The evening of 14th January 2015 witnessed the birth of the “Confederation of Eastern Chambers of Commerce and Industries”, a movement spearheaded by The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry and joined by Chambers of Commerce and Industry Associations in Eastern and North Eastern India and also from Bhutan.
The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry hosted a meeting and discussion forum of Eastern Chambers namely, “Think Global. Act Local” at the Chamber premises on January 14, 2015. The meeting was attended by the senior representatives of 11 Chambers from the Eastern and North Eastern Sector apart from the Bengal Chamber, namely:
1. Asansol Chamber of Commerce
2. Bhutan Chamber of Commerce and Industry
3. District Chamber of Commerce and Industries, Midnapore
4. Federation of Jharkhand Chamber of Commerce & Industries
5. Howrah Chamber of Commerce and Industry
6. Jharkhand Small Industries Association
7. Kamrup Chamber of Commerce and Industry
8. Raniganj Chamber of Commerce
9. Singhbhum Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
10.Utkal Chamber of Commerce & Industry.
11.West Bengal Nepal Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The Hon’ble Former Governor of Chattisgarh, Shri Shekhar Dutt was the Keynote Speaker. Prof (Dr.) Sharad Sarin, Senior Faculty, XLRI was the moderator of the discussion forum. Dr. Alok Roy, President, BCC&I set the tone of the programme with his welcome speech. Dr. Roy, after welcoming and greeting the guests and dignitaries, put forward his thought on “Think Global. Act Local”. His vision was to bring in a synergy and collaboration between the Eastern Chambers to exploit the untapped resources. The idea was to create a robust and efficient network for Chambers of Commerce in the East (including those from the Eastern neighbours of India like Bhutan), which would be the common forum for all members to utilize for business networking and even logistics help, among other areas.
Shri Shekhar Dutt, Hon’ble Former Governor of Chhattisgarh and former Defence Secretary, Government of India lauded the session by commenting that it was a unique occasion. Shri Dutt said that it was a great initiative taken by BCC&I to bring all the Eastern Regional Chambers together on a common platform for addressing common business obstacles together. It was a good occasion for setting up a working group to face the challenges as the Chambers would have the opportunity to get prepared for these in advance by forecasting and simulating. He demanded the necessity for the Eastern Region (not only Eastern India but also Eastern Subcontinent including Nepal and Bhutan) to get out of the shell as it has to understand its potential. This region is rich in resources like minerals, forests, biological reserves and very good quality human resources. He also suggested making productive use of available resources and increasing the scope by having more dialogues, setting up working groups and optimum utilization of resources. The objective should be to fulfill the untapped potential.
Prof. Sharad Sarin took over as the moderator of the discussion forum. While giving perspectives on collaborations he talked about the “power of focus”. Prof Sarin, thereafter created nine working groups amongst the Chambers by mixing up the participants and opened the forum for brainstorming and discussion with the topic, “What should be done to bring back the glory of the East?”
Majorly all the 9 working groups came out with likewise ideas with a few differentiating thoughts. The major points of consideration or takeaways from the discussion forum were:
• Uniform policy across the region.
• Uniform tax structure.
• Infrastructural development.
• Creating investor friendly environment.
• Creating good and stable political environment.
• Collaboration and coordination amongst Eastern Chambers.
• To convert Eastern India from a consumer hub to a manufacturing hub.
• Inter-State business barriers should be eradicated.
• Land bank/land acquisition policies should be made friendlier and promoted for Eastern India.
• Improving communication across the region.
• Image building exercise for Eastern States.
The post lunch session was opened by Dr. Sarin with another discussion topic, “How do we carry this forward so that this collaboration is sustainable?”
The groups came up with many suggestions and formulations. Amongst them the noteworthy are:
• Identifying the number of Chambers in the East and thereafter the method of representation.
• Creating a formal platform with elected/nominated representatives from each Chamber/Association.
• Collaboration should be by choice, not by default.
• Commitment of assistance to members of one another, which is basically a value addition.
• The collaborative body should be recognized by all Eastern State Governments and relevant Central Government ministries.
• The forum should be used specifically for information sharing, feedback and redressal of problems at higher levels. These issues are big issues which cannot be dealt by the Associations or Chambers alone.
• Funding avenues have to be identified, for e.g., contributions from members associations based on their membership strength.
• A centralized secretariat for all communication & admin work.
• Meets should be organized at proper intervals & at different locations with the local Chamber taking the lead.
• Enhanced communication system through latest technologies like Watsapp group, Twitter etc.
Post the working group suggestions, Dr. Alok Roy, President, The Bengal Chamber combined the thoughts of the forum and articulated the intent of forming a collaborative body. Thereafter all the participants combined to create a Charter of Intent, which was signed.