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  • ICCC-YP - Launch of Cross-Cultural Professional Development & Networking Series - 29-04-13

    29 Apr 2013 6:30 PM | Anonymous
    ICCC-YP Launch of Cross-Cultural Professional Development and Networking Series


    Priya Sankaran talks to Vasu Chanchlani & Ted Zittel

    On April 29, approximately 300 young professionals packed the RBC Auditorium for a night of professional development and networking.  The attendees were reflective of the diverse cross-section of groups that partnered to put on the event.  The organizers included The Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce, The National Council of Indo-Canadians, Noor Cultural Centre, Sri Lankans without Borders, and UJA Federation Jewish Chamber of Commerce. 

    ICCC Director Avi Goel with the speakers & representatives
    of the other organizations

    The groups focus on outreach to this demographic through their individual work.  Through recent collaborations and partnerships on other initiatives, the idea was created to bring together young professionals through business development and networking opportunities. 

    The evening allowed guests to network over food from each of the communities, and also learn more about the organizing groups and the work they undertake. Attendees heard from branding expert Ted Zittell who spoke about the role of design in entrepreneurship, with an informative and passionate presentation about the power of good design. 

    Members of the audience at the venue; it was a full house

    Vasu Chanchalani followed with a reflective interview with CBC’s Priya Sankaran, whereby he shared his stories and insights about his path to becoming the angel investor and philanthropist he is today.  The evening concluded with an engaging question and answer period with the crowd.   

    Across communities attendees were grateful for the unique opportunity and hope to participate in future events by the coordinators.  The event was graciously sponsored by Citizenship and Immigration Canada, RBC, and media sponsor The National Post.

  • ICCC - Interactive session with Hon. Ted Menzies, Minister of State for Finance - 11-04-13

    11 Apr 2013 11:06 AM | Anonymous
    Objectives of Canada's Economic Action Plan 2013

    Jobs, economic growth & future prosperity
     
     Hon. Ted Menzies, Minister of State for Finance, with Naval Bajaj, President, ICCC, & Vim Kochar

    Hon. Ted Menzies, federal Minister of State for Finance, held an interactive session with Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) members Thursday afternoon. During the session the Minister highlighted several important initiatives announced in the 2013 Economic Action Plan.
       
     Aditya Vasudev (l) & Jagdish Bajaj (r) of ICCC
    		  Yogesh Sharma (r) & Suresh Thakrar (c)

    Among these are:

    • Reduction in taxes:  Economic Action Plan 2013 proposes to provide $1.4 billion of tax relief to Canada’s manufacturing sector through a two-year extension to the temporary accelerated capital cost allowance for machinery and equipment.
    • Hiring Credit for Small Businesses:  Economic Action Plan 2013 expands and extends the temporary Hiring Credit for Small Business for one year in recognition of their role as job creators in the Canadian economy.
    • Training grants to employers: The Canada Job Grant will transform the way Canadians receive training. The Canada Job Grant could provide $15,000 or more per person to ensure Canadians are getting the skills employers are seeking.
     
     Participants at the interactive session
    		 At the conclusion of the session

    He also emphasized the investment in infrastructure and maintaining fiscal balance. The $53.5b Building Canada Plan announced this year is the largest long-term federal commitment to Canadian infrastructure in Canada’s history.

    Further, the Minister explained that the plan is a low-tax plan that aims to control government spending. “The government is committed to fulfilling its commitment of balanced budgets by 2015,” he said. The government is focussed on jobs and economic growth and ensuring Canada’s economic advantage will translate into long-term prosperity of the future.

    Speaking on the occasion, Naval Bajaj, President, ICCC, said, “As a Chamber of Commerce, our focus is to promote bilateral trade between Canada and India and to create opportunities for small businesses. On both these counts the Economic Action Plan 2013 is promising.”

    ICCC President drew attention of the Minister to India’s removal from the Generalized Preference Tariff (GPT) regime, which could adversely affect Indian exports in agri-products, footwear and apparels. Mr. Bajaj said the positive results that would begin to accrue from the comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) would compensate any adverse effects of the GPT decision.


    Minister Menzies assuaged any concerns over this matter and said the decision to review a four-decade old provision wouldn’t affect the growing volume of bilateral trade between Canada and India.

     

    The participants in the interactive session included entrepreneurs, bankers, representatives of bilateral organizations and other professionals. The Minister fielded questions during the session from the participants.

