp. 

PHDFWF-New Zealand High Commission Project 

in Uttar Pradesh: 

Embassy of Japan - Rain Water Harvesting 

Project: 

PHDRDF signed an MoU with the Embassy of Japan 

for the construction of Rain Water Harvesting Check 

Dam in Mohammadabas village of Firozpur Jhirka 

block of Haryana. 

The structure is under construction and has now reached 

3 feet above ground level. Chairman, PHDRDF visited 

the site and interacted with the staff on the July 3, 2014. 

Dhanuka Agritech Limited-Rain Water 

Harvesting Project: 

Everest Project Swayamshakti: 

Training for the first batch on basic computer literacy 

course began on June 18, 2014. The certification 

program will be conducted shortly. 

BHEL Mobile Medical Van: 

Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited (BHEL) has sanctioned 

a grant of Rs. 2.64 crores to implement Mobile Medical 

Van. In Haridwar, Goindwal and Jagdishpur, 20 health 

camps were organized in which 1684, 1264 and 1473 

patients were given free medicines and consultation in 

the month of June, 2014 respectively.The Bhopal project 

is under mobilization and would be started shortly. 

Doctor checking patient in the Camps at Haridwar 

Palriwala India Foundation 

Mobile Medical Van: 

During this period, 19 free health 

check-up camps were organized and 

2069 patients received free diagnostic 

care and clinical services in the villages 

of Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana 

and slums of Delhi. 

New Zealand High 

Commission Project in 

Rajasthan: 

The Centre is providing training on 

computer education, tailoring and 

adult education in Village Guara 

Byas. An awareness generation camp 

on gender sensitization was also 

organized during this period. 

SAF Nursing Assistant 

Training Programme: 

54 girls are undergoing Nursing 

Assistant Training at Sangam Vihar 

slums. The course consists of four 

months theory training and two months 

practical training at different hospitals. 

An awareness program was organized on environment protection and around 45 

villagers benefitted from this program. Computer education, tailoring and adult 

education are going on for the local girls & women at the centre. 

Craft Training Centres (4 nos.): 

270 girls and women are learning beauty culture, computer education, tailoring, 

painting and mehendi application at four craft centres in Okhla, Jonapur of 

Delhi and Mangwaki village in Pataudi respectively. 

Community Development Project in Odisha: 

Five non-formal education centres, eight SHGs, five youth and children clubs are 

operating under this project. Awareness program, capacity building trainings and 

other income generation activities were undertaken in six villages of Deshbhatlli 

Panchayat during the period. 

RDF signed an MoU with Dhanuka Agritech Limited 

on May 16, 2014 for the construction of two Water 

Harvesting Projects in the region of Sikar in Rajasthan. 

The two locations are in Jugalpura and Devipura villages 

of Sikar District. Both the sites are under construction 

and shall be completed shortly. 

Beneficiaries of the Health Camp at Goindwal 

Peripheral Village Development Program with PMV 

Maltings Private Limited and PMV Nutrient Products 

Private Limited at Pataudi(Haryana) 

RDF has signed an MoU with PMV Group to undertake 

generic health camps for the village beneficiaries 

of Gadaipur, Nanukhurd, Pahadi and Ransika, the 

peripheral villages of the plant. 

Peripheral Village Development Program with PMV 

Maltings Pvt, Ltd and PMV Nutrient Products Pvt. Ltd. 

at Kashipur(Uttarakhand) 

RDF has signed an MoU with PMV Group to undertake 

generic health camps for the village beneficiaries of 

Madhaiya Devi and Kataiya, the peripheral villages of 

the plant and for the construction of girls toilets at the 

government schools of both villages. 



