News 

President's Message

Pramod Goyal

Jai Hind!

India and Indians across the world will be celebrating the 74th Independence Day later this week on 15 August. Among the significant developments in recent months that have spurred the India growth story and – have focused global attention on India include:

• Foreign direct investment in the Indian information technology and communication (ITC) sector
• Indian government’s push for more liberalisation in coal, minerals, defence production, civil aviation, power distribution, social infrastructure, space and atomic energy
• The cooling of ties between the G7 countries and China, resulting in India coming under the radar of US and Europe-based tech and infrastructure companies
• Indian government’s policy of self-reliance – Atmanirbhar Bharat – which focuses on encouraging and building a robust manufacturing base in India

Read full message: Jai Hind!

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ICCC's Special Independence Day Offer

In the News

India is a constructive, dependable ally globally

By Harsh Vardhan Shringla

Harsh Vardhan Shringla is India's Foreign Secretary

Through the pandemic, India has not only
met its domestic requirements
but it has also taken
a range of steps for global good

Covid-19 continues to exact a heavy toll worldwide. In India too, positive cases are rising. However, our effective domestic response has led to a significant improvement in our recovery rate, which is now 68.78%. The case fatality rate at 2.01% remains one of the lowest in the world.

India’s response has not been confined to meeting our domestic requirements. We have been significantly engaged with the international community in providing the leadership that the global situation demanded. As a responsible stakeholder in global health supply chains, we ensured timely access to essential drugs and medical items for over 150 countries, while meeting our own domestic requirements. We reaffirmed our position as the first responder to humanitarian crises in the region by deploying medical teams to help Maldives, Mauritius, Comoros and Kuwait deal with the pandemic. India also dispatched naval assets to the Maldives, Mauritius, Madagascar, Comoros and Seychelles to deliver assistance. This demonstrated our strong commitment to the PM’s vision of Security and Growth for All in the Region (SAGAR).

Read more: India - a dependable ally

India introduces radical transformation in its tax regime

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a platform for Transparent Taxation – Honouring the Honest on 13 August 2020. Speaking on the occasion he said that the process of Structural Reforms in the country has reached new heights today. The Prime Minister said the platform of Transparent Taxation – Honouring the Honest, has been launched to meet the requirements of the 21st century taxation system. He elaborated that the platform has major reforms like Faceless Assessment, Faceless Appeal and Taxpayers Charter.

He said that Faceless Assessment and Taxpayers Charter have come into force from today while the facility of faceless appeal will be available for citizens across the country from 25^th September i.e. Deen Dayal Upadhyay's birth anniversary. The new platform apart from being faceless is also aimed at boosting the confidence of the taxpayer and making him/her fearless.

Read the full report, click here: In the News

Programs & Events

ICCC Board's Meeting with Consulate General of India

Screen grab of WebEx meeting between
ICCC directors & CGI diplomats

The Board of Directors of Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) discussed different ways of collaborating with the Consulate General of India Toronto during a WebEx meeting with Consul General Apoorva Srivastava and Commercial Consul Saifullah Khan on 5 August 2020.

CG Apoorva Srivastava lauded the ICCC's role in enhancing trade between India and Canada. "We look forward to closer interaction with the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce in the near future." She said the focus for India is Trade, Technology, Tourism, and suggested many specific measures to be jointly initiated to sustain the momentum that ICCC and CGI-Toronto built during 2019 when ICCC hosted three trade delegations from India.

Pramod Goyal, President, ICCC, emphasized that the ICCC would continue to robustly engage the CGI-Toronto in trade promotion events. He outlined the various programs that the ICCC would be implementing in the near future, and sought CGI-Toronto's involvement in them. Other members of the Board of ICCC also participated in the discussion.