  • ICCC - Susan Fennell lauds Indo-Canadian community's contribution - 10-04-13

    10 Apr 2013 11:07 AM | Anonymous

    Brampton Mayor Susan Fennell 
    commends Indo-Canadian community's
      contribution to region's economic development
      at ICCC-SDS event

     ICCC President Naval Bajaj (c) with ICCC Vice President & Corporate Secretary Puneet S. Kohli (l)
    & Pathik Baxi of SDS LLP     (r)

    Her Worship, Mayor Susan Fennell of Brampton congratulated the Indo-Canadian business community for its dynamic role in fostering strong, sustainable growth in the Greater Toronto Area. She was speaking at a networking function jointly organized by Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) and Simmons da Silva + Sinton LLP (SDS).
      Brampton Mayor Susan Fennell with ICCC's Puneet S. Kohli

    Commenting on her participation in the ICCC-led India Mission 2013, Mayor Fennell told the 250 plus professionals, business executives, entrepreneurs and other thought leaders in attendance, “I enjoy promoting Brampton as the ideal destination for business opportunities and trade with over 4000 spaces available, with its close proximity to the airport and with the legal team of SDS conveniently located across from the Brampton Courthouse.”

    While congratulating SDS on its fifth decade in business, Naval Bajaj, President, ICCC, lauded the law firm’s role in nurturing entrepreneurship amongst the Indo-Canadian community. He recognized ICCC committee member Pathik Baxi on becoming partner at the firm, and welcomed two other senior counsels, Ray Thapar and William Kitay. In addition, Hon. Bonnie Crombie, Ward 5 Councilor for Mississauga, also spoke at the event and to honoured Mr. Baxi, Mr. Thapar and Mr. Kitay with Certificates of Appreciations in recognition of their contributions to the Region.
     
     Hon. Bonnie Crombie, Ward 5 Councilor for Mississauga presenting a certificate to Pathik Baxi

    Puneet S. Kohli, ICCC’s Vice President & Corporate Secretary, who co-heads the Business Law Group at SDS, in his introductory remarks emphasized the rich heritage and rooted traditions of the law firm. “Our firm takes great pride in our continued growth, and look forward to another 40 years of assisting our clients expand their operations and helping them navigate domestic and international landscapes,” he said.
      Participants at the networking reception

    An associate member of ICCC, Simmons da Silva + Sinton is the largest law firm in Brampton. Since 1969, SDS has provided trusted legal counsel to individuals and businesses, in the areas of corporate-commercial, family law, real estate, civil litigation, as well as wills, trusts and estates.

  • ICCC-YP - Investment planning strategies for Generation Y - 09-04-13

    09 Apr 2013 11:09 AM | Anonymous
    ICCC-Young Professionals Committee Speaker Series


    Investment planning strategies for Generation Y
     
     
    Members of ICCC's Young Professionals Committee with investment advisor Neeraj Nand, 
    ICCC President Naval Bajaj & other guests

    The ICCC Young Professionals committee held an investment planning event on April 9, 2013 at the Royal Bank Auditorium in downtown Toronto. Neeraj Nand, the keynote speaker and an Investment Advisor with Royal Mutual Funds Inc., presented investment planning strategies for Generation Y.  Accompanying him was his colleague Giulio Doria from RBC Global Asset Management, who spoke about global market trends with a focus on the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China).
    Nand highlighted six effective strategies used by successful investors. He started off the presentation by explaining that investments should be treated like a business, and everyone should have a financial plan in place. He then stated the importance of having a well-diversified portfolio and how asset allocation can help you achieve your financial goals.
    Nand also added that emotions should have a minimal impact on the decisions one makes in regards to his or her investment portfolio. The portfolio should be measured against the investor’s long-term goals instead of focusing only on short-term results. Doria made significant additions to the talk by highlighting the rising trends in BRIC countries and addressing their past performances as well as any upcoming trends in the near future. He further discussed how such trends can affect our investment decisions.
    Both speakers captured the audience’s interest. The presentation ended off with a series of engaging questions, many of which addressed the direction of the Canadian economy given the current economic environment. The final takeaway from the evening was that no single investment strategy works for everyone and that one should consult market trends as well as experts in the field in order to make sound investment decisions.

  • ICCC-WEP's Open House & Networking Session attracts new members - 27-03-13

    27 Mar 2013 5:52 PM | Anonymous

    ICCC-WEP's
     Open House and Networking Session attracts new members

    WEP Managing Committee: Smita Dayal, Mini Khurana, Ravi Malhi, Ginni Sethi, Shibani Sahney

    Toronto: Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce’s (ICCC) Women Entrepreneurs and Professionals (WEP) committee held a scintillating Open House and networking session on March 27. The event coincided with the cultural Holi festival.
    WEP’s core committee comprising Ravi Malhi, Chair; Smita Dayal, Co-Chair; along with Core Committee members Ginni Sethi, Shibani Sahney, and Mini Khurana organized the event that attracted nearly 170 guests many of whom also became members of the Chamber.

