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ICCC's 19th Charity Golf Classic

  $10,000 raised for Trillium Health Foundation 

Is Canada an essential country, at this time in the life of our planet?

Arun Srivastava		Bardish Chagger
Nadir Patel		Vikas Swarup

CP Gurnani

A succinct and heart-warming message from Canada’s Prime Minister Honourable Justin Trudeau; a rousing speech by Canada’s Leader of the Government in the House of Commons and Minister of Small Business and Tourism, Honurable Bardish Chagger; insightful intervention by His Excellency Vikas Swarup, India’s High Commissioner to Canada and His Excellency Nadir Patel, Canada’s High Commissioner to India; prescient and precise tech-talk by PC Gurnani, Tech Mahindra’s CEO and MD;  and the presence of a who’s who of Indo-Canadian community leaders, diplomats, corporate honchos, academics, entrepreneurs large and small, representatives of the media, bankers, lawyers – the 25th Annual Awards and Gala Night of the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) held Saturday, June 10, 2017, at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (MTCC) was a uniquely memorable event.

Incumbent President Arun Srivastava put the celebrations in perspective when he said that on the occasion of the 40th year celebrations of the ICCC, it would be pertinent to remember the contributions of hundreds of Indo-Canadians over the last four decades that had helped build the Chamber into such a robust institution that has endured in its relevance. A short congratulatory video message from the Founder President of the Chamber, Kishore Doshi, was played for the benefit of the audience. But, as Arun emphasised, organisations look at the past only for inspiration; their main task is to shape the future, and that was the reasoning behind the 2017 theme of Aiming Higher. On all parameters of evaluation – bilateral trade ties, creating opportunities for members, enhancing membership, increasing sponsorship, conceiving effective programming – the ICCC’s 2016-17 leadership had proved to be among the best the Chamber has had in its four decades history.

The highlight of the Annual Awards and Gala Night was the presence of the two high commissioners of Canada and India. This is, indeed, a rare occurrence. In his short but deeply insightful speech, India’s High Commissioner, Vikas Swarup said that the biggest natural resource India has is the Indian. It is the Indian who has and will shape the destiny of the world. Citing the examples of the UK, Canada and other parts of the world, he said, people of Indian origin have been elected to parliaments in many western countries, and therein is the strength of India, a strength that is unparalleled and one that is growing. Nadir Patel, Canada’s High Commissioner, said that Canada has a keen desire to develop strong ties with India, both economic and people-to-people. The visits of nine Canadian ministers to India in the last few months are an indication of the seriousness with which Canada aspires to be closer to India.

Minister Chagger repeatedly drew attention to the theme of the year – Aiming Higher – in her speech and said that it is important for both Canada and India to strive continuously to improve relations. She cited numerous instances of B2B collaborations between Canadian and Indian entities in different spheres. In his remarks CP Gurnani on Tech Mahindra said that both the Canadian and the Indian economies are committed to digitalisation, which will pave the way for future collaborations. Drawing attention to the fact that India was the fourth on the list of countries with most startups, Gurnani said he saw the possibility of consistent involvement between Indian startups and the University of Waterloo, which is developing into one of world’s best educational institutions for innovation.

Even as the audience listened to the speeches attentively, the awards process was initiated. 

The following is the list of ICCC’s 2017 Annual Award winners:

Category	Winner	Award Sponsor
Female Entrepreneur	Balwinder Takhar President & CEO Chalmers Group	The Host Fine Indian Cuisine
Male Entrepreneur	Ray Gupta Founder Sunray Group	RBC Royal Bank
Female Professional	Indra Narang Director, Sleep Medicine Hospital for Sick Children	SBI Canada Bank
Male Professional	Anil Arora Chief Statistician Statistics Canada	Air Canada
Young achiever	Sameer Sharma Director Crown Group	Silver Hotel Group
Technology Achievement	Kundan Joshi Founder & CEO TheAppLabb	CIBC
Corporate Executive	Peter Dhillon CEO Richberry Group	TD Bank
Humanitarian of the Year	Mina Mawani President & CEO Crohn’s & Colitis Canada	Bromed Pharmaceuticals
Lifetime / Outstanding Achievement	Pradeep Sood Chairman Highbury Canco Corp	ICICI Bank
Member of the Year	Jatinder Bawa Accountant CPA, CGA	ICCC

Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce
924 The East Mall Toronto ON M9B 6K1
Tel: 416-224-0090416-224-0090 . 

