14-August-2014

Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) organized a business reception for the visiting delegation from Federation of Karnataka Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FKCCI), India on 11^th August, 2014 at the Courtyard by Marriott Hotel in Brampton.

S. Sampathraman, President, FKCCI led the Indian delegation comprising 28 representatives from the different industrial sectors including agro processing, diesel generator manufacturer, industrial raw material and others.  

ICCC President Mr. Dharma P Jain

In his welcome remarks, Dharma P Jain, President, ICCC, emphasized the significance of the bilateral visits of business delegations and the role ICCC has played in promoting bilateral trade and investment between Canada and India in diverse sectors. Mr. Jain,  welcome the Indian government’s decision of increasing the FDI cap from 27% to 49% in defense and Insurance sector and hoped that the Indian government would also pave the way for FDI in retail sectors as well in near future.

In his remarks, Mr. Sampathraman said that Karnataka Government is planning to introduce concessions for the foreign direct investment for developing industry in the state next year. Canadian companies can benefit from these concession by starting joint venture with their Indian counterparts or otherwise.

Hon. Bal Gosal, Federal Minister of State for Sports

Mr. S Sampathraman, President FKCCI

Hon. Bal Gosal, Federal Minister of State for Sports, emphasised that India is a priority market for Canada and hoped to complete the ongoing negotiations for developing high quality trade, economic growth, creating more jobs, free market access and to utilize the community network for further enhancing the trade ties. Both countries are willing to work jointly in sectors such as energy, food security, aviation, infrastructure and defence.

Mr. Naval Bajaj, Immediate past President ICCC lauded the ICCC initiative in starting the India Missions a couple of years back. ICCC led India Mission 2013 had a wide range of meetings with the FKCCI and the Canadian delegates explored the business opportunities in Karnataka.

Mr. K Ravi, Chairman International Businesses, FKCCI appreciated the Canadian government’s decision to set up a trade office in the city which will be fully operational next month. It will help to connect the businesses of the two countries.

Mr. R K Raina, Head Of Chancery and Commercial Consul, Consulate General of India in Toronto, in his remarks lauded the remarkable work of ICCC in promoting bilateral trade between Canada and India.

L to R: Standing ICCC board member Naval Bajaj, Rajni Tekriwal, Ginni Sethi, Tony Chawla, Sanjay Makkar L to R: Sitting ICCC President Dharma P Jain, Minister Bal Gosal, FKCCI President Sampthraman, Consul (Com) R K Raina, CGI Toronto

The event was attended by ICCC board members, representatives of City of Markham, City of Brampton, Brampton Board of Trades, business leaders and ICCC members.

Mr. Tony Chawla, Vice President, Events, ICCC was the master of ceremony and delivered vote of thanks.

ICCC Newsletter July-2014

President's Message                                    

Dear friends,

New board is committed to reaching out to members as frequent as possible and will make all efforts of engaging them. The new board is committed for a open and transparent dialogue with members. The attached newsletter is an endeavour in this direction.

This is a first attempt and room for improvement is always there. Please feel free in sending your suggestions and recommendations at president@iccconline.org or iccc@iccconline.org. Going forward a newsletter committee will be set up and board will sincerely try to improve wherever possible.

Know your Organization

Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce is a 37-year-old organization with twin objectives of fostering bilateral trade between Canada and India and creating entrepreneurial and professional opportunities for Indo-Canadians. It is run by a elected board with the help of various committees involving member.

Visit: www.iccconline.org

ACTIVITIES IN JULY 2014

July 17: Annual General Meeting 2014

Annual general meeting of members was held on Jul 17, 2014, in which Dharma P. Jain was elected the 26th President of the Chamber. The three other directors elected for a two-year term at the meeting were Jagdish Bajaj, Sanjay Makkar, and Ginni Sethi.