    ICCC President Naval Bajaj addressing the audience.
    Smita Dayal & Ravi Malhi are also in the photograph

    Naval Bajaj, President, ICCC along with two of ICCC’s Executive Directors – D. P. Jain, Vice President and Director, Finance and Jagdish Bajaj, Vice President and Director Programs & Events & IT – were also present at the event. Ginni Sethi and Mini Khurana welcomed the guests, and Ravi Malhi addressed the audience, highlighting the forthcoming plans of the committee. She said that the WEP committee will hold at least six events in 2013 and encourage women entrepreneurs and professionals to become members of ICCC.

     ...members of the audience
    Speaking on the occasion Naval Bajaj delineated the role of ICCC in promoting bilateral economic relations between Canada and India, and creating opportunities for the Indian Diaspora in Canada. He said it is heartening to see such a massive support from the community to our Chamber’s newly launched committee. It indicates the deep resonance this committee has created among the women.
     
     
     ICCC Directors with WEP
    Core Committee Members

    “To organize two such major events in less than a month requires not just commitment, hard work and tenacity, it also requires deep reaches within the community, and this is where our women leaders have surpassed all expectations,” he observed.
     
     
     Guests at the event
     Click here for more photo: WEP-Open House

  • ICCC - Hon. John Baird highlights Canada-India relations - 18-03-13

    18 Mar 2013 2:53 PM | Anonymous

    Foreign Minister John Baird and Parliamentary Secretary
    Deepak Obhrai highlight Canada-India relations
    at Toronto meeting with Indo-Canadians


    DP Jain, Aditya Vasudev, Rakesh Joshi, Tony Chawla, Hon. Deepak Obhrai, Hon. John Baird, Naval Bajaj,
    Hon. Patrick Brown, Jagdish Bajaj & Rakesh Goenka

    Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird and Parliamentary Secretary Deepak Obhrai on Monday met with leaders of the Greater Toronto Area’s Indo-Canadian community for a discussion on Canada-India relations.

    Minister Baird and Parliamentary Secretary Obhrai attended a roundtable in Brampton, Ontario with more than 85 Indo-Canadian business and community leaders and discussed the state of Canada-India bilateral relations, and the prospects of increasing economic and people-to-people ties.

    Among those present were executives from the National Council of Indian Canadians, the Canada-India Foundation, the Indo Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Canada India Business Council, heads of various Hindu temples and Sikh gurdwaras, Indo-Canadian War Veterans and members of Indo-Canadian media.

    Minister Baird discussed the importance of deepening Canada’s ties with India and responded to questions from participants.


    ICCC President Naval Bajaj with Minister Baird. Rakesh Joshi of
    the Chamber is also in the photograph

    “Canada and India have longstanding bilateral relations, built upon shared traditions of democracy, pluralism and strong interpersonal connections,” the minister said. He added Canada’s priorities in India include infrastructure, energy, food, education, science and technology. He addressed questions on energy, science and technology, education and research. “Energy will be a big part of our relationship with India,” Minister Baird said.

    Deepak Obhrai, M.P. and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, said that Canada considers India a priority partner and the two countries were well on their way to unlocking the full potential of Canada-India trade through the realization of an ambitious free trade agreement. Mr. Obhrai also pointed out that Indo-Canadian diaspora networks were critical to achieving the full potential of this partnership and welcomed the participation of the one million strong Indo¬Canadian diaspora.

    Naval Bajaj, President, ICCC, emphasized, the need to create awareness of Brand Canada in India and Brand India in Canada. He said during the India Mission 2013, ICCC created several avenues for the creation of the brand awareness among small businesses in both countries. He also said that the Chamber was keen to facilitate direct trade between Canada and India in the diamond sector. The two-way trade target of $15billion would easily be met if the two countries directly traded diamonds instead of routing the trade through Europe.

  • ICCC - Women Entrepreneurs & Professionals (WEP) Committee launch - 08-03-13

    08 Mar 2013 12:52 PM | Anonymous
    ICCC launches Women Entrepreneurs & Professional (WEP) committee


    The new WEP committee with ICCC President
    From left to right: Smita Dayal, Ravi Malhi, Mini Khurana,
    Naval Bajaj, Shibani Sahney, Ginni Sethi.