65

Communique 

Communique 

Media Buzz 

Media Buzz 

Business Standard, New Delhi, July 9, 2014 

The Pioneer, Raipur, July 9, 2014 

Financial Chronicle, New Delhi, 

July 15, 2014 

Hindustan Times, New Delhi, July 10, 2014 

The Times of India, New Delhi, July 9, 2014 

The Tribune, Pan India, 

July 17, 2014 

Hindustan, Pan India, 

July 11, 2014 

Business Standard, New Delhi, July 17, 2014 



67

Communique 

Communique 

Media Buzz 

Media Buzz 

The Hindu Business Line, New Delhi, July 5, 2014 

The Times of India, New Delhi, 

July 15, 2014 

The Hindu Business Line, 

New Delhi, June 26, 2014 

The Times of India, New Delhi, July 22, 2014 

Hindustan, Pan India, July 10, 2014 

Deccan Herald, New Delhi, 

July 17, 2014 

The Times of India, Pan India, 

July 3, 2014 

Deccan Herald, New Delhi, July 21, 2014 



69

Gizmos, Gadgets & Technology Expo 2014 

Date: September 12-14, 2014 

Venue: Himachal Bhawan, Chandigarh 

Contact: PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry PHD 

House, 4/2 , Siri Institutional Area August Kranti Marg, New 

Delhi- 110016 

Email: punit@phdcci.in; ysingh@phdcci.in 

Tel: +91 11 49545454 Ext 250 

ArchiBuild - 2014 

Date: September 27-29, 2014 

Venue: Himachal Bhawan, Chandigarh Exhibitors’ Profile: 

Bathroom Accessories, Tiles & Ceramics, Natural Marble, Italian 

Marbles, Engineered Marbles, Decorative & Architectural Lighting, 

Doors & Windows, Hardware & Fittings, Air Conditioning & 

Refrigeration, Paints, Coats & Wall Coverings, Home & Office 

Automation, Plumbing, Pipes & Fittings, Glass, Glazing & 

Facades, Steel & Concrete, Architects, Builders and Developers, 

Construction Industry, Building Consultants, Building Material 

Suppliers, Cement Manufacturers, etc. 

Contact: PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry PHD House, 

4/2, Siri Institutional Area August Kranti Marg, New Delhi 110016 


Tel: +91 11 49545454 Ext 250 

The ITU - Telecom World 2014 United Nations 

Specialized Agency for ICTs 

Date: December 07-10, 2014 

Venue: Qatar National Conference Centre (QNCC), Doha, Qatar 

Contact: Mr. Illias Moussa Organization Momentum 

Address: 153 avenue Charles de Gaulle 92200 Neuilly-Sur-Seine, 

France Office: +33 1 46 24 29 29 

Mobile : +33 6 68 22 11 11, Web: www.telecomworld.itu.int 

Email: illias@momentum-expo.com 

29th Tradexpo Indonesia 

Date: October 8-12, 2014 

Venue: Jakarta International Expo, Kemayoran- Jakarta. 

Exhibitors’ Profile: Agricultural Products & Manufactured 

Goods, Food Products, Tea, Coffee, Cocoa, Tropical Fruits, 

Crude Palm Oil Products, Household Appliances, Automotive 

Components, Electronic Products, Handicrafts, Healthcare, 

Lifestyle, Processed Food, Beverages, Artificial Jewelleries, Gifts 

& Accessories, Information & Communication Technology, 

Electrical & Environment Instruments, Consumer Electronics, 

Household Appliances, Information Communication & 

Technology, Home Decoration, Bamboo Furniture, Wooden 

Furniture, Rattan, Furniture, Knock-down Houses, Ceramic Items, 

Health & Beauty Products, Cosmetics, Medical Herbs, Leather 

Goods, Machineries, Mining, Office Equipments, Packaging, 

Plastics, Rubber, Stones & Marbles, Lighting, Services & 

Investment, etc. 