The Chamber’s new board comprises:

1. Governance committee

2. Nomination committee

3. Audit committee

ICCC in news

http://www.weeklyvoice.com/community-news/icccs-16th-annual-golf-classic/

http://www.weeklyvoice.com/community-news/naval-bajajs-hopes-iccc/

http://theindiandiaspora.com/news-details/diaspora-news/primary_news/iccc-c-ibc-laud-indian-budget.htm#.U9j2JMEAjCg.gmail

http://www.ndtv.com/article/diaspora/dp-jain-elected-indo-canada-chamber-of-commerce-president-564840

http://newseastwest.com/dharma-p-jain-elected-president-of-indo-canada-chamber-of-commerce/

http://www.weeklyvoice.com/community-news/dp-jain-26th-president-indo-canada-chamber-commerce/

http://www.indocanadaoutlook.com/index.php/archives/2014/august-2014/1254-dp-jain-26the-president-of-the-indo-canada-chamber-of-commerce

http://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/dp-jain-elected-iccc-president-114072500237

ICCC's 16th Annual Golf Classic

Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce's (ICCC) 16th Annual Golf Classic was an overwhelming success with over 140 enthusiastic amateur golfers having a great time. Tuesday, July 29, 2014 turned out to be a perfect day for golf, and the Wooden Sticks, at Uxbridge ON, a perfect venue. It was a comparatively cool day but participants had a great time. 

In the past, ICCC’s golf tourneys have supported registered charities. However, this year's tournament revenue would be utilized for ICCC’s newly acquired headquarters at 924, The East Mall in Toronto.

The golfers – an eclectic combination of the Chamber’s long-time and new members, and guests – began arriving early-morning. The tournament started at 11:00 am with a shotgun start – scramble format.

The team comprising Manjeet Gill, Sudhir Anand, Preet Sandhu and Avtar Brar won the tournament. Dharma P Jain, President, ICCC, presented the winning team with the rotating trophy along with Mr. Sandeep Mukherjee from TD Bank.          

Addressing golfers at the cocktail reception, in the presence of colleagues, past presidents, golf committee members,  Dharma P Jain, ICCC’s newly elected President, said the long standing dream of the ICCC for having its own headquarter has been fulfilled and the golf revenues would be utilized for the Chamber’s new headquarters.

Giving information about the new 6,000 square feet headquarters, the ICCC President said the building will have 2,000 square feet area exclusively dedicated for events. In addition to serving as the headquarters of the 37-year-old institution, the building would also house a Centre for Excellence for Small Business. The proposed centre would encourage entrepreneurship and provide key inputs to Canadians of Indian origin wishing to launch their new ventures. “The centre will also provide information, coaching, hand-holding on all vital aspects of business,” he said. 

Mr. Jain thanked to all sponsors, golf committee members, volunteers and staff for making this tournament a grand success. 

The ICCC golf committee comprises of Anil Shah (Chair), Rahul Mehta, Pradeep Sood, Tavinder Malhotra and Vikram Dua. 

Jason Kenney, Minister for Employment and Social Development, and Minister for Multiculturalism was the star attraction at the 23rd Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce’s (ICCC) Annual Awards and Gala Night Saturday June 14 at the lavishly decorated Metro Toronto Convention Centre in downtown Toronto.

While accepting the President’s Award from Naval Bajaj, ICCC’s President, Minister Kenney exhorted the sterling contributions of the Chamber in being a key player in the resetting of the Canada-India bilateral relations. Minister Kenney expressed confidence that with the new government in Delhi, the Canada-India relations are bound to grow and gather momentum.

Minister Kenney was among the recipients of ICCC’s Annual Awards. The Annual Gala and Awards Night is a marquee event where ICCC promotes trade and commerce between India and Canada and recognize the achievements of Indo-Canadians from all across Canada by way of an award presentation. Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce’s Advisory Board independently chooses the award recipients. In 2014, Grant Thornton LLP was tasked with conducting due diligence of the nominations received.

The 2014 award recipients included a spectacular mix of community stalwarts, entrepreneurs, professionals, academics, and young achievers. The evening, replete with entertainment skits and speeches from VIPs, was attended by over 1,200 guests comprising the who’s who of the Indo-Canadian society.

The 2014 recipients of ICCC’s Annual Awards & Gala Night include:

In keeping with the growing significance of the Indian diaspora to Canada-India bilateral ties the theme for 2014 Annual Awards & Gala Night was ‘Unleashing Diaspora Power Building for a New Future.  The latter part of the theme highlighting the Chamber’s new headquarters that it acquired in 2013 in Toronto’s West end, and began operations in 2014.

Honourable Joe Oliver was the chief guest and the keynote speaker at the event. He said, India is the 21st century giant. Referring to a recent book India: The Rise of an Asian Giant, Oliver stated that the title was fitting in the sense “if the 21st century is destined to be the Pacific century, it will belong to a significant degree to this Asian giant (India).” 

