News 

President's Views

Pramod Goyal

Trade, Diversity & Inclusion

This month, I discuss new action on the bilateral trade front and the issue of diversity and inclusion as applicable to addressing the representational gap of women, racialized and black people on boards and senior management positions.

Trade

The sudden spurt in bilateral exchanges is a clear indication, Canada and India are committed to meaningfully engage and take their trade ties on to higher trajectory. As per some estimates, trade and Canadian portfolio investments have crossed $80billion, and Indian diplomats say that it has the potential to reach $100 billion, given the right push.

Diversity & Inclusion

I had the privilege of participating in a roundtable discussion initiated by Minister Navdeep Bains’s Ministry of Innovation, Science, and Industry on enhancing diversity and inclusion on company boards and senior management. Termed the 50/30 challenge, the initiative seeks to enhance the presence of under-represented gender and ethnicities on corporate and public boards and senior management levels.

Read more: President's Views

Programs & Events

Ontario-Uttar Pradesh Trade & Investment Collaboration Initiative

Dialogue between

Hon Vic Fedeli
Ontario's Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade

&

Hon. Sidharth Nath Singh
Uttar Pradesh's Minister of MSME, Export Promotion
& Khadi and Village Industries

Followed by a panel discussion, featuring

From Canada

Hon. Nina Tangri, Ontario's Parliamentary Assistant to Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade

Dr. Aditya Jha, Indo-Canadian Serial Entrepreneur, Industrialist, Investor

From India

Satish Srivastava, CMD - Nilansh Group

Shri Lal Gupta, MD - BNSR group company

Jatin Verma, Director, JSV Motors & Construction Pvt. Ltd.

Register here: ON-UP Collaboration

Elspeth Heyworth Centre for Women's Virtual Gala

Support  Elspeth Heyworth Centre for Women

In the News

Making Ontario Better for People & Smarter for Business

Reducing Regulatory Burdens to Support Economic Recovery & Growth

The Ontario government continues to deliver on its commitment to remove regulatory roadblocks, cut red tape and support job creation with the introduction of the Better for People, Smarter for Business Act, 2020. The legislation is part of the province’s made-in-Ontario plan for growth, renewal and economic recovery.

The bill was introduced in the Legislature on 6 October by Prabmeet Sarkaria, Associate Minister of Small Business and Red Tape Reduction. If passed, the act will strengthen Ontario’s economic recovery, support businesses on the ground, and help government deliver clear and effective rules that promote public health and safeguard the environment without sacrificing innovation, growth and opportunity.

Read more: In the News

Insight

What India Eats?

Joint endeavour of
Indian Council of Medical Research-National Institute of Nutrition

Diet plays a crucial role in determining the health and nutritional status of the population. The dietary diversity of a food plate is determined by several factors such as personal factors and environmental factors. Keeping this in view, an attempt has been made to understand (i) region wise food groups consumption and macronutrient intake (ii) contribution of different food groups to energy, protein, fat and carbohydrates (iii) proportion of population consuming energy obtained from various food groups as per ICMR- NIN “My Plate for the Day” recommendations (iv) region-wise variations in the prevalence of obesity and hypertension (HTN) and diabetes (T2D).

Region wise information on dietary consumption in terms of food groups is essential for developing an appropriate region specific food based strategies for tackling the triple burden of malnutrition in India with diverse cultural and food behaviour practices. Also, it would help in evolving inter-ministerial convergence related to production, processing, distribution, availability etc., for ensuring food and nutrition security to achieve ’zero hunger' by 2030.

Read more: Insight

Money Talk

Rakesh Vijay

Avoid the Five Mistakes Investors Make in Tough Markets

• Setting unrealistic investment objectives
• Buying high and selling low
• Acting on tips and hunches
• Putting all your eggs in one basket
• Ignoring tax consequences and trading costs

https://www.weeklyvoice.com/canada-india-pledge-to-promote-trade-ties/

TORONTO: Canada-India relations have never been as good they are right now, and it’s the right time to get into overdrive to enhance trade.

This was the consensus opinion of eminent speakers and panelists at the web program ‘Canada – India Trade by 2025 – Enabling Variety. Volume. Velocity.’ organized by the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) on September 17.

Mary Ng, Canada’s Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion, and International Trade and Hardeep Singh Puri, India’s Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Civil Aviation, and Housing and Urban Affairs were the main speakers at the program.