ICCC's popular webinar series

19 webinars in 18 weeks between April and July 2020
Average audience size: 2,500 per week

Objectives:

• To meet information demand of members about the pandemic, the impact of the lockdown on their businesses, and different government assistance programs, ICCC launched Thursday Talks, a weekly webinar series
• Its purpose was to help small business owners understand the impact of the pandemic on different sectors
• ICCC gave open access on Facebook Live; over 2,500 people participate every week – asking questions, leaving comments, and networking virtually through social media
• ICCC launched another series called Knowledge on the Go, where we explored sectors that are have strong presence in the Canadian economy, such as cannabis, alternative energy, the ethnic media, cybersecurity and paywalls

And to get firsthand information from the government, we also invited decisionmakers to discuss reopening plans and schedules, and assistance to small businesses

In case you missed any of the webinars, here’s your chance to catch up. Programs & Events

Insight

Fostering Growth in Digital Trade

By Don Stephenson

Don Stephenson is Former Chief Trade Negotiator, India-Canada Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement

The shifting trends in trade, especially given the growth in communications capacity and reduced cost of computing have altered traditional economic development. India and Canada have a shared commercial interest in E-trade. Both countries need to align their resources to frame trade rules of the new digital economy, to mutual benefit.

Trade is important for both Canada and India. For Canada, as an industrialized economy endowed with enormous resource gifts but a small domestic market, trade is essential. Trade represents a large share of the economy and makes an important contribution to Canadians’ high standard of living. For India, while it is less dependent on trade due to a much larger domestic market, expanding exports and attracting investment are essential to sustain rapid economic growth and to create jobs and economic prosperity for a large and growing labour force.

Trade is changing. Technology has been the principal driver of trade growth, through improvements in production, transportation and communications. Growth in communications capacity and decreases in the cost of computing have altered traditional economic development and, together with the internet, created the foundations for the most recent tectonic shift in the nature of business and trade, the emergence of an economy in which the most important resource is data.

In trade policy fora, the digital economy is most often viewed from the perspective of electronic commerce — goods and services purchased and sold over electronic networks. However, the digital economy — including digital trade — is much more than electronic commerce. The digital trade agenda is a subset of the broader digital governance universe, which spans issues of infrastructure, internet administration and myriad economic and social policy issues and involves innumerable stakeholders.

Read more: Fostering Digital Trade

To register, click here:  ICICI Bank Canada's Wealth Creation Webinar

Growth Series KARMA AND DESTINY DEMYSTIFIED What you will learn: What is Karma and how do you connect it with life after death and the concept of heaven / Hell? How do you link science (subconscious mind) with spirituality? Can you change your destiny or achieve just about everything you want in life with your mind power? – The answer is not what you expect me to say, mind it! About the Trainer CA Surojit Ray Websites: www.pristinects.com; www.karmacosmos.com YouTube Channel: Karma Cosmos Talks (30+ videos) Surojit Ray is a Chartered Accountant, a rank holder in an all India level CA examination After having spent a glorious career in the consulting space with MNCs / large consulting firms, in early 2012 Surojit started grooming professionals working in the corporate sector across the globe through his motivational, business skills and communication skills workshops Surojit has more than 12,000 man hours of training experience backing him – So far, he has trained thousands of people all across the globe – he has also mentored, coached and counselled 2,500 plus clients one on one, many of them being corporate honchos and Bollywood / media industry celebrities He is the founder of successful brands, Pristine Corporate Training Solutions and Karma Cosmos Counselling and Life Coaching Services He has undertaken in depth self research of more than 20 years on varied subjects such as mind power, the Bhagavad Gita, the Quran, the Bible, the Vedas, the Puranas, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, hypnotism, yoga, meditation & other alternate forms of healing, cult sciences, alternate sciences such as astrology, palmistry, vastu shastra, etc. He is a trainer, Hypno-therapist, past life regressionist, motivational speaker, coach, mentor and counsellor He is also an active youtuber with many videos posted on his channel “Karma Cosmos Talks”

ICCC members wishing to participate in this program may send their information to iccc@iccconline.org on or before 3:00 PM Thursday 06 August 2020.

Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce the appointment of new members on its Board of Directors and the Advisory Board.

Dr. Shanthi Johnson, Professor & Dean, School of Public Health, University of Alberta, and Dr. Ashwin Joshi, Associate Professor Marketing and Dean of MBA Program, Schulich School of Business have been appointed to the Advisory Board for a two-year term starting August 2020.

Ripudaman Dhillon, a serial entrepreneur, an immigration consultant, and a community leader, and Vikas Sharma, an entrepreneur, philanthropist and avid builder have been appointed directors to the Board.