The Minister said that it should be “a historic opportunity (for Canada)” as relations between the two countries are so strong that he attributed to similarities between the two countries – similarities in the sense of both being “democracies” and both being members of the Commonwealth.

Minister Oliver said Prime Minister Stephen Harper was “one of the first government leaders to congratulate Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his party’s outstanding electoral success.” He quoted Harper emphasizing how the two countries have now come to “enjoy a rich, long-standing relationship, underpinned by strong people-to-people ties.”

He said Canada was looking forward to working with the new government of India to further strengthen the social and economic partnership to the benefit Canadians. Minister Oliver drew attention to Prime Minister Harper’s second official visit to India November 2012 when he signed the Canada-India Social Security Agreement: “It enables Canada and India to better coordinate pensions and other benefits for those who have worked in both countries.”

In his Presidential address, Naval Bajaj, said, “Last year ICCC created history when it acquired a new 6,000 square feet building that will become its headquarters. This is a significant event in the 37-year-old history of the Chamber. The building will open new growth avenues at a time when the Canada-India economic relations are on an upswing, and the Indo-Canadian population is coming into its own. In addition to serving as a venue for events, and being the operational headquarters, the new building will also house the proposed Centre for Excellence in Entrepreneurship that the Chamber will be launching this year.”

Naval emphasized the continuing relevance of the Chamber and its pivotal role in both the bilateral ties between Canada and India, and in promoting the interests of Indo-Canadians. In an interview published in the National Post on the eve of the Annual Awards and Gala Night, the ICCC President said, “India has moved to the next level in the last 20 years. The Canadian-Indian diaspora has also grown quickly. This community is more and more about enterprise and high-level professionals. They are helping fuel the economy of Canada.”

His Excellency Nirmal Verma, High Commissioner of India to Canada also spoke on the occasion.

Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) organized an interactive session on tax incentive programs for start-ups and small businesses as part of the ICCC-CIBC series for Canadian small businesses.

Grant Thornton’s Martha Oner and Jaipreet Bindra were the key speakers at the session. Oner is the Senior Manager, Tax Incentives, and Bindra is Manager, Tax Incentives / Financial Advisory.

Rajeev Misra, General Manager Small Business, GTAW Brampton Vaughan SB Cluster, CIBC, introduced the speakers for the evening. As leader of Grant Thornton’s Ontario Tax Incentives practice, Oner’s role is to help clients across all industries to file maximized and substantiated tax credit claims, and Bindra helps clients across Information Technology, Computer Engineering and Electrical Engineering in the preparation and defense of SR&ED tax credit claims.

In their presentation Oner and Bindra provided a general review of tax incentive programs available for start-ups and small businesses conducting research and development or creating interactive digital media. They specifically discussed the Scientific Research & Experimental Development (SR&ED) and the Ontario Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit (OIDMT) credits.

The presentation, made jointly, introduced the SR&ED and the OIDMT programs. delineating the activities and expenditures that qualify, program statistics and incentives, recent changes, and tips for maximizing SR&ED and OIDMTC claims.

The Scientific Research & Experimental Development Tax Credit is Canada's largest program to promote/assist Private Sector R&D and grants $3.5b in tax credits to over 21,000 taxpayers annually. The benefits are structured to favor start-ups and smaller firms (i.e. Canadian Controlled Private Corporations - CCPCs) and 75 per cent of the claims are from small/medium CCPCs.

SR&ED requires "a systematic investigation or search that is carried out in a field of science or technology by means of experiment or analysis" and that is basic research, applied research, experimental development, including support activities.

The eligibility criteria doesn’t require the claimant to own a R&D lab, and is open to small businesses operating in the field of of Science/Technology in Canada (i.e. Manufacturing, IT/Software, Oil & Gas, Chem./Plastics, Engineering, Agriculture, Food Science, Biotech., Aerospace, Medical, Environmental, etc.).

Similarly, for claiming the Ontario Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit, a product must be developed at a permanent establishment in Ontario, it is not used primarily for: Interpersonal communication, Present or promote the qualifying corporation, Present, promote, or sell the products or service of the qualifying corporation. All or substantially all (90%) of the product must be developed in Ontario by the qualifying corporation.