Fax: 416-916-0086. 
E-mail: iccc@iccconline.org 

Website: www.iccconline.org

Mr. Rajiva Sinha, Additional Chief Secretary, Government of West Bengal, visited the Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce’s office today and discussed the 4th Edition of Bengal Global Business Summit (BGBS) scheduled to be held between 16th and 17th January, 2018.

The summit sets the stage with a stable Government, remarkable growth, improved governance, ease of doing business and record social and physical infrastructure.  The two-day long BGBS 2018 will bring together policy makers, corporate leaders from around the globe, delegations, academia, opinion makers to explore business opportunities, forge partnerships and collaborations. 

Mr. Arun Srivastava, President ICCC said that earlier in January under the aegis of India Mission 2017, the Chamber delegation visited the state of West Bengal and had a good business interaction with the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Bharat Chamber of Commerce. He assured the visiting additional chief secretary that chamber will consider participating in the summit.

West Bengal is the 4th largest state economy in India with GSDP of US$ 140.21 billion (2015-16) and growth rate of Gross Value Added (GVA): 12.02% (2015-16). Strategic location of the state – Gateway to Southeast Asia and North-East India, border shared with Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan, well connected with the booming hubs of Asia such as Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia and a mineral rich state works to its advantage.

West Bengal today is committed towards inclusive and sustainable development. Investments made by the government in industrial infrastructure, simplification of Tax regime and e-governance, Single Window Service and  Simplification of regulatory burden initiated for environmental procedures are just few of the steps taken to build West Bengal into a manufacturing hub.

The Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) introduced a new networking concept for its members when it launched the ‘Me and My ICCC – Let’s benefit’. This is a theme-based networking introduced by the ICCC’s Trade & Commerce committee. 

Speaking on the occasion, Arun Srivastava, President, ICCC, said, “These theme-based monthly networking events will open doors to new opportunities for our members, going a long way in fulfilling the ICCC’s mandate of creating business and professional opportunities for Indo-Canadians.”

Pappur Shankar, Vice President, Finance, informed them of the upcoming Canada-India Business Symposium that the Chamber is organising in association with the Canadian and Indian governments’ diplomatic corps. 

Kicking off the program, Kanwar Dhanjal, Director, Trade and Commerce, said, the purpose of the concept and the program is to create opportunities for the entrepreneur members of the Chamber to offer their services to other members.”

The purpose of the series is to

• Create a platform for ICCC members to explore mutually beneficial business opportunities
• Create a network of business connections that assist businesses become efficient and optimize costs
• Create an environment that nurtures entrepreneurial zeal
• Create opportunities for interaction between new entrepreneurs and established stalwarts
• Create a robust internal, member-based network of codependent businesses that promote growth
• Create awareness amongst ICCC members of the immense potential of business lead generation within the ICCC membership

Puneet Kohli a technocrat financial consultant from India made introductory remarks.

For the first program under the ‘Me and My ICCC – Let’s Benefit’, was 'Start Ups' is the theme for the first 'Me & My ICCC' networking event.

Jayesh Menon, the acting chair of the Trade and Commerce committee, introduced the details of the program

The program will offer following benefits to members:

• Encourage members to become resourceful in exploring and creating internal opportunities
• Business pitching for ICCC members (at discounted rates)
• An orientation on business assistance and support services
• A special section in the ICCC monthly newsletter that highlight discounts by members for their services

Trade and Commerce committee member Meenakshi introduced the panelists.

The panelists

Remitr: Gurpreet Singh Bedi, Vice President – Canada operations of Remitr payment simplified online remittance start-up made the first presentation along with the co-founder of the company. Remiter is a global bank-to-bank payments platform that is simple, inexpensive and automated. Its operational base is in Canada and the UAE and is headquartered in the USA. It offers direct payout network to 30 countries that will grow to 120 countries by the end of Q4.

Amaze Group Inc.: Dave Virdi, a realty agent made a presentation on his services and highlighted the services that he offers including free market evaluation, consistence feedback until sold, competitive commission packages, top negotiation skills, conduct open houses, dedicated professional team of realtors.  The group’s other arm – La Capitale offers lifetime disability plans, customised life insurance protection for skilled trades, self-employed and small business owners, benefits plans for individuals and businesses.

Invisor: Invisor is an life and health insurance agency that provides goal-based solutions, low fees, and convenient online platform. It is a fully managed portfolio solution that takes care of everything so that the clients don’t have to worry about these matters. It is a completely paperless, online experience so that the clients can get started in minutes. It costs low and has no minimum investment amount to help reach goals sooner. It gives access to InvisorGPS to help clients set goals and track progress.

