News

Hong Kong - India Business Scenario

December 14, 2020 - World Trade Center Kochi organised an online session titled "Hong Kong - India Business Scenario: Regulatory, Tax and Trade". Mr. Rajesh Bhagat, Consultant, Hong Kong Trade Development Council; Mr. Neeraj Dubey, Partner, Singh & Associates; Mr. Surendra Singh Chandrawat, Managing Partner, Chandrawat & Partners and Ms. Smita Singh, Partner, Singh & Associates were the speakers. Mr. Rajesh Bhagat elaborated how HKTDC can help companies to invest in Hong Kong and how the destination can be considered as Asia’s central business district which is neutral and encouraging both import and export of goods and services. Hong Kong has adopted the British common law and it has a strong anti-corruption law. He pointed out that it has been the freest economy in the world for 30 consecutive years and is the 5th most competitive economy globally. Being a free port, no import or export duties levied. It is centrally located and an important maritime and logistic hub. He added that while Hong Kong may not be a large market, it rather serves as a launch pad to reach out to the rest of the world. Mr. Neeraj Dubey presented a few statistics of India - Hong Kong trade. Major imports included metals and minerals, jewellery, telecom equipment etc. He explained the regulations as per Foreign Exchange Management Act 1999. Mr.Dubey listed those measures taken by Government of India to promote ease of doing business. Mr. Surendra Singh Chandrawat joined from Hong Kong. He explained how the free economy, few restrictions and simple tax structure makes Hong Kong ideal for investors. It is easy to set up a company even without having a local resident to act as director/shareholder. Ms Smita Singh explained the legal procedures to establish a company in Hong Kong. She also elaborated on the double taxation agreements between Hong Kong and India. Mr. Vivek George, Manager - World Trade Center made the opening remarks. Read More

Workshop on Art of Managing Change and Transition

November 13, 2020 - The World Trade Center Kochi organized a certified online workshop on “Art of Managing Change and Transition” at Work”. Mr. Mark Sequeira, Principal Consultant and CEO, Maestro Human Resources Pvt. Ltd. was the faculty. Mr. Sequeira through storytelling, analogies and group tasks engaged the participants and made them aware of the different stages of transition management. He spoke about the various stages of change, transition and transformation. He stated that resistance to change, either by the workforce or senior management is the primary hindrance to transformation. Cultural, personal and intellectual resistance could arise in an organization. He gave statistics which showed that 30% employees in an organization are engaged, 52% disengaged and 18% actively disengaged. He explained the Kübler Ross curve which explained the different stages an individual goes through while undergoing change. He explained the 3 components of transition as ending, transition and new beginning. He interpreted two models of change to the participants - John Kotter's 8 step model and the Jeff Hiatt Model. He added that the hard factors to change during transformation are strategy, structure and systems while the soft factors are shared values, skills, styles and staff. The 3 day workshop was attended by mid and senior level managers. Dr. Bose K. Nair, Vice President World Trade Center gave the inaugural address. Mr. Vivek George, Manager WTC released Mr. Sequeira’s eBook on transformational management ‘From Setback to Comeback’. All attendees will also receive one week hand holding by the Faculty to implement their learnings at work. Read More

Webinar on Financial Planning

November 9, 2020 - World Trade Center Kochi in association with Geojit Financial Services Ltd. organized a webinar on Personal Financial Management which discussed the importance and steps of financial planning, setting & valuing goals, setting & evaluating strategies, as well as retirement planning. Mr. Vijayananda Prabhu CFPCM, Chief Manager and Mr. Tom N Jacob AFP Senior Manager, Geojit Financial Services Ltd. were the Speakers. Mr. Tom N. Jacob listed the things to focus before investing - goals, risk profile, returns, liquidity, how much to invest in each asset category. He added that SEBI has set up qualifications and experience criteria for financial advisors. Earlier, people only enquired about where to invest, but now the question is multidimensional as to how much to invest and when. He gave a broad overview of the financial planning process- analyse current financial position, evaluate and set goals, design and evaluate strategies, periodic review, periodic advice and guidance. Mr. Vijayananda Prabhu in his speech explained the importance of setting up a contingency fund. He listed the various kinds of financial and physical assets and the current trend in their performance. He gave various wealth performance indexes like contingency ratio, debt to asset ratio, debt coverage ratio, savings ratio. He also explained the importance of insurance and explained the life insurance analysis and health insurance analysis to secure one’s future. He added that there are various asset classes like cash, equity, fixed income, commodities and real estate, but people are confused as to where to invest and by what proportion. He stated that the following factors should be carefully analyzed before investing - risk profile, tenure of goal, nature of goal, nature of investment, maturity profile, risk category. He also gave a few examples of common financial mistakes - investing in many products without purpose, falling for higher returns, taking unaffordable long-term commitments, not choosing investments according to nature of goal. Dr. Bose K. Nair, VP, World Trade Center and Mr. Vivek George, Manager, World Trade Center Kochi also spoke during the session. Read More