Following their interaction, the High Commissioners of Canada and India – Nadir Patel and Ajay Bisaria gave their perspective on enhancing bilateral trade. The program concluded with a scintillating panel discussion moderated by Ravi Seethapathy, former President of ICCC, an energy sector expert, and a corporate director; the panelists included Goldy Hyder, President, and CEO, Business Council of Canada; Vikram Khurana, Chair, Toronto Business Development Corporation; Mohit Singla, Chair, Trade Promotion Council of India; and Rupa Naik, Senior Director, Projects, World Trade Centre – Mumbai.

In her opening remarks, Minister Ng congratulated the ICCC for its tireless efforts to foster bilateral trade relations between Canada and India. “I laud the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce for the good work to promote trade and forge linkages in the small business sector in both Canada and India,” she said.

She emphasized that the overall ties between Canada and India have never been as good as they are at present. “I have had four meetings with Minister Piyush Goyal to discuss trade,” and a significant momentum has been built for cooperation.

Minister Ng said that while trade in traditional sectors such as pulp and paper and agri-food continues to grow, new sectors like clean energy, education, skills and training, urban infrastructure, and transportation are emerging quickly.

The Minister gave the example of an Ottawa-based company providing technical knowhow to Gujarat for low-cost wastewater treatment. Piyush Goyal, India’s Minister of Railways and Minister of Commerce and Industry was originally slated to participate in the web program.

However, he was called to deal with an urgent matter in the Rajya Sabha, Indian Parliament’s Upper House, where he is the Deputy Leader.

In his place, Hardeep Singh Puri, India’s Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Civil Aviation, and Housing and Urban Affairs, participated. Minister Puri provided a panoramic view of the bilateral trade ties between Canada.

“We draw great strength from people to people relations,” Minister Puri said.

Minister Puri said the ICCC theme – ‘Canada – India Trade by 2025: Enabling Variety. Volume. Velocity’ – for the web program captured the entire scope of bilateral trade. He said India has pushed through significant economic reforms and liberalized investment norms in several key sectors such as pharmaceuticals and defense during the pandemic.

Record growth Nadir Patel, Canada’s High Commissioner to India, said the progress in Canada – India relations and especially in bilateral trade has been remarkable.

“We have to celebrate our successes and see where we have come from and where we have reached. Trade has hit a record each year of the last five years. The momentum was strong in 2020. The base we have built gives us strength.”

Ajay Bisaria, India’s High Commissioner to Canada, congratulated ICCC for organizing the program. Talking about the upward trajectory in bilateral trade and investments between the two countries, Mr. Bisaria said the present trends indicate that portfolio investment from Canada into India would reach $100 billion in the next five years.

Bisaria said the immediate opportunity to significantly enhance bilateral ties was in manufacturing the Covid-19 vaccine.

“India has the capacity to become the world’s pharma base to produce the Covid-19 vaccine.” India is not just a pharmacy of the world, but also a vaccine manufacturer of the world with the capacity to manufacture over a billion doses. Following the speeches, Ravi Seethapathy, the former President of ICCC, moderated a panel discussion.

World Trade Centre – Mumbai’s Senior Director for Projects Rupa Naik, who was participating from Mumbai, India, said: “There is a dire need to enhance trade between the two nations and gain from our complementarities and competitive advantages.

The US and the EU recently struck a deal for reducing tariffs on certain products to improve market access between the two countries. India too should enter into such agreements to gain from trade.”

Toronto Business Development Corporation’s Chair Vikram Khurana emphasized the significance of enhanced investments from Canadian institutional investors – chiefly the pension funds – into India in recent times.

“Only in the last six months, during the height of the pandemic, Canadian pension funds have invested $5.5 billion in India.”

He added that companies such as Ivanhoe Cambridge are devising innovative investment tools that will transform investments in the real estate sector and enhance Canadian exposure in India in that sector.

Mr. Khurana said Canadian small business will also be positively impacted by this development because it will have the stardust effect, where small businesses follow big businesses into a new market.

Trade Promotion Council of India’s Chair, Mohit Singla pointed out that the untapped potential to enhance trade between Canada and India will materialize into exponential growth when trade and services are diversified.

Trade statistics have shown impressive growth in recent years. Business Council of Canada’s President and CEO, Goldy Hyder emphasized the need for trade agreements between Canada and India.

