The Annual General Meeting 2018 of The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry was held on 12th September 2018, at the Chamber premises. The Chief Guest was Dr. Amit Mitra, Hon'ble Minister-in-Charge, Finance, Industry, Commerce & Enterprises & MSME and Textiles, Government of West Bengal. Dr. Ashok V Desai, Eminent Economist and Former Chief Consultant with the Ministry of Finance, Government of India; His Excellency Adam Burakowski, Ambassador, Embassy of the Republic of Poland in India and Mr. Bernhard SteinrUcke, Director General, Indo- German Chamber of Commerce were the Guest of Honours.

The business session of the AGM witnessed handing over of the Presidency by Mr. Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, Managing Director and CEO, Bandhan Bank Ltd, the outgoing president to Mr. Indrajit Sen, Managing Director, International Combustion (India) Ltd. the incoming President of The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

An interesting new development during the programme was the exchange of MoU between Mr. Bernhard Steinrucke, Director General, Indo- German Chamber of Commerce and Mr. Indrajit Sen, Incoming President, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the presence of the Hon'ble Dr. Amit Mitra. The MoU was for a proposed Centre of Excellence for Manufacturing & MSMEs.

Dr. Ashok V Desai in an insightful speech mentioned the dismal condition of Indian economy blaming demonetization, poorly designed goods & services tax, ineffective steps against black money and more. Coming back to Bengal, Dr. Desai, backing up his claims with statistics, had to say that WB is getting more indebted every year. It is borrowing more than it needs even to repay its debt. He also added, "WB's own tax revenue is just about a quarter of its total expenditure. All states together collect roughly 7% of their STP in taxes. WB collects only 5%. If WB closed this tap, and raised the tax STP ratio to 8%, its borrowings would come down by more than half; and it should cut total expenditure by 10%."

He suggested that cooperative federalism can be as much between countries as between states, and that India has to find ways to connect with its neighbours, especially with Bangladesh. He discussed how India can be held responsible for Bangladesh's trade to GDP ratios not being higher. India has imposed import restrictions on Bangladesh's principal exports and therefore Bangladesh has to find markets in distant lands such as US. Apart from the import restriction what is hindering Bangladesh is foreign exchange, he explained. He proposed that India must make more liberal arrangements for making visas available for the Bangladeshi people. This would stop the uncontrolled illegal migration problem, thereby extending the trade relations over what just exists over river borne trade routes.

Looking at the bright side, the imposed GST norms now gives Bangladeshi markets duty free access to the Indian market. Also, India has announced that it will give Bangladeshi students 3-year visas to study in India. India is helping Bangladesh build a nuclear plant in Rooppur. However, glancing at the overall picture Mr.Desai remarked that he believes that the relationship between India and Bangladesh is still undeveloped. There is a lot of ground to cover in terms of reciprocity. Bold generous unilateral measures have to be taken. "Unilateral favors will add to the total transactions and bring the 2 countries closer. I suggest that India ends all the finicky agreements with Bangladesh, and allows free access to India to Bangladeshi people, goods and services, and that the RBI lets Indian banks open branches in Bangladesh, and Bangladeshi banks to open branches in India. Closer relations between the countries are in our interests." He added.

Following Mr. Desai, Mr. Chandra Sekhar Ghosh, President of the Bengal Chamber, started off by pointing critical issues the financial sector of India has been facing. That was the chamber's main focus this year. He elaborated how the Chamber made constant efforts "to bring the stakeholders together, create relevant forums for the members and industries, to discuss and inspect the issues of concern." He discussed how the Chamber took initiatives to hold regular meetings with foreign diplomats, captains of industry, academicians, ministers, and world leaders. He gave notice of how the Chamber stepped out and held their first ever financial conclave outside West Bengal, in Mumbai which was welcomed by a Deputy Governor of RBI, two Managing Directors of SBI and other senior bankers.

He was delighted to inform the gathering that during his tenure as President, the Chamber signed a MoU with the Govt of WB's Electronics Industry Development Corporation Ltd, to set up an incubation center at Webel Bhavan. Proud of the initiative, he promised that such initiatives would continue in the future he also informed the gathering about an engaging project known as the Digital Village Program. It is with the help of the WB Government, and Bandhan Bank that BCCI is aiming to provide a platform for ensuring financial inclusion through the digital and cashless road at the rural level. Before concluding, he spoke about BCCI's initiative in agri sector development. He said that concepts like Agri Business School would be prioritized.