EXHIBITIONS/TRADE FAIRS 

Communique 

Complimentary benefits to PHD Members 

Delegation: 

(A) Free 2 Nights Complimentary stay during the trade show 

period* 

(B) Free airport pickup to venue upon arrival 

(C) Shuttle Services Hotel –Venue- Hotel * 

(D) Complimentary use of Business Lounge at venue 

(E) Free Wi-Fi at venue 

*Subject to approval of Government of Indonesia 

Contact: PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry 

PHD House, 4/2 , Siri Institutional Area, August Kranti Marg, 

New Delhi- 110016 

E-mail: punit@phdcci.in; ysingh@phdcci.in 

Tel: +91 11 49545454 (Ext 216) 

THE GIFT EXPO – 2014 A Pre-Diwali Shopping 

Festival 


Venue: Desh Bhagat Yadgar Memorial Hall , Jalandhar 

Contact : PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry 

PHD House, 4/2 , Siri Institutional Area 

August Kranti Marg, New Delhi- 110016 


Tel: +91 11 49545454 Ext 250 

2nd Auto Ancillary Show Pune 


Venue : Auto Cluster Exhibition Complex, PCMC, Pune (India) 

Organizer: India Trade Fair Organization (ITPO) 

Contact: Mr. D K Nangia, Deputy General Manager 

India Trade Promotion Organization 

Pragati Maidan New Delhi 110001, Tel: +91 11 23378464 

Fax: +91 11 23378996; Mob: +91 9999022456 

Email: dknangia@itpo.gov.in 

9th PITEX 2014 

Date: December 04-8, 2014 

Venue: Amritsar Punjab 

Exhibitors’ Profile: Textiles, Cloth and Garments, Handicrafts, 

Healthcare, Lifestyle, Food and Beverages, Automobiles, Artificial 

Jewelleries, Gifts & Accessories, Building Materials & Real Estates, 

Ceramics, Computer Hardware, Consumer Durables, Educational 

Institutes, Electrical & Environment instruments, Consumer 

Electronics, Food Products and Food Processing, Household 

Appliances, Information Communication & Technology, Insurance 

and Banking, Leather Goods, Machineries, Mining, Office 

Equipments, Packaging, Plastic, Rubber, Stones, Services, Tourism, 

etc 

Contact: PHD Chamber of Commerce & Industry 

PHD House 4/2 , Siri Institutional Area, August Kranti Marg, 

New Delhi- 110016 


Tel: +91 11 49545454 Ext 250 

Communique 

FORTHCOMING EVENTS / MEETINGS OF 

PHD CHAMBER FOR AUGUST 2014 

Buddhist Circuits in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar 

The government recently launched the ‘Strategy for Integrated Tourism Development of the Buddhist Circuit in Uttar Pradesh 

and Bihar ‘Investing in the Buddhist Circuit. This iconic route includes places where Buddha actually spent time and these 

sites, all of which are over 2000 years old, are amongst the most significant and revered by the Buddhists. The Strategy 

will enable to mobilise additional resources for development of the Buddhist Circuit from the private sector in a sustainable 

manner. The strategy aims at infrastructure development, skill development, increased market access, involvement of 

communities and enhancing the visitors’ experience. 



71

Communique 

Communique 

Bureaucratic Movements 

Mr. Rakesh Garg is new Secretary of the Department of Telecom. He is 1980 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre. 

Special Tribute 

Mr. S K Panda is the new Secretary of the Ministry of Textiles. He is 1980 batch IAS officer of Manipur-Tripura cadre. 

Ms. Anita Agnihotri has been assigned an additional charge of Secretary, Ministry of Urban Development in the 

Government of India. She is a 1980 batch IAS officer of Orissa cadre. 

Mr. Pradeep Kumar Sinha has been assigned an additional charge of New & Renewable Energy till the absence of 

Upendra Tripaty. He is a 1977 batch IAS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre. 

Mr. Rajan Katoch is the new Secretary of the Ministry of Heavy Industries. He is a 1979 batch IAS officer of Madhya 

Pradesh cadre. Mr. Katoch would continue to hold Additional charge of Director Enforcement. 

Mr. Vinay Sheel Oberoi is new Secretary of the Ministry of Child and Women Welfare. He is a 1979 batch IAS officer 

of Assam-Meghalaya cadre. 