Certified Workshop on ''Digital Marketing''

October 20, 2020 - "Develop content which are useful and not something to please your boss. Never see marketing as a cost but treat it as an investment" said Mr. Subhobroto Chakraborty, Founder- ThedigitalFellow.com, Bangalore. He was engaging a three day interactive workshop organised by World Trade Center on digital marketing. During the 8hr paid course, Mr. Subhobroto spoke about the fundamentals of digital marketing, how to increase the leads and simple techniques to market any brand. He covered aspects like Email marketing, widening presence on social media and how to connect with prospective clients. There were specific sessions on SEO & SEM, content marketing, email best practices and web analytics. Participants from different parts of the country attended and shared their industry specific queries with the faculty. As a complement, each participant was also awarded a 30 min consultation option which can availed after the course. Read More

Destination France

September 22, 2020 - The second episode of the series "Internationalization of Indian Companies'' was organised by WTC Kochi in association with SAS Partners,Chennai.The session titled "Destination France'' witnessed support from Business France-their official trade promotional agency and the French Embassy in New Delhi. Eric Fajole, French Trade Commissioner at the French Embassy – Head of Business France in India, led the panel which also had Ms. Audrey Lucbernet, Head of Invest in France Department, Business France in India. Mr. Robin Stuckey, Partner Lawyer, ONE - Société d'avocats, Ms. Fiona MOUGENOT, Managing Director, Expat Partners, Mr. Suresh Vazirani, Founder and CMD, Transasia Biomedicals Ltd., Dr. Bose K. Nair, Vice President, World Trade Center - Bengaluru, Kochi and Chennai and Mr. Alex T. Koshy, Director - Advisory, SAS Partners Corporate Advisors as co-panelists. Mr. Fajole spoke about the warm relationship between both India and France. He mentioned about the strategic agreements for defence, IT and Health. It was said that France is an active commercial partner with India and is ranked fourth from Europe. The sectors of interest include services, pharma, agriculture, hospitality and automobile. Mr. Fajole remarked that despite what appear in newspaper, France is now open for business. Ms. Lucbernet touched on the investment opportunities for Indian companies in France. Mr. Stuckey covered the legal aspects to be considered for setting up a company in France and also how to exit from the market. Immigration aspects was mentioned by Ms Mougenot. Mr. Vazirani shared about his experience in investing in France as an Indian company. The panel also took questions and provided clarifications to attendees who wanted to explore their chances of reaching out. Mr. V. Vijay Kumar, Advisor, SAS Partners Corporate Advisors moderated the discussions which was attended by SMEs across India. Read More

Webinar on EOUs and SEZ – Present Prospects

September 11, 2020 - World Trade Center Kochi jointly with Export Promotion Council for EOUs and SEZ conducted a Webinar on the prospects of EOUs and SEZs under the present scenario. Mr. Alok V. Chaturvedi IAS (Retd), Director General, EPCES presented the context of organising this session. He said that India should find this pandemic as an opportunity to attract business and investments from all over the world. SEZs and EOUs are good vehicles to promote exports and supply to domestic markets. Rather than re-inventing wheels, units should strengthen the existing models. Mr.Chaturvedi also moderated the discussions. Mr. D.V. Swamy IAS, Development Commissioner, CSEZ in his address explained how the units should re-assess and identify their strengths. He opined that SEZs and EOUs should complement each other and demand for other incentives apart from tax exemptions. Product complexity of units should also come up and meet international standards. Mr. Amitesh Singh IRS, ADG, Bangalore Zone started with the role of his department in framing tax policies. He said that Government is aware of the concerns and hardships faced by businesses due to this pandemic. Mr. Singh commented that guidelines need to be sustainable and must support the industry. Mr. Shivadass G., Senior Advocate in his presentation brought about the latest benefits for EOUs and SEZs and explained the various schemes available for units. He discussed the ‘Manufacture and Other Operations in Warehouse Regulations, 2019’ and how units can take advantage of it. He opined that once the direct tax benefit is gone, the EOU scheme has lost its sheen. Units should also introspect on their products and markets abroad. He urged the Government to bring in more clarity on tax benefits so that it will encourage companies to decide to move into SEZ areas. Earlier Dr. Bose Nair, Vice President WTC made the opening remarks. Senior officials from Cochin SEZ, Customs participated and answered the questions from the participants. Units from Kerala and Karnataka attended and raised their concerns with the speakers. Read More