Pramod Goyal, President and Chair of the Board, while welcoming the new Advisory Board members said, "We have appointed extremely talented, dedicated and well known academicians to the Advisory Board. There presence will help us formulate effective public policy positions on mission critical issues."

About the newly appointed directors, the ICCC President said, "The entrepreneurial and philanthropic zeal of our new directors will help us make our outreach among members and stakeholders more effective."

Advisory Board appointments

Dr. Shanthi Johnson Professor & Dean  School of Public Health University of Alberta
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Shanthi Johnson is a leader in the fields of health promotion and healthy aging. An internationally renowned researcher with multidisciplinary perspective, she has led significant research and has secured notable grants. She has delivered more than 300 presentations and is the author of over 150 peer reviewed articles and reports in prestigious journals such as the Lancet. Johnson has played a key leadership role as associate dean in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Health Studies at the University of Regina (2008–2014). She has served on various boards and was the President of Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute.

---------------

Dr. Ashwin Joshi Associate Professor, Marketing Director, MBA Program Schulich School of Business

Having completed his PhD in 1993, Ashwin began his academic career at the University of Winnipeg, followed by stints at St. Mary’s University and at the University of Calgary.  He joined the faculty of the Schulich School of Business, York University in 1999.  Since that time, Ashwin has taught across a wide range of programs within the School, including the BBA, Masters of Management, Master of Business Analytics, MBA, IMBA, EMBA, and the Phd Program. Relationship building is a key theme in his research and consulting practice.

See ICCC's Advisory Board

Board appointments

Ripudaman established ICC Canada Immigration Solutions Inc. to help new immigrants to easily settle into a better life in Canada. His entrepreneurial zeal led him to launch Guru restaurant in 2013 in Heartland. His affinity for public service inspired him to start Radio Dhun, Ontario’s first multicultural and multilingual radio station, and in 2017 he acquired Radio 1220AM that reaches audiences from Ottawa to St. Catherines. The International Fashion Festival Toronto he launched in 2014 promotes local designers. Ripudaman is an active philanthropist and was the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario’s candidate in 2018 and a candidate of record for Brampton North.

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Vikas Sharma Director Inxsys Corporation
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Since 2006, Vikas has been the President and Owner of a post-industrial plastics recycling company in Toronto, Canada. The firm specializes in trading a wide variety of secondary fiber, post-industrial plastics and raw material to build the efficiency and profitability of its customers recycling operations. Vikas has significant experience in international trade and over the last two decades, Vikas has exported to China, India, Vietnam, Mexico and the USA. He specialises in India and North America trade.

Vikas is the President and Founder of the Care4Cause Foundation, which offers dignity, compassion and respect to individuals suffering poverty and unfortunate circumstances. Vikas joined the Tiger Jeet Singh Foundation in 2019 as Director and worked on expanding its Christmas Miracle on Main Street toy drive charity event to Brampton.

See ICCC's Board of Directors

Recent Investments (April-July 2020)

1.    Google: $10 billion.

2.    Walmart: $1.2 billion.

3.    Foxconn (Apple Inc. Supplier): $1 billion.

4.    Facebook: Investment Amount – The world’s largest social media company invests $5.7 billion in India’s Reliance Jio Platforms. It is Facebook’s biggest single investment in another company.

5.    Qualcomm Ventures: $97 million.

6.    Thomson: $142.8 million.

7.    We Work Global: $100 million.

8.    Hitachi: $15.9 million.

9.    Kia Motors: $54 million.

10.  Saudi Arabia’s PIF: $1.6 billion.

11.  Hyundai Mobis: Investment –Hyundai Mobis expands its technical centre in India to strengthen software development of future vehicles. Through this expansion, the company aims to strengthen its R&D activities in India, particularly software development for autonomous vehicles.

12.  SGS: Investment – SGS is Amazon’s trusted partner in quality packaging and is one of the world's leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company. The company opens its first accreditation testing lab in India along with labs in other parts of the world which are Cestas in Bordeaux, France and Appleton in the US.