Speaking on the occasion, Brij K. Sharma, Director, Trade, SME & Sponsorship, said, “The purpose of holding the speaker series in collaboration with CIBC, the Chamber’s lead corporate sponsor, is to highlight the benefits that are available to the small businesses.” He emphasized that the Chamber is keen to impart information that can materially benefit the small businesses. Naval Bajaj, President, ICCC, also spoke on the occasion.

Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) organized an interactive session with Deepak Manchanda last week in Mississauga. Titled Life is a Game of Snakes and Ladders, the event also saw the launch of Deepak Manchanda Inc. – the boutique company that offers advice on franchising, joint ventures, life coaching, training, among others.

The event witnessed participation from ICCC’s members and guests that included corporate leaders, executives and professionals. During his hour-long session, Mr. Manchanda went on to explain that be it for the rich or for the poor, the talented or the hard-working, the skilled or the novice or even the educated or the unschooled, life has to have its ups and downs, the good and the bad days, the pitfalls and the soaring flights.

“That's the way it is, that's the way it always has been and that's the way it'll always be,” he said, and added, “The bottom-line is that the show must go on. Keep walking, keep swimming, keep bouncing back. That's the key to success.”

Mr. Manchanda punctuated the one-hour presentation with anecdotes from his own life, how he survived and succeeded at every turn and shared with the audience the insightful life mantras he gleaned from his experiences. He then propounded a simple equation (Choices + Conscious Decisions = Reality) that he said was the key to success.

Mr. Manchanda then launched two upcoming training programs, one targeted at those aspiring to be a trained public speaker, the other designed for young entrepreneurs.

Naval Bajaj, President of Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce, informed the participants of the ICCC’s Annual Awards, and encouraged everyone to send nominations. Jagdish Bajaj, Vice President & Director, Programs & Events, ICCC, was the master of ceremonies.

Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce in collaboration with CIBC organized a Speaker Series on Funding for start-ups and small businesses as a part of ICCC-CIBC series for Canadian small businesses, Tuesday, March 25 in Mississauga.

The program witnessed enthusiastic participation from members, stakeholders and guests. It was well received and attended by close to 100 guest. Dharma P. Jain, Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce’s Treasurer and Director anchored the program and delivered the welcome remarks.

Naval Bajaj, ICCC’s President also spoke on the occasion.

Rajeev Misra, General Manager, Brampton, Vaughan/Etobicoke, CIBC; and Mike Marshall, Senior Director, Small Business Banking, CIBC; were the main presenters for the evening. The program's objective was to provide an opportunity for start-ups and small businesses  the funding opportunities available through the Canada Small Business Financing Loan (CSBFL) and other modes of financing.

Misra and Marshall started with various kinds of business ownership and then covered CSBFL program, eligibility criteria, requirements and exclusion, if any, and also discussed the key determinants that lenders and underwriters examine while approving a deal.

“It is indeed heartening to note that our Chamber’s programs continue to attract such a large audience. This is because we at the Chamber continuously strive to remain relevant to our core constituency – the small business owner. This relevance is reflected in our general programming, and is most definitely the case today,” Mr. Jain said.

Misra and Marshall then discussed the advantages offered and the challenges posed by different forms of ownership such as sole proprietorship, partnership and corporation, and the role of different advisors in launching of a business, the significance of people, product, place, price and promotion in business.

After a general discussion, the presenters then explained the method of operations of the Canada Small Business Financing Loan. Briefly, Misra and Marshall elucidated that up to 90 percent of the loan obtained under the CSBFL may be used for purchasing or improving land and buildings used for commercial purposes, purchasing new or existing renovations to premises occupied by the business as a tenant, purchasing or improving new or used equipment (including commercial vehicles).

They also informed the participants that the maximum loan amount a borrower can access under this program is $500,000, of which $350,000 can be used to finance the purchase or improvement of equipment and the purchase of leasehold improvements. All, for-profit small businesses or start-ups operating in Canada, with gross annual revenues of $5 million or less are eligible for the loan.

The presentation then moved on to discussing the significance of a business plan. The eight critical factors in a business plan included performance advantage, market readiness, uniqueness, first customers, distribution, market size, personal qualities and the financial plan.

The presenters then discussed the role of a banker in the process. This part formed a bulk of the presentation. In addition to the process, the presenters also identified the key parameters of lending criteria.

Tony Chawla, ICCC’s Infrastructure Director, introduced the speakers.  Jagdish Bajaj, Vice President -Events and Director gave vote of thanks.