It is important for both the Canadian and the Indian establishments to sign the long-pending trade and investment agreements, Mr. Hyder said. He also said that such forums tend to emphasize investments in India, but Indian investments into Canada also MEDIA KIT have tremendous scope.

President's View

Pramod Goyal

Enhancing bilateral trade

Last week, I had the honour of moderating a discussion between Hon. Mary Ng, Canada’s Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion and International Trade and Hon. Hardeep Singh Puri, India’s Minister of State for Commerce & Industry, Civil Aviation and Housing and Urban Affairs. Your Chamber organised this dialogue between the two ministers on enhancing Canada – India trade.

Earlier this month, the Executive Team of the ICCC met His Excellency Ajay Bisaria, the High Commissioner of India in Canada. During the meeting, he emphasized the significance of transforming the bilateral relations between our two democracies.

We informed the High Commissioner of the three initiatives that ICCC has undertaken to achieve the common objective of enhancing trade. These include:

• The Ministerial dialogue, which occurred last week, and there will be iterations in the future.
  
  
• Province-State Cooperation: Our Chamber will facilitate a dialog between Canadian provinces and Indian states to explore collaboration. The first such session is expected next month and will bring together Ontario and Uttar Pradesh.
  
  
• Small Business Cooperation: Our Chamber will also be collaborating with the SME Chamber of India to bring small businesses from Canada and India on a common platform to explore, investment possibilities and joint ventures collaborations.

Read more: Enhancing bilateral trade

Programs & Events

ICCC's Leaders Talk Web Series 

Hon. Mary Ng & Hon. Hardeep Singh Puri

Canada – India relations have never been as good they are right now, and it’s the right time to get into an overdrive to enhance trade. This was the consensus opinion of all the eminent speakers and panelists at the web program ‘Canada – India Trade by 2025 – Enabling Variety. Volume. Velocity.’ organised by the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) Thursday 17 September.

Hon. Mary Ng, Canada’s Minister of Small Business, Export Promotion, and International Trade and Hon. Hardeep Singh Puri, India’s Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Civil Aviation, and Housing and Urban Affairs were the main speakers at the program. Following their interaction, the High Commissioners of Canada and India – Nadir Patel and Ajay Bisaria gave their perspective on enhancing bilateral trade.

The program concluded with a scintillating panel discussion moderated by Ravi Seethapathy, former President of ICCC, an energy sector expert, and a corporate director; the panelists included Goldy Hyder, President and CEO, Business Council of Canada; Vikram Khurana, Chair, Toronto Business Development Corporation; Mohit Singla, Chair, Trade Promotion Council of India; and Rupa Naik, Senior Director, Projects, World Trade Centre – Mumbai.

Minister Hon. Mary Ng

In her opening remarks, Minister Ng congratulated the ICCC for its tireless efforts to foster bilateral trade relations between Canada and India. “I laud the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce for the good work that it continues to do to promote trade and forge linkages in the small business sector in both Canada and India,” she said.

She emphasized that the overall ties between Canada and India have never been as good as they are at present. The two Prime Ministers have had several interactions, the foreign ministers have met and discussed issues of significance for both the countries. “I have had four meetings with Minister Piyush Goyal to discuss trade,” and a significant momentum has been built for cooperation.

Minister Ng said that while trade in traditional sectors such as pulp and paper and agri-food continues to grow, new sectors that have tremendous promise for the future are rising fast. These include clean energy, education, skills and training, urban infrastructure, and transportation. The Minister gave the example of an Ottawa-based company providing technical knowhow to Gujarat for low cost wastewater treatment.

Minister Hon. Hardeep Singh Puri

Hon. Piyush Goyal, India’s Minister of Railways and Minister of Commerce and Industry was originally slated to participate in the web program. However, he was called to deal with an urgent matter in the Rajya Sabha, Indian Parliament’s Upper House, where he is the Deputy Leader.

In his place, Hon. Hardeep Singh Puri, India’s Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, Civil Aviation, and Housing and Urban Affairs, participated. A career diplomat prior to entering public life, Minister Puri provided a panoramic view of the bilateral trade ties between Canada and India, and emphasized that there is a commitment on both sides to create and sustain an environment that is conducive for better trade. “We draw great strength from people to people relations,” Minister Puri said.

He said India has pushed through significant economic reforms and liberalised investment norms in several key sectors such as pharmaceuticals and defence during the pandemic.