13.  Axtria: Investment –Axtria, a global leader in cloud software and data analytics for the life sciences commercial business, further expands its presence in India and opens its first delivery centre in south India. The big data analytics and cloud software giant is creating new employment opportunities to meet increasing market demand in India.

14.  f5: Investment – f5, a company providing solutions to App based platforms, opens its first centre in India. After successful launches in Sydney, Australia, and Hong Kong, it opens its first centre in India.

15.  Tsuzuki: Investment – Tsuzuki one of the leading Japanese electronics company, opens a brand-new plant at Reliance's Model Economic Township in Jhajjar, Haryana, India.

16.  Samsung: Investment –The South Korean giant now has started manufacturing their entire range of 18 smartwatches in India. The company which has its largest smartphone manufacturing facility in Noida, has also launched a new 4G-enabled smartwatch that will be manufactured locally.

1.       https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/google-10-billion-usd-investment-in-india-explained-6505026/#:~:text=Tech%2Dgiant%20Google%20Monday%20announced,accelerate%20digitisation%E2%80%9D%20in%20the%20country.

2.       https://www.livemint.com/companies/news/walmart-leads-1-2-bn-investment-in-flipkart-at-near-25-billion-valuation-11594726660007.html

3.       https://www.timesnownews.com/business-economy/companies/article/foxconn-to-invest-1-billion-in-india-amid-apples-gradual-production-shift-from-china/619706#:~:text=Foxconn%20aims%20to%20invest%20in,%241%20billion%20in%20the%20country.

4.       https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/21/facebook-reliance-jio/

5.       https://techcrunch.com/2020/07/12/qualcomm-to-invest-97-million-in-indias-reliance-jio-platforms/

6.       https://retail.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/consumer-durables-and-information-technology/consumer-electronics/thomson-to-invest-rs-1000-cr-in-indian-market-over-next-5-years/76466223#:~:text=New%20Delhi%20%3A%20Television%20brand%20Thomson,company%20said%20in%20a%20statement.

7.       https://m.economictimes.com/small-biz/startups/newsbuzz/wework-global-to-invest-100-million-in-wework-india/articleshow/76218667.cms

8.       https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/07/13/business/corporate-business/hitachi-trains-india/#:~:text=NEW%20DELHI%20%E2%80%93%20Hitachi%20Ltd.',billion%20rupees%20(%2415.9%20million)

9.       https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/kia-motors-india-to-invest-409-cr-in-expansion-project/article31699040.ece#:~:text=The%20KIA%20Motors%20India%20will,Mee%20Suchana'%20programme%20on%20Thursday.

10.   https://www.moneycontrol.com/news/business/jio-pif-deal-all-you-need-to-know-about-saudi-arabias-pif-the-latest-investor-in-jio-platforms-5423231.html

11.   https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hyundai-mobis-expands-its-technical-center-in-hyderabad-india-to-strengthen-software-development-of-future-vehicles-301039782.html

12.    https://www.sgs.com/en/news/2020/05/sgs-expands-network-of-ista-labs-and-adds-ista-6-amazon-certification-testing

13.   https://insights.axtria.com/press-release-axtria-expands-to-south-india-with-a-new-bengaluru-delivery-center

14.   https://www.f5.com/company/news/press-releases/f5-expands-silverline-managed-services-offerings-in-india-with-new-point-of-presence-to-improve-application-security-for-customers

15.   https://www.livemint.com/companies/news/tsuzuki-to-set-up-plant-at-reliance-s-model-economic-township-in-jhajjar-11594546228950.html

16.   https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/hardware/samsung-starts-manufacturing-smartwatches-in-india/articleshow/76872729.cms#:~:text=With%20Galaxy%20Watch%20Active2%204G,Singh%20said%20in%20a%20statement

How India has responded to the global pandemic, writes Harsh Vardhan Shringla

Whether in diplomacy or economy, whether in society or policymaking, we have been learning new lessons

ANALYSIS BY Harsh Vardhan Shringla- 8 July 2020

India has been proactive in assessing and dealing with the challenges caused by the pandemic. Saving lives has been our foremost priority

The Covid-19 pandemic has been the biggest crisis to hit humanity since World War II. It has already cost us over 500,000 deaths and countless livelihoods. The impact on the economy has been extremely sharp. International financial institutions have projected a contraction of nearly 5% in global output in 2020, and a cumulative loss to global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of around $12 trillion.