Dr. Amit Mitra like Dr. Ashok V Desai, in his speech showed similar concerns over Indian economy. With the rupee plummeting, current account deficit reaching very dangerous positions is what he stressed. Comparing the US oil reserve strategies to that of India's, he had some valid questions pitched for the Indian government. The Central government's increase in petroleum and diesel prices has put more questions on inflationary pressures. He said, "This kind of a drop in the rupee, the petrol and diesel prices, the ecosystem of feelings and expectations of inflationary pressure could lead to this process, and the GDP growth rate will be negatively hit." He had more to talk about WB and the current scenario of jobs in WB, Cognizant's plan to create more jobs, the revival of muslin in Bengal and the MSMEs regarding leather, gems and jewellery, food processing and more. He also throwed some light on MSMEs being in serious problems due to the GST.

Mr. Indrajit Sen in his brief speech brought forward the importance of MSME sector for West Bengal's economy. In tune with what Hon'ble CM Mamata Banerjee said about MSMEs in a conference, Mr. Sen said that MSMEs in Bengal should be comparable with the best in the world and to achieve this goal the sector will need to access cutting edge technology and continually upgrade their skill to the compatible level. He was happy to inform that the BCCI is starting the Center of Excellence for MSME sector in WB; and to do that, a partnership has been done with Indo-German Chamber of Commerce, which will help the MSME in WB to identify suitable technology partners from Germany, and also facilitate skill development program with the help of senior expert service. The program is being run by the German association of Chambers of Industry and Commerce, DIHK.

Subsequent to Mr. Sen's speech, the Chamber took a little interval to introduce a special publication called 'The Bengal Heritage'. 'The Bengal Heritage' is an endaevour by the Chamber to collate and publish all the speeches by eminent speakers who delivered their lectures in the 'Calcutta Talks' series. The publication also brings out all the rare pictures of the Chamber's very own 'The Calcutta Gallery'. 'Calcutta Talks' is a specially designed lecture series on Kolkata, in the backdrop of the Chamber's 'Calcutta Gallery'. It is instituted to awaken the collective consciousness about our very own Kolkata and also to bring all facets, snippets and a window to our beloved Kolkata, capturing the city's unique tryst with its destiny as one of the world's leading metropolises.

As the presentation of the newly launched publication rounded up, Mr. Adam Burakowski came up for his deliverance. He stepped in with his proposal for India to invest in Poland, explaining why Poland would be a good choice. Poland has one of the most-high ranked markets of Europe where the growth rate for the last one year was 4.2%, one of the biggest in the EU. He said that there are currently 150 companies from India working in Poland and he would like the number to increase to ten times the current value. He explained that Poland has a highly educated workforce, ease of doing business, stable growth prospects, and that they are part of EU's common market.

Mr. Bernhard SteinrOcke started his address by speaking about the good relationship that exists between Poland and Germany. He stated that 64 billion USD worth goods we exported to Poland, and they exported to them goods of 60 billion USD which totaled to a trade of 124 billion USD in the year 2017.

His talk mostly revolved around the automobile sector. He said, "When you look at what German companies in India are primarily doing, more than 50-60% is the automobile industry, either supply or as OEM. So it will be absolutely critical where the automobile industry in India is going." His speech had an interesting take on the automobile scenario in India. He was of suggestion that if India was to follow the ratio of cars to people that exists in Germany and US, it would be impossible. He enlightened that India doesn't have the oil resources, roads or the air to sustain an exponentially increased number of cars. Therefore he thinks that India has to find new ways to move its people and goods.

When talking of West Bengal, he said that they have that heard it is very successful, with very good growth rates but it also comes with a lot of challenges.

The Incoming President, Mr. Indrajit Sen, before bearing office for the session 2018-19, extended his thanks to all the dignitaries on the dais, past Presidents, invitees, and the members of the media. He specially mentioned Dr. Desai, Dr. Mitra, Mr. Burakowski, Mr. Bernhard SteinrOcke and also Mr. Alapan Bandyopadhyay.

This was followed by The Evening Annual Reception and Cocktails at Hyatt Regency, Kolkata, which was a very well attended gathering of who's who of the local business fraternity.