CII Chandigarh gets new office bearers for 2022-23

Chandigarh, 9 March 2022: In its Annual Session for 2021-2022 in Chandigarh, CII Chandigarh announced  Rajiv Kaila, Director, Kaila Engineering Pvt. Ltd as its newly elected Chairman and  Vivek Gupta, Managing Director, NEC Packaging Ltd as its Vice-Chairman.
 
The Chief Guest on the occasion, Banwarilal Purohit,  Governor- Punjab and Administrator- UT Chandigarh, expressed his appreciation for CII and the Chandigarh Industry and said, “The conclave of CII is taking place amid the celebrations for 75 years of Independence, the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. This is a huge opportunity for the Indian industry to set new resolutions and goals.  The huge responsibility for the success of the AatmaNirbhar Bharat campaign rests on Indian industries.”
 
Summarising some of the initiatives of UT administration,  Governor said, “Chandigarh is fast becoming a prominent hub of startups in the Region. Keeping in view the requirements of local budding entrepreneurs, the Administration will soon be working on a new startup policy to help them set up their own ventures in the city. The UT intends to prioritise actions required in three broad categories: short, medium, and long-term which will empower the efforts and virtuosity of young startups in Chandigarh.”
 
Abhimanyu Munjal, Chairman, CII Northern Region said, “UT of Chandigarh along with its adjoining districts have an important contribution to make and needs to grow in tandem with the national economy or maybe even at a much higher rate of growth compared to the national average. In this context, Chandigarh should be looked at as Greater Chandigarh Region, i.e., incorporating all the bordering districts while preparing any futuristic plan in consultation with the Governments of Punjab and Haryana”.
 
Outlining CII’s vision for the Chandigarh region,  Munjal said “The vision of CII is to promote and position Chandigarh Region as Shivalik Valley on the lines of Silicon Valley of USA.” Highlighting CII’s activities in the promotion of startups,  Munjal said “CII’s Centres of Excellence are working with start-ups in multiple areas of clean technology, water, etc. CII is currently working with 90 start-ups, directly and indirectly, working towards helping start-ups with a 5x revenue growth.”
 
For promoting the Industrial growth of the City,  Manish Gupta, Past Chairman, CII Chandigarh UT shared that CII has submitted inputs for revision in the existing industrial policy. The revised Policy can serve as a blueprint for taking forward the industrial growth in line with the Administration’s vision towards ushering in inclusive growth, keeping in mind the size and the needs of the city.
 
The new Chairman for Chandigarh chapter of CII for the year 2022-23 is  Rajiv Kaila, Director of Kaila Engineering Pvt. Ltd. He is a second-generation entrepreneur and joined the family business in 1988. Kaila Engineering Pvt. Ltd started its operations in 1983 and the company now has various verticals spanning gas generation equipment, air generation, purification equipment, and piping. Kaila holds a Graduate degree in Commerce from the Commerce College, University of Rajasthan, and had completed his schooling at St. Xavier’s, Jaipur.
 
Vivek Gupta is the new Vice-Chairman of CII Chandigarh UT. He is the Managing Director of NEC Packaging Ltd, which manufactures specialty packaging for FMCG and the Pharmaceutical industry. The company is supplying to major domestic and international Pharma API manufacturing and FMCG companies. Mr Gupta has also promoted residential flats at Kandaghat and a Clarified Fruit Juice Concentrate plant at UNA, Himachal Pradesh. Mr Gupta is the Past President of Rotary Club of Chandigarh. He did his Senior Cambridge from St. Johns High School, Chandigarh, and graduated in Commerce from Government College for Men.
 
 
 
The Annual Session saw the participation of various prominent industrialists as panelists in the Chandigarh Business Conclave.
 
 
Arvind Kumar, Director General, Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) said the STPI with a network of 62 Centre primarily situated in the Tier II and Tier III cities has been supporting and handholding the startups by providing administrative support and bridging the gap between the Government and the technical institutes. Further, he has been observed that India lags in the product development sector, STPI will promote software product development through emphasis on research and Development in India through setting up of 40 Centre for Entrepreneurship across the country, he added.
 
On promoting sustainable Chandigarh further ready by 2030,  Debendra Dalai, Secretary- Science & Technology, Chandigarh Administration expressed that Chandigarh Administration is promoting a sustainable environment for the growth of the industry through the promotion of time-bound and automatic approvals for various requirements such as pollution approvals. On sustainable growth of the City, Mr Dalai was happy to share that Chandigarh has increased its forest cover from 26 per cent in 2001 to 50.05 per cent in 2021 with the support of the citizens. Further, the Administration is hopeful to achieve the 75 MW solar power generation target by August 15, 2023. On the EV Policy of Chandigarh, Mr Dalai was hopeful that with the implementation of the Chandigarh EV Policy, 80 per cent of the new vehicle bought in Chandigarh will be electric vehicles by 2027.
 
On ease of doing business initiative by Chandigarh Administration, Hargunjit Kaur, Secretary – Industries, Chandigarh Administration informed that the proposal of upgradation of IDFC is in pipeline, which will help the industry with the latest certification and testing. Another initiative that the Chandigarh Administration is taking up is the upgradation of infrastructure in the Chandigarh Industrial area. She further informed that the Industries Department in promoting the startups through structured interventions for industry and academia.
 
From a banking perspective,  Anukool Bhatnagar, Chief General Manager, Chandigarh Circle, State Bank of India expressed that the innovative concept of greater Chandigarh Region is indeed an innovative one that will promote sustainable development of the Northern Region. The Chandigarh circle of SBI has one of the largest MSME and export portfolio in the country, which demonstrates the entrepreneurship spirit of the region, he added.
 
Prof S Anantha Ramakrishna, Director, CSIR- CSIO, Chandigarh, said “Despite the Centre’s push for the Make in India initiative, the electronic hardware industry in India is still largely driven by imports, India needs to promote this industry.”
 
Prateek Kishore, Director, Terminal Ballistics Research Laboratory (TBRL) – DRDO, said “DRDO is now promoting Development cum production partners, where the industry is involved in the research and development of the product before the actual production.”