Programme

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

9.00 a.m. – 10.00 a.m.            :           Registration
10.00 a.m – 11.00 a.m.           :           Inaugural Session                  

                                                         Welcome Address
                                                              Mr B Prabhakar
                                                              National President IACC                      

                                                          Theme presentation
                                                              Mr Prem Behl
                                                              Summit Chairman
                                                            Indo-American Chamber of Commerce
                                                           
                                                           Address by
                                                              Dr David C Mulford
                                                              US Ambassador to India *

Special Address
               Mr Michael F Carter
               Country Director
               World Bank                                                                               
  
           Inaugural Address by Chief Guest       
               Mr Kamal Nath
               Hon’ble Minister for Commerce & Industry

Vote of Thanks
    Mr Baljit Sobti
    President, North India Council
    Indo-American Chamber of Commerce                          

11.00 am – 11.30 am                                       :           Tea Break 

11.30 a.m. – 1.30 p.m.           :            Session I

Organized Retail Trade in India – Options and Opportunities 

Opening address by Chairman and Moderator
Mr Arvind Virmani
Chairman ICRIER

Distinguished Speaker
Mr L Mansingh
Secretary Ministry of Consumer Affairs, GOI

Speakers
Mr Harminder Sahni,
Principal & Associate Director, Retail & Annuities Practice
KSA Technopak

Mr Vikram Bakshi
Managing Director
McDonalds

Mr Anup Singh*
Chief Executive
ITC Tobacco Division

 

4.00 p.m.-4.30p.m.                                          :           Tea

Thursday, November 17, 2005

9.30 am – 11.30 am                            Session IV

11. 30 am – 12.00 noon                                   Tea Break 

12.00 – 1.30 p.m.                                                        Session V

 

 
Chairman and Keynote Speaker
Mr Ajay Prasad
Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, GOI

Speakers
Mr Larry Kellner
Chairman & CEO
Continental Airlines

Mr. Athar Khan
Managing Director, Asia/Pacific

American Airlines
Mr Ronojoy Dutta
President
Sahara Airlines

Dr Vijay Mallya
Chairman
Kingfisher Airlines Ltd

Mr S N Subrahmanyan*
Jt.G.M. & Head Airports
L & T

Mr Kiran Grandhi*
Managing Director
MR Group 

4.00 pm – 4.15 pm                                                       Tea 

Indo-US Economic Summit: Bridging the Gap
November 16 & 17, 2005 Hotel Taj Palace New Delhi

Indo-US trade –For Accelerated Growth

India’s aim is to double India's share in US market from the present 1% to 2 % in the next five years. The two-way trade rose to $21.681billion in 2004-05 up from $18.035 billion in 2003-4 an increase of 20% and is expected to touch $28 billion during 2005-06, recording a significant growth of 30% over the previous fiscal.

US Businesses are looking for a retuned regulatory regime and removal of FDI ceilings

·         Non-Tariff barriers in the US impede market access for various Indian products

·         Huge subsidies to farmers in the US render Indian farm produce uncompetitive and act as a barrier to increase trade.

·         Due to stringent sanitary norms, farm products also face market access problems.

Energy: Crucial for Growth

 To auction additional sites for exploration and drilling have created wide spread interests among the oil majors in the world. A major initiative highlighted during Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh’s   visit to the US was the US-India Energy Dialogue, designed to promote increased trade and investment in the energy. This dialogue will promote these goals through the following working groups:

a)       Oil and Gas

b)       Coal

c)       Power and Energy Efficiency

d)       New Technologies and Renewable Energy

Estimated to be a US$90 billion industry, the Oil and Gas industry is among the largest contributors to the central and state exchequers in India. Its share approximates US$13.58 billion.

American and other global companies have shown keen interest to participate in the oil and natural gas projects in India. The recent proposals

Opportunities for investors in the energy sector of India exist, but lack of a comprehensive energy policy is a barrier to foreign investment in long-term energy projects.

Banking Sector: Transformation For Globalization

Opening up of the banking sector reforms to the private sector has improved banking system in India by bringing competition, improved products, greater transparency and corporate governance.

The Banking Regulations (Amendment) Bill, 2005 intends to give private investors voting rights proportionate to their shareholdings.  This is expected to attract much needed foreign investment as it was reckoned to be a big constraint on investment by private / foreign players in the Indian Banks.

Competition, convergence and consolidation would be the key drivers of growth in the Indian Banking system.

Insurance: Encouraging Investment

Presently, the Government allows 26% equity limit for FDI in the insurance sector.  The Finance Minister in his budget of 2004-2005, announced the Government’s intention to hike the FDI cap on insurance sector to 49%. 

Indian insurance companies have been actively wooing the government to allow more foreign equity in their companies.  The current paid up requirements of Rs.100 crore for general and Rs.200 crore for life insurance have become difficult benchmarks for the companies to sustain, given the pace of growth of the market.  In such a scenario, the companies’ feel, the injection of additional foreign equity would reduce their costs.  Insurance penetration has been low at around 2%.  The sector was liberalized for the private players towards the end of 1999 when IRDA came out with the regulations.

Capital Markets- A Huge Latent Demand

The equity market is ruling at an all time high and foreign funds are coming into the Indian market in huge amounts.

There is a need to ensure that there is no loss of investment, but robust capital formation leading to higher production, economic growth and creation of employment through effective corporate governance.

Positive tidings about the Indian economy combined with a fast-growing market have made India an attractive destination for foreign institutional investors (FIIs).

 
Civil Aviation: Partnership with US

The Civil Aviation sector is on a roll with both state-owned and private carriers adding more capacity and launching more connections globally, as air traffic to and from India continues to grow at 20 per cent annually.

The US – India Open Skies Treaty signed in April 2005 --removes all barriers on air services between the two countries. It will allow an unlimited number of U.S. carriers to serve an unlimited number of points in India - and will do the same for Indian carriers into the United States.

This agreement will result in more services, more options, more innovation, and lower prices and support initiatives such as technical assistance, jobs training and personnel exchanges.

The Indian Government is also planning to usher in a more flexible FDI regime in the civil aviation sector.  Currently the FDI cap in domestic aviation is 49%. NRI/ OCBs are permitted to invest upto 100% equity.