How quickly the global economy recovers from what the International Monetary Fund has referred to as the “Great Lockdown” depends on how soon the pandemic is controlled. As India enters Unlock 2.0, our government’s efforts are geared towards further expansion of economic activity while not letting our guard down.

We have been proactive in assessing and dealing with the challenges caused by the pandemic. Saving lives has been our foremost priority. On this count, while our caseload continues to be high, we have fared comparatively better than many other countries with a low death rate and high recovery rate. This can be attributed to early steps to protect and insulate people. The government has channelled public resources to the health care sector for the development of hospitals, emergency rooms, the provision of equipment and supplies, and training health care professionals.

To deal with the economic challenges posed by the pandemic, Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi has enunciated a forward-looking economic approach under the rubric of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan. The stimulus package of nearly Rs 20 lakh crore aims to both reinvigorate the economy and provide a social safety net to our vulnerable sections. The vision of Aatmanirbhar Bharat will stand on five pillars: Economy, infrastructure, our system, demography and demand.

The Abhiyaan is aimed at not only mitigating the socioeconomic impact of the pandemic in the short-term, but also instilling confidence in businesses and industries; making manufacturing globally competitive; integrating our agriculture and small farmers with global food supply chains; and embracing both investment and technology. The size of the economic relief and stimuli measures under the Abhiyaan is equivalent to 10% of India’s GDP.

Private sector participation has been given a big push in eight areas, including coal, minerals, defence production, civil aviation, power distribution, social infrastructure, space and atomic energy. The government is opening previously restricted sectors to greater private participation.

The call for Aatmnirbharta is not about reverting to economic isolationism. Its essential aim is to ensure India’s position as a key participant in global supply chains. Through building capacities at home, we also intend to contribute to mitigating disruptions in global markets. It is important to identify products and commodities where India has the ability or potential to expand domestic production and enhance global availability. True, we cannot make everything — but we can certainly make many, many more things than we currently are.

Global engagement and cooperation are critical to deal with the pandemic and ensure economic recovery. The PM took the lead in engaging world leaders for evolving a coordinated response. The PM also highlighted that during the pandemic, India had tried to live up to the teaching of seeing the world as one family, Vasudhaiva Kutumbkam, by sharing medicines with over 120 countries, forging a common response strategy with its neighbouring countries, and providing specific support to countries that sought it, while also protecting our own population.

The pandemic has generated a debate about the future of globalisation and the structural limitations of the international order. Virtual summits of global leaders have been useful platforms to highlight shortcomings of existing arrangements for global cooperation, and to share India’s vision of a new, people-centric template for multilateral cooperation. This formed the thrust of PM’s interventions in the virtual summits of the G-20 and Non-Aligned Movement to cite two examples.

The pandemic has disrupted diplomatic calendars causing almost all international meetings and summits to be cancelled. While face-to-face meetings with counterparts have traditionally been considered essential to resolve complicated issues or conduct difficult negotiations, diplomatic engagement cannot be allowed to stop in their absence. At the ministry of external affairs (MEA), we are attempting to find common ground between time-honoured diplomatic protocols and new-age Internet protocols. A crisis of this magnitude requires a coordinated global response, making sustained communication between countries all the more essential. The increase in tensions in different parts of the world, including on the Line of Actual Control between India and China, have only emphasised the criticality of continued communication. Diplomacy has to adapt to new situations.

Virtual diplomacy has been complemented by efforts to deliver medical aid and assistance. This has included the supply of essential medicines, test kits and protective gear worth around Rs 82 crores to 89 countries. Even in these difficult times, India has remained dependable and responsive in living up to its international commitments.

As health security and health supply chains move up on the priority lists of the world’s governments, India must prime itself to emerging opportunities. Indian diplomacy will support this process all the way. The MEA is actively engaged in promoting India as an alternative manufacturing and innovation destination.

There are lessons we are learning in all contexts and domains — whether in diplomacy or the economy, whether in policymaking or in society. I am confident that they will serve to strengthen our systems, our resolve and our country as we put our current challenges behind us.