Mr. Shankar Agrawal is new Secretary of the Ministry of Urban Development. He is a 1980 batch IAS officer of Uttar 

Pradesh cadre. 

Mr. J K Mohapatra is the new Secretary of the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers. He is a 1979 batch IAS officer of 

Odisha cadre. 

Mr. Rajesh Kishore is the new Secretary General of the National Human Rights Commission. He is a 1980 batch IAS 

officer of Gujarat cadre. 

Mr. Sanjay Kothari is the new Secretary of the Department of Personnel. He is a 1978 batch IAS office of Haryana 

cadre. 

Mr. Ravishankar is the new Secretary of the Department of Administrative Reforms. He is 1980 batch IAS officer of 

Uttarkhand cadre. 

Mr. H K Das is the new Secretary of Inter-State Council Secretariat. He is a 1980 batch IAS officer of Gujarat cadre. 

NEW MEMBERS OF PHD CHAMBER FOR THE MONTH OF JULY 2014 

PATRON 

Mr Vinay Kumar 

Chief Operating Officer 

Energo Engineering Projects Ltd. 

ORDINARY 

Mr Sutanshu Awasthi 

Proprietor, Bhawani Engineers 

Mr Manoj Kumar Jain, Director, 

Legency Remedies Pvt Ltd. 

Mr H S Passricha, Managing Director, Navyug 

Sewing Machine Company Ltd. 

Mr Praveen Satwasker, Proprietor 

P M Enterprises 

Mr Vijay Kumar Chopra 

Director, APV India Pvt Ltd. 

Mr Manas Agarwal 

Promoter, Jaguar Overseas Limited 

Mr Pramod Ingle, Director, 

NSB BPO Solutions Pvt Ltd. 

Mr Shreyaskar Chaudhary 

Director, Pratibha Syntex Ltd 

Mr Mahesh Sharda 

Director, Sunray Apparels Pvt Ltd. 

Mr S D Goyal 

Proprietor, Suneel Dutt Goyal 

Mr Anand S Mishra, Director 

Total Holiday Options Pvt Ltd. 

Mr Vivek Agarwal 

Director, VNS Projects Pvt Ltd 

Mr J K Dhar, Director, Wood Group PSN 

India Private Limited 

PROFESSIONAL 

Mr Vipul Sareen. Partner, SDVS & Co 

ASSOCIATION 

Mr S Gurmeet Singh Dhaliwal 

Chairman, Baba Farid Vidyak Society 

Dr H S Dhaliwal, Vice Chancellor 

Eternal University, Baru Sahib 

Prof (Dr) Balvir S Tomar 

Chairman, Nims University 

Mrs Seema Tiwari Mishra 

Director, SM Finishing School 

Mr A K Jaju, President 

Developers & Builders Forum 

Mr Prashant Vats, Executive Secretary 

Indian Printing Packaging & Allied Machinery 

Manufacturers Association 

Capt A K Kaura, President, Northern India Steamer 

Agents Association 

Late Mr. M L Nandrajog 

Former Secretary General, PHD Chamber 

(September 30, 1930 – July 31, 2014) 

Mr. M L Nandrajog, one such rare personality, the Secretary General of PHD 

Chamber from the year 1975 to 1993 passed away at the age of 83 on July 31, 2014. 

A journalist by profession, a visionary par excellence, he was a true symbol of 

progress, enterprise and social commitment. 

The Chamber’s prestigious building-PHD House is the result of his vision and 

dedication. It was due to Mr. Nandrajog’s initiative that the Chamber was able to 

mount the first Indian delegation to Pakistan in the early eighties. 

Though the Chamber was located at Delhi, and involved in national issues, his 

focus never shifted from the grass root level activities. It was his personal touch 

and his effervescent personality that he went out of his way to reach out to every 

member of the Secretariat which gave a 

“ PHD Family” feel to the organization. 