Future of Real Estate Sector in Kerala

September 4, 2020 - A webinar on “Future of the Real Estate Sector in Kerala” was organised by World Trade Center Kochi. Mr. Ramesh Nair, CEO & Country Head, JLL India was the Speaker. In his talk, Mr. Nair described the changes that have been happening in the residential, commercial and retail spaces and also gave his predictions and suggestions on the way ahead. He said that the recently before lockdown, housing market had benefitted from returning NRIs. Ready to move in property sales have also increased considerably. age of construction, home loan interest and builder reputation are the key factors that customers are looking for at the time of purchase. Developers are tying up with interior designers due to consumer demand to provide interior solutions. There is a trend to move further away from CBDs to suburbs among customers as long as they have access to modern facilities. He shared his observation that tier 1 developers reached 40% of pre COVID sales and tier 2 have reached 25%. Over a 10-year period, real estate prices have gone up in India by 40%. With respect to office spaces, Mr. Nair mentioned that there is a trend of de-densification. Earlier, 100 sqft was allotted to a person and this has now come down to 80 sqft. IT is likely to go back to 100 with the relaxation in lockdown rules. Tenants are asking for reduced office spaces, rent free spaces, flexible lock in period. He suggested that landlords will need to upgrade their buildings, limit rental increases and will need to be flexible and agile in these times. Designers are more focussed on building spaces cleaner environments with flexible working schedules in place. Mr. Nair stated that retail has been the most impacted sector. Individual stores in malls have 25 – 40 % pre COVID sales currently. He added that vacancy levels are likely to increase and Govt. intervention is required to revive the sector. Supply chain is disrupted leading to product shortage. Warehouses are least impacted at these times. Hypermarkets and supermarkets are also doing well. He also observed that shoppers spend lesser time in malls and are serious buyers of essential goods. The session was organized in association with the Indo American Chamber of Commerce. Dr. Bose K. Nair, Vice President, World Trade Center; Mr. Sajiv Menon, Chairman, IACC also spoke. Vivek George,Manager,WTC moderated the discussions. Read More

Future of India-US Relations

September 4, 2020 - World Trade Center Kochi organized a webinar on “Future of India-US Relations and China’s Role in the Changing Global Order”. Mr. T.P. Sreenivasan, Former Ambassador of India to United Nations was the Speaker at the event, Dr. D. Dhanuraj, Chairman, CPPR moderated the session. Ambassador Sreenivasan in his talk explained how India-US relations have improved over the years. He opined that since the Obama administration, India and US have been in good terms with each other. But with the Trump administration the relations have completely changed for better. The Modi government has set 4 priorities in terms of foreign policy: security, economic development, Indian diaspora, and maintaining relationship with neighbouring countries— this improved the relationship with the US in 2016. He further spoke about the growing tension between India and China, He said that our involvement with China is closely interlinked and their reach has been deeply rooted in our economy. According to him, India can face the current situation in 3 ways: Holding talks with the top military officials; Economic action and stretching our Military capabilities. He stated that US- India alliance is not the answer to counter the dominance of China in the South east Asia region. He further said that India is not an expansionist country and hence does not desire dominance but to be collectively prosperous and peaceful. The programme organized in association with Centre for Public Policy Research and Indo American Chamber of Commerce was attended by people from various parts of the globe across sectors. Dr. Bose Nair, VP, World Trade Center, Mr. Sajiv Menon, Chairman, IACC and Mr. Vivek George, Manager, WTC Kochi and Chennai also spoke. Read More