    For more photographs, click here: WEP launch

    Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) celebrated the International Women’s Day on March 08, 2013, by forming the Chamber’s first Women Entrepreneurs and Professionals (WEP) committee.

    The committee comprises Ginni Sethi, Ravi Malhi, Mini Khurana, Smita Dayal and Shibani Sahney. Initially, the committee will focus on providing a platform for women entrepreneurs and professionals and work to augment ICCC’s membership in that demographic.

    The committee was launched prior to the panel comprising eminent Canadian women of Indian origin to share the stories of their journey to success.

    Immigration & Women – the tough road to success was the theme of the panel discussion and the panelists included Hon. Amrit Mangat, Parliamentary Assistant to Ministry of Children and Youth Services & MPP; Hon. Dipika Damerla, Parliamentary Assistant to Ministry of Community & Social Services & MPP; Kanta Arora, eminent television personality and President Arco International Languages; Rajni Tekriwal, Founder, Tekriwal Law Office; and Syerah Virani, Founder & CEO at Zentrepreneur Inc. Kanta Arora moderated the discussion.

    The event witnessed unprecedented participation from community women, who comprised 90 percent of the 170 people who attended the program. Surbhi Guleria-Joshi, the former director of ICCC was honoured on the occasion by the Chamber’s president Naval Bajaj with the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee medal.

    Explaining the genesis of the formation of the new committee, Naval Bajaj, ICCC’s President, said, the Chamber has had a long history of adapting to the new developments within the community. “ICCC has done different things and done same things differently,” he observed.

    The ICCC President noted that during the last 15 years or so, ICCC has initiated several measures to reflect the changing needs of its members and its stakeholders.

    It began to advocate for the small businesses nearly a decade ago to enable them to become globally competitive; in recent years it has launched new programs to address the needs of newcomers to Canada by India through its mentoring program; then last year it launched the Canada-India Mining Committee to tap the growing opportunities in the natural resources sector.

    Hence, seen in isolation, the formation of WEP may seem like a major step; however, when seen from the perspective of evolution, it reveals ICCC’s adaptability and dynamism.

    Naval Bajaj said that the ICCC has consistently given due weightage to women’s role and achievement in public sphere. When it instituted the annual awards more than two decades ago, it recognized the achievements and the contributions of women entrepreneurs and women professionals.

    “But it isn’t just in these categories that we have acknowledged women. In fact, women have been recipients of awards in several other categories as well,” he noted.

    During the panel discussion, each panelist gave a brief but engaging glimpse into her journey in Canada after immigration. The uniting element in the theme was the challenges they all had to face and overcome, not just professionally but even at a personal level. All of them had a simple and straightforward message for newcomer women – don’t give up. 

  • ICCC - Indo-Canadian Business Chamber (Delhi) National Convention - 08-03-13

    08 Mar 2013 11:39 AM | Anonymous

  • ICCC - Seminar on Cloud Computing - 07-03-13

    07 Mar 2013 11:36 AM | Anonymous
     Save Money, Work Better

    Let Cloud Computing Show You How
     
     Baskaran Rajamani, Partner at Deloitte

    On Thursday March 7th the Indo Canada Chamber of Commerce IT committee organized its first IT event of the year on Cloud Computing.

    The event was held at the newly developed Centre for Social Innovation in Toronto.

    Speaking at the event Naval Bajaj, President ICCC, emphasized on the need of associating with the chamber and getting benefit from its links with various government and non-government bodies both within Canada and India. 

    The chamber has been at the forefront of developing strong Canada-India relations and furthering the understanding between these two nations not only at Federal or Provincial levels but at municipal levels as well.

    Bajaj cited the recent tour of India which he took with the Mayors of Brampton and Markham, which was a tremendous success, and the various events that ICCC organized which is nearly one every week.

    He mentioned that the chamber has special focus on Small and Medium business and they certainly stand to benefit by participating as members of the Indo Canada Chamber of Commerce. The event itself was focused on Cloud Computing for Small and medium businesses. 

    Baskaran Rajamani, Partner, Deloitte was the keynote speaker. Baskaran is a highly regarded and well known authority on cloud computing and risk management. He is part of the leadership team at Deloitte’s Technology & Information Risk Services.

    He emphasized on the value of cloud computing for SMBs and challenged the youth and entrepreneurs to launch new businesses as Cloud computing provided innovative and efficient solutions in a fast changing global economy.