He was able to meet the expectations of the all stakeholders-the secretariat, 

membership, elected leadership, the state and central government bureaucracy 

and the political class. 

PHD Chamber wishes to pay special tribute to 

late Mr. M L Nandrajog 

May his soul rest in peace 



73

FINANCE MINISTER CALLS FOR A DEBATE ON SSI RESERVATIONS 

Shri SL Kapur, Chairman, SIB Helpline Task Force, PHDCCI; Shri K S Mehta, Vice President, PHDCCI, Union Finance Minister; Shri Yashwant Sinha and Shri 

Ashok Khanna, President, PHDCCI 

Inaugurating a national 

conference on “Finance for 

small & medium enterprises” 

at PHD House on July 30, 1999, 

the Union Finance Minister, 

Shri Yashwant Sinha called for a 

debate on the reservation issue 

for the SSI sector as most of 

these reservations would not be 

needed in the era of economic 

reforms, fierce competition and 

globalisation 

He also wanted that a “cluster 

approach” should be adopted by the 

SMEs to address various problems 

faced by them, the foremost being 

availability of finances. In this 

context, he asked the business 

chambers to help strengthen such 

SMEs cluster so as to enable the 

banks and financial institutions to 

manage the risks and provide more 

funds. The Finance Minister also 

asked the banks to reform their 

mindset for providing funds for 

SMEs, taking into consideration the 

viability of the project. 

Speaking on the occasion Mr. Ashok 

Khanna, President, PHDCCI 

urged the Finance Minister to 

constitute a high-powered Task 

Force to examine how to enhance 

availability of finances to the SMEs. 

The Task force be directed to give 

its recommendations within two 

months, he added. 

INTERACTIVE MEETING WITH MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT ON ‘IS COMMON 

MINIMUM PROGRAMME GOOD ENOUGHFOR INDIA VISION 2020’ 

Mr Sachin Pilot, Mr Nilotpal Basu, Mr B P Panda, Mr K N Memani, Mr Shekhar Gupta, Mr Omar Abdullah, Mr Milind Deora, 

PHDCCI’s Economic Affairs 

Committee organized an 

interactive meeting with 

members of Parliament on ‘Is 

common Minimum programme 

Good Enough for India Vision 

2020’ on 3rd August, 2005 at New 

Delhi. Mr. K N Memani, President, 

PHDCCi welcomed the august 

participants. 

The purpose of the meeting was to 

ascertain in the views of the Members 

of Parliament on the extent to 

which the principles outlined in the 

Common Minimum Programme 

of UPA Government were 

sufficient to help us realize the 

vision of a vibrant India by 2020. 

While articulating his views on 

the subject, Mr. Manvendra Singh 

said that the CMP was a creation 

of a political accident and was 

apprehensive about its ability to 

decision making in order to realize 

India Vision 2020. Echoing 

similar sentiments, Mr. Omar 

Abdullah maintained that CMP 

was not relevant for the period 

beyond 2004-09 as the country 

needed policy initiatives over and 

above the CMP with much more 

flexibility in approach in order to 

achieve India Vision 2020. This view 

was endorsed by Mr. Murli Deora 

who underscored the importance 

of effective implementation of 

the CMP and improvement in the 

delivery mechanism to realize our 

dream of a resurgent India by 2020. 

Mr. Scahin Pilot stressed that the 

benefit should reach the villages and 

access to finance should be made 

easy in the rural area. 



75

RNI No 34665/79 

Registration Number DL-SW-1/4095/2012-14 

Date of Publication - Published on 1st of every month 

Date of Posting - 2nd / 3rd of same month 

Printed by Mr. Saurabh Sanyal, Executive Director, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Published by Mr. Saurabh Sanyal 

on behalf of PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, printed at Gokul Offset (P) Ltd, D - 159 A, Okhla Industrial Area - 1, New Delhi - 110020, 

published at PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, PHD House, 4/2 Siri Institutional Area, 

August Kranti Marg, New Delhi - 110016, Editor - Mr. Saurabh Sanyal

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