BDC: Manny Mann of the BDC spoke about the service the Business Development Bank of Canada offers to businesses. BDC finances working capital to give entrepreneurs peace of mind and extra cash to expand their businesses and invest in technology. We also lend money to purchase commercial real estate, buy new or used equipment, and a variety of other business needs.  BDC leverages indirect channels to increase its impact on Canadian SMEs by providing capital to financial intermediaries. By doing so, we encourage other institutions to provide continued economic support to Canadian businesses.

Power Savings Systems Inc. Surinder Sharma, a director with the Mississauga Board of Trade, and a veteran member of the ICCC, made the final presentation about his company Power Savings Systems Inc. The company helps organisations shifts from a culture of consumption to a culture of conservation and save dollars. The company serves as an outsourced energy department of its clients, performs in-depth energy audits, offers project management capabilities, assist in applying for government incentives and create a corporate culture of conservation.

In future, the Trade and Commerce committee will identify a key theme for each of the monthly networking event and it will then endeavor to bring together businesses related to the theme. Entrepreneur members will be invited to pitch their services to other members. 

The Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) in collaboration with the CIBC organised its annual state of the economy talk at the Mississauga Convention Centre last week. Royce Mendes, Senior Economist, CIBC Capital Markets delivered a presentation on the economies and a forecast for the future trends.

Arun Srivastava, President of ICCC, welcomed the guests and informed them of the upcoming Canada-India Business Symposium that the Chamber is organising in association with the Canadian and Indian governments’ diplomatic corps. Venki Raman of the CIBC spoke briefly about the long established relationship between CIBC and the ICCC, and said it is a relationship that has helped both the entities grow.

In his brief but pointed presentation, Mendes began by analysing the impact of the Trump administration’s policies on the US economy. He said the US market is not rising and investors seem to have lost faith in the Trump administration’s ability to be a catalyst of change. The talk of 3 to 4 % growth in the US economy is nothing but fake news. The reason for this is that capital is not going to become expensive. The interest rates are going to continue to be low; also the nature of growth is that there is less capital needed and less investment because the US economy is moving away from manufacturing and it will become near impossible for the Trump administration to revive manufacturing in the US.

Raman, Mendes, Srivastava and Shankar	Srivastava with CIBC officials

Mendes said global outlook continues to be optimistic especially with India continuing to rise exponentially. Since 2013, the Indian economy has continued to maintain its growth rate and at 7.5% annual growth rate it has created an enviable pace unmatched globally. India will continue to bring labour into urban area.

Speaking about the Eurozone, Mendes said the Eurozone economies have shown resilience and potential to bounce back which needs to be acknowledged. The growing populism that is sweeping the economies in the Eurozone is because unemployment in the young demographic of 18-26 is endemic and unlikely to change dramatically.

He added that the economic recovery in the developed world has taken nearly a decade, but the recovery is all set to stay for a considerable time, resulting in the Eurozone stock value rising and the value of the Euro also rising. On the other hand, post-Brexit, the British pound has gone down and the disengagement will adversely affect the economy. However, the measure is irreversible.

Canada’s economy suffered from the oil shock and the measures undertaken to revive the growth rate haven’t quite worked. The primary reason for the failure of the revival plans has been the approach which is based on a two-economy model, when in reality the model should have been adaptable to multiple economies.

The growth continues to be fuelled by consumer spending and the housing markets, both of which the economic establishment have tried to rein in. We will experience a 4% growth in the first quarter and get back to near full employment by the end of 2017. Some challenges are likely to be encountered and these include changes in NAFTA, the border tax imposed by the US, changes in environment policies in the US and the changes in the personal income tax in the US.

Srivastava giving welcome remarks	Raman setting the pace

In the near term, it is unlikely that the Canadian dollar will appreciate to any great degree. The housing market will continue to grow steadily, and the trend in this sector is the growth of the condo housing, a trend that mirrors similar developmental stage in the sector in other cities such as New York and Berlin. The provincial government’s approach to control the galloping housing market by introducing new regulations in the sector as well the changes in the rental control act have largely yielded the desired results. But there is a real shortage of housing in Toronto, so the prices will continue to rise.

Advocating for stronger Canada-India ties in Food Processing 

Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce
924 The East Mall Toronto ON M9B 6K1
Tel: 416-224-0090416-224-0090. 

Fax: 416-916-0086. 
E-mail: iccc@iccconline.org 

Website: www.iccconline.org