    He cited many examples where cloud computing was used to cut down on inefficiencies and lower the cost by taking advantage of cheap labour and the time difference between Canada and India.
     Ashish Narang of Ingram
    		   Jaideep Kala of Satya Consulting

    Baskaran mentioned that the cloud based services like office 365 provided cost effective deployment of enterprise level applications that are most commonly used across organizations without the overhead of infrastructure costs, upfront capital outlay or on human resources.

    The Cloud provides a flexible and pay as you go model that can be customized to the changing needs of businesses and therefore has the most to offer for SMBs.
     Download Baskaran's presentations here: Cloud 1 & Myths

    Baskaran’s keynote address was followed by a brief presentation on Office 365 by Jaideep Kala, who is a member of ICCC IT committee. Kala talked about the trends impacting our working lives like mobile computing, social media and the cloud.

    He showed the value proposition of Office 365 for small and medium enterprises and how SMBS can benefit from moving to the cloud. Office 365 is Microsoft’s integrated suite of cloud based office applications like Exchange, Office, SharePoint and Lync.

    Naval Bajaj
    		 Jagdish Bajaj

    Kala’s presentation was followed by an actual demonstration of the newly released version of office 365 by Ashish Narang who is business development manager at Ingram Micro. Narang demonstrated commonly used scenarios at most businesses and how office 365 helped in managing information, enhancing collaboration and productivity.

    The event ended with a note from Mr. Jagdish Bajaj, ICCC Director for events and IT committee who thanked the presenters and the audience for coming and gracing the event.
     
      Participants at the Cloud Computing workshop

    Jagdish Bajaj cited how in a period of just over a year since he came on board ICCC has saved substantially on its annual IT budget by moving to a cloud based SaaS (Software as a Service) membership management software and Office 365 for its email , communication and collaboration needs.

    He emphasised that the cloud based software solutions had a lot to offer SMBs and that he would like to see more SMBs embark on this journey.

    The IT committee plans to have at least three more events this year so watch out your mailboxes for upcoming events in the months ahead.     

  • ICCC - Business reception for Indian delegation to PDAC - 04-03-13

    04 Mar 2013 2:48 PM | Anonymous

    ICCC’s reception for Indian delegation to PDAC


    ICCC board and members with RH Khawja and Preeti Saran

    Indo-Canada Chamber of Commerce (ICCC) organized a business reception for the Indian delegation attending the Prospects & Developers Association Convention (PDAC) in Toronto. RH Khawja, the Deputy Minister and Principal Secretary, Ministry of Mines, Government of India, led the delegation comprising senior representatives from government and private sector mining entities.

    Norton Rose LLP, a Canadian law firm with global presence and world-class expertise in the mining sector in Canada and India, was the event sponsor and the City of Toronto was the venue sponsor for the evening.

    Speaking on the occasion RH Khawja reiterated the Government of India’s commitment to liberalize the mining sector and said that the proposed mining legislation that would usher in liberalization is at present before the Parliamentary standing committee.

    The deputy minister emphasized that even if the passing of the bill took time, opportunities exist in the mining sector in India.

    Canadian companies are investing to the tune of $150 million annually, the minister said, and added that the sector also has some challenges. “Displacement of the people is an important matter and it is the responsibility of the government,” he explained.

    This new realisation has led to policy formulations that encourage sustainable mining and this is where Canada and India can collaborate significantly. Technology decisions in India are now being based on sustainability rather than extraction.

     

    Naval Bajaj


    Naval Bajaj enumerated the synergies between Canada and India in the mining sector. He said Canada has the technological knowhow and investment opportunities that are of interest to Indian companies both in the government and the private sector. Similarly, India offers tremendous opportunities in exploration and other spheres.

    He said ICCC had through its Canada-India Mining Committee (CIMC) undertaken several proactive measures to facilitate exchange of information in the mining sector between the two countries.

    ICCC President highlighted the need for responsible mining practices, a sphere in which Canada has emerged as a global leader. He emphasized that India could benefit from collaboration with Canada in this sphere as Canada is committed to working with its trading partners to pursue policies that support a responsible and sustainable investment environment in the best interests of both workers and businesses.

    Consul General Preeti Saran lauded ICCC’s efforts in promoting bilateral economic ties and said the Chamber has been proactive in promoting Canada-India collaboration sectors of mutual interest such as energy, education, infrastructure, mining and agro industries.

    Ned Steinman of Norton Rose highlighted the expertise and abilities of the law firm and its deep interests in the Indian mining sector.

    Susan Viegas, Senior Advisor Toronto Economic Development, highlighted Toronto’s investor-friendly policies and how it has become a hub of the new thrust in Canada’s economic renaissance. 


    RH Khawja

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