Read more and watch video: Talking Trade

In the News

Mission Karmayogi

Mission Karmayogi to radically improve the Human Resource management in the Government says PM

Says iGOT platform will enable the transition to a role-based HR management & continuous learning

India’s Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions informed the Indian Parliament that the National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building (‘NPCSCB’) – “Mission Karmayogi” has been launched with the objective of enhancing governance through Civil Service Capacity Building.Mission Karmayogi will have the following six pillars:-

1.        Policy Framework
2.        Institutional Framework
3.        Competency Framework
4.        Digital Learning Framework (Integrated Government Online Training Karmayogi Platform (iGOT-Karmayogi)
5.        Electronic Human Resource Management System (e-HRMS)
6.        Monitoring and Evaluation Framework.

Read more: In the News

ICCC President Pramod Goyal appointed on
SME Chamber of India's Advisory Board

Pramod Goyal, BS, MBA, PFP, President, Indo Canada Chamber of Commerce has been appointed as an Overseas Board Member to the SME Chamber of India National Advisory Board for a three-year-term (2020-2023). He has also been appointed as the Vice President of India-Canada SME Business Council, a new venture of the SME Chamber of India. 

SME Chamber of India is a MoU Partner of Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce. It is a Mumbai-based premier national Chamber that has been working for the development of SMEs from manufacturing, service sectors and allied industrial / business sectors for the last 26 years. The Chamber integrates SMEs, large corporates, MNCs, banks, investors, policy makers, Young & Women entrepreneurs and Start–Ups to establish and enhance contacts for better business growth and expansion. 

ICCC Leaders on RBC Top 25
Canadian Immigrant Award list 

Shanthi Johnson	Kanwar Dhanjal

Dr. Shanthi Johnson, ICCC's Advisory Board Member and Kanwar Dhanjal, former President, ICCC, are on the 2020 RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award list.

They join an illustrative list of ICCC leaders who have been similarly honoured with this recognition in the past years. The ICCC leaders who have won this award in the past are:

2010: Aditya Jha (Advisory Board Member 2019 onward)

2010: Asha Seth (Advisory Board Member 2010-11)

2012: Satish Thakkar (President, 2011-12)

2013: Gini Sethi (Board Member 2015-16)

2013: Steve Gupta (Advisory Board Member 2012-13)

2014: Naval Bajaj (President 2012-14)

2015: Bob Dhillon (Advisory Board Member 2013-16)

2017: Kuldeep Sharma (Advisory Board member 2017-18)

2018: Kundan Joshi (Board Member 2008-2011)

Read more: In the News

Appointment

Sonia Ojha
Senior Manager, Corporate Relations & Partnerships
Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce

Sonia Ojha has joined Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce as Senior Manager, Corporate Relations and Partnerships. An engaging and highly motivated professional with exceptional communication skills, Sonia has had an illustrious career in managing corporate relations. Prior to joining the ICCC, she was the Manager, Executive Corporate Relations, at the Mississauga Board of Trade for 12 years.

At the ICCC, Sonia will be responsible for business development, corporate membership augmentation, and developing and maintaining ICCC’s relations with Greater Toronto Area municipalities.

Insight

Financing India's Innovation

By Chandrajit Banerjee

India has embarked on a journey towards creating an enabling environment by putting in place an ecosystem that breeds innovation. The Government of India has launched several significant initiatives for propelling innovation, such as the Start-up India initiative, Accelerating Growth of New India’s Innovations (AGNIi), Atal Tinkering Labs, new intellectual property rights (IPR) policy, Smart City Mission, Uchchatar Avishkaar Yojana, etc. All these initiatives, coupled with phenomenal research and innovation from the institutions, industry, and society, are cementing India’s position as an innovation and knowledge hub. However, the financial dimension plays a critical role in fructifying these innovation efforts.

Various fiscal incentives are offered by the Government of India’s Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) for R&D activities performed by institutions, academia, and industry for supporting, nurturing, and leading their innovations towards fruition. Technology Development Board (TDB), an important stakeholder in the Indian innovation ecosystem, provides soft loans and promotes the equity of Indian industry through the development and commercialization of indigenous technology and by adapting imported technology for domestic applications.

Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC) supports high-risk, early starters from academia, start-ups, or incubators that have exciting ideas in the nascent or planning stage. In India, there has been phenomenal growth of the private and foreign-owned private equity/venture capital (PE/VC) industry. The government has also played an important role in establishing and nurturing the industry segment by various fiscal concessions.

Read more: Insight

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!

15 % off on 15 August

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.

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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