Taming Data Science with Real Life Use Cases

August 4, 2020 - World Trade Center Kochi organised a virtual workshop on Data Science. This two day certified programme was jointly organised with Skill2pro. Mr. Bob Griffin, Aerospace Engineer and Geophysicist, USA was the Chief Guest at the inaugural session. Faculty from RAK Analytics, Bangalore handled the sessions. They introduced the participants to various machine learning techniques at a concept level and also make you solve real life problems with sufficiently large datasets. Speakers: Mr. N. R. Anantharamakrishnan, Principal Consultant, RAK Analytics Mr. N. Kannan, Sr. Solutions Architech, RAK Analytics Dr. Lakshmi, Sr. Research Faculty, BVRIT, Hyderabad Separate session on fraud detection, customer churn, creating chatbot applications, NLP, techniques like DeepFake and other amazing areas were addressed. The workshop witnessed participation from working professionals as well as students who had the opportunity to work alongside the facilitator. Demo scenarios were demonstrated for better understanding. e-certificates were awarded to all the attendees. Read More

Effective Decision Making in Times of Uncertainty

August 4, 2020 - An online certified workshop titled “Effective Decision Making in Times of Uncertainty” was organised by World Trade Center Kochi. Mr. Gokul Raghunathan, Founder, Mindelligence was the faculty. The two-day programme discussed fundamentals of cognitive biases, errors, problems with human judgements and decision making. Mr. Gokul spoke about how opinions are formed and actions are chosen via mental processes and how these are influenced by biases, reason, emotions, and memories. He stressed that one needs to accept these biases while taking a decision. He explained the differences between rational and irrational thinking and also illustrated the different factors that influences decision making. These include heuristics, priming, nudges, framing etc. There were several case studies presented supplemented with online activities. Mr. Gokul touched upon various cognitive biases like confirmation bias, overconfidence bias, self-serving bias, hindsight bias etc. Participants from different industries attended and interacted with the faculty. Read More

SME Branding in the New Normal

August 4, 2020 - The second episode of WTC Kochi series on SME branding had panelists from Brazil, Canada and UK sharing their thoughts on building brands in the new normal. The panel discussed on the use of technology, case studies on how brands globally reacted to this pandemic, tips for branding on a budget etc. Panelists included: Ms. Haem Roy- President BCMA Canada; Ms. Particia Weiss-Chairwoman, Founder BCMA South America and the Head/Strategic Consultant for Branded Content & Entertainment, Brand Purpose & Culture at ASAS.br.com, Brazil; Mr. Sam Knowles - Author of How to be Insightful and Founder & Managing Director, Insight Agents UK. Mr. Karnvir Mundrey, Founder and Chief Ideation Officer-Adharva Marcom, Bengaluru was the moderator. The panel remarked that brands need to be truthful both to themselves and to their customers. The pandemic is an opportunity for smaller brands to be more visible. Many SMEs are having a hard time in penetrating the market given the number of large players in the industry. However, with proper branding, things can become easier. Branding can also be a way to expand a business. Now is the time there is globalisation as well as localisation. Although Covid has added barriers it has brought the world more closer. The panelists unanimously opined that businesses should consider branding right from the start. Every brand should discover themselves and identify the purpose for their existence. It is also important to express it. Product comes and go, but brands stay. This series is jointly organised by WTC Bengaluru, Kochi and Chennai. Participants from over 6 countries and member WTCs participated. Read More

How can Marketing Lead Business in the New Normal

July 2, 2020 - A conversation on how marketing can help businesses in the covid era was organised by WTC. Mr.Anish Aravind, Founder-MARS and Mr. Kamal Krishnan, AVP-TOI spoke about the changed role of marketing in the new norm. A gist of the discussion is given below; Covid has differentiated products and services as essentials and non-essentials. There has been a significant change in the consumer behaviour and brands are positioning themselves to cater to these needs. Product availability has taken a toll on the loyalty factor. Business today is confused and none of the older data is helping entrepreneurs to take a decision. This is the time when leaders need to pitch in and help businesses to tide through.Although restrictions have been lifted, the economy is not reviving and it will take more time to get back to normalcy.Brands unlike before should look for a longer ROI and invest in time during this lockdown to build trust. Going forward, the influence of technology in business and lives is going to be significant. Companies are waiting for their consumers to respond and this will happen in a period of time. The concept of personalisation is key and never give a chance to get disconnected from customers. According to Mr.Kamal,several brands have gone silent during the lockdown which is not good. Different scenarios were mentioned through specific case studies to help viewers understand the points conveyed during the programme. Marketers from various industries participated in the discussion and shared their views with the speakers. The session was organised together with Indo-American Chamber of Commerce. Read More