29 April, 2015
C.No. 13 / Resume No.4 / 2015-16
To: All Members of the Committee
All Members
Dear Sir,
Re: Brief Proceedings of the MCCI Event –‘Jewels of the East’ – held on Tuesday, April 28, 2015 at The
Lalit Great Eastern, Kolkata
Please find attached the Brief Proceedings of the MCCI Event – ‘Jewels of the East’, where the
Chamber felicitated Shri R. S. Agarwal, Chairman, Emami Group; Shri Harshavardhan Neotia, Chairman,
Ambuja Neotia Group and Shri A. K. Chandra, Managing Director, P.C.Chandra Group. The event was
held on Tuesday, April 28, 2015 at The Lalit Great Eastern, Kolkata.
Thanking you,
Encl: Attached below
Yours faithfully,
Muroti Chatterjee
(Assistant Director General)
Brief Proceedings of the MCCI event ‘Jewels of the East’ held on Tuesday,
April 28, 2015 at The Lalit Great Eastern Kolkata
MCCI organized an event to Felicitate ‘Jewels of the East’ held on Tuesday,
April 28, 2015 at The Lalit Great Eastern Kolkata . Shri R.S.Agarwal,
Chairman,Emami Group; Shri Harshavardhan Neotia, Chairman, Ambuja Neotia
Group and Shri Arun Kumar Chandra, Managing Director, P.C.Chandra Group
were presented Mementos to acknowledge their contribution to Indian Industry
and Business Growth.
Shri Arun Kumar Saraf, President, MCCI while delivering the welcome address
advised ‘conducting a reality check along with the passion as the driver of any
business’, ‘balancing the ups and downs of business’,’retaining the reputation’
and ‘detaching oneself from the outcome of the business’ as few of his
experiences worth sharing with the new aspirants.
He highlighted ‘hunger for
success’, ‘inspiration’, ‘diligence’ and ‘persistence’ as the hallmarks of success of all
entrepreneurs.
Shri
A.K.Chandra
advocated
‘Obsession
for
Excellence’,
‘Quality
and
‘Diversification’ as mantras for Success in Business. He appreciated MCCI’s
historic effort acknowledging the ‘Achievers for Future’. He considered Industry
as one of the pillars of Growth creating employment and contributing to National
Exchequer. Narrating their 75 year old
journey, he stated how Late Shri
P.C.Chandra made a humble beginning in 1939 along with his eldest son Late Shri
Jawaharlal Chandra where the initial journey was very tough, but they made a very
strong foundation with the obsession with ‘quality’ which was very lucrative in the
‘long run’. He recalled the disaster brought to his company by the ban on
manufacture of gold jewellery above 14 carat fineness in 1963
Moraji Desai
by Late Shri
the then Finance Minister of India who had come out with a
Gold Control Act in 1962 , which was finally enacted in 1968. Mr Chandra said
that ‘bad times come and they make us stronger to fight back and also they
inspire’. We should have faith that ‘there is always light at the end of a dark
tunnel’. Business never follows a Silk Route. There were turmoils for Business
Houses in Bengal and currently the State Scenario is conducive for Business, and
Budding Entrepreneurs should take advantage of the situation. He suggested
MCCI to create a Fund to aid the
families of the victims of Earthquake in
Nepal and invite Industry to contribute as a gesture of serving the society.
Shri Harshavardhan Neotia, shared few learnings from his lifetime experience –
 narrating the 1997 Ambuja cement takeover of Modi Cement in Eastern
India , a sick company, which had 400 court cases against the company,
demoralized workforce, with a paid up capital of Rs 40 Crore and book
losses of about Rs 300 Crores, he said his learning experience in
Construction Industry to
deal with people enabled him to turnaround the
company by 2006 into a profit making company with initial no knowledge of
the cement Industry’.
 He continued to suggest that -‘using one’s Intuition to respond to difficult
situations determines how far we will go in our life, ’Achieving excellence
without being money minded’, and ’Desire to create product for tomorrow’.
 He explained that wealth is by product of success and most of the
successful businessmen aim at value creation and not wealth creation.
 He has had 4-5 bad patches in life which have been most educative and
where he got the opportunity to build meaning and lifelong relationships.
 He has perceived that work is a subset of life.We need to develop sound
body in spirit through Dhyan or Adhyan. Nishkam Karma is essential to
develop peace and happiness.
The way success is achieved is very important.
Shri R.S.Agarwal, proclaimed that ‘Greed must not be your need’ and left
everything to Almighty for the success and failure. He advised -‘Non Betrayal’
;’Dedication’, ‘Conviction and Innovation’, ‘Persistence’; ‘Selling the Products and Not
the Business’; ‘Creating and Not Following’; ’Employing
the Top Talent of the
territory’ ; ‘Being Non Bureaucratic’; ’Lesser Meeting’ as tips for success in
Business. Narrating his experience of founding Emami and then taking over of
Himani and converting a Rs 25,000 company into a Conglomerate with a Rs
25,000 Crore turnover, he said that only 5% of all Business in the World
succeed and 90% fail.
Mr Pulkit Baid, Chairman, Internal and Retail Trade Standing Committee,
MCCI moderated the session and proposed the Vote of Thanks
The event was well attended by over 100 Participants comprising: MCCI Past
Presidents, MCCI members, Corporates and Media
Muroti Chatterjee