Mr. Jai Hiremath, President, ICC welcomed the members to the Third Meeting of the Committee.

The list of the Members who attended the Meeting is given at the end of the Minutes.

HOMAGE TO BELOVED LATE PAST PRESIDENT, MR. S. SUBRAMANIAN (SUBBU):

Members paid homage to Mr. S. Subramanian, Past President by observing 2 minutes silence. Members paid rich tributes to the departed soul.

LEAVE OF ABSENCE :

The leave of absence was granted to Mr. R. Parthasarathy, Mr. S. K. Agrawal, Mr. N. Subramanian, Mr. Rabin Mukhopadhyay, Mr. Ravi Kapoor, Mr. Ashok M. Kadakia, Mr. Shankar Ray, Mr. Roop Salotra, Mr. Rajiv Pabi, Mr. S. V. S. Ramaraju, Mr. R. M. Muthukaruppan, Mr. S. R. Mundhra, , Mr. D. P. Patra, Mr. A. S. Didolkar, Mr. Hasit A. Dani, Mr. S. Abhaya Kumar, Mr. N. B. Godrej, Mr. K. K. Maheshwari, Mr. J. D. Palod, Mr. B. Chattopadhyay, Mr. S. Gopal, Mr. Manoj Dutt, Mr. Rakesh Chitkara, Mr. G. P. Mohapatra, IAS, Mr. T. Malhotra, Mr. S. A. Luthra, Mr. Narendra Vachharajani, Mr. Prakash Hiranandani, Mr. S. Ganesan, Mr. D. Dutta Gupta and Dr. D. M. Wakankar.

CONFIRMATION OF THE MINUTES:

Minutes of the Third meeting of the Executive Committee held on 10 March 2009 were confirmed.

APPRAISE THE ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN DURING THE INTERVENING PERIOD:

Details of all the activities took place since last Executive Committee meeting were placed before the members. Members appreciated initiative taken by ICC and assured full support for forthcoming activities of ICC.

LECTURE BY ERNST & YOUNG PVT. LTD.:

Mr. Ronjoy Rajkhowa, Associate Director, Climate Change & Sustainability Services, Risk Advisory Services and Chaitanya Kaila, Associate Director of Ernst & Young Pvt. Ltd made presentation on "GHG Inventorization and Carbon Neutrality". Members took keen interest in the presentation which was followed by detailed discussion on the subject. It was agreed that "GHG Inventorization and Carbon Neutrality" will be a must activity in future. Mr. Samir Somaiya and Mr. S. R. Lohokare will interact with representatives of Ernst & Young Pvt. Ltd and decide on further course of action. Progress on the subject and its implication will be discussed in subsequent Executive Committee meeting.

PRE-BUDGET MEMORANDUM FOR THE YEAR 2009-10:

Pre-Budget Memorandum for the year 2009-10 to be submitted to Government of India and presentation to be made to Revenue Secretary were noted. Letter to be issued to Director General, DGFT for their consideration while drafting new policy on export were also discussed. Members also suggested following points for inclusion:

• Members felt that in addition to these issues with Revenue Secretary and DGFT, we must take up the same with Secretary - Department of Chemicals & Petrochemicals and seek the department's help in taking up these submissions strongly with other concerned Ministries.
• Few members felt that since ICC's proposed submission for increase in import duty across the board was not accepted in past, taking it up again may not yield fruitful result. On detailed deliberations, it was felt that we may continue to push for the same excluding few specific products where members had reservations. It was agreed that it is necessary to maintain differential duties between inputs and outputs to the extent possible.
• Member expressed that along with other fuels import duty on LPG, LNG also needs to be brought down at zero level.
• It is necessary to reduce SAD to 0% or to the level of CST.
• Tax exemption on EOU needs to be extended up to 2014.
• We may ask higher rate of depreciation on plant and machinery of 25%, which will help in promoting investment in the chemical industry.
• Modernization funds may be asked from the Government on the same line as it is being done for textile industry.
• We may ask for dividend distribution tax abolition.
• Investment in environmentally friendly, technology may be allowed 100% depreciation.
• Income on CER sell should be tax free.

Chairman, Trade and Business Development Expert Committee agreed to take note of all the suggestions which will be included in the revised draft to be presented to Revenue and Chemical Secretaries.

REVAMP OF ICC WEBSITE:

Mr. R. P. Billimoria made presentation on homepage of new ICC Website. Members appreciated the homepage and approved the same. Members suggested to have a section of use of chemical products and how it affects common man on the website. Website of other chemical council may also be referred to pick up new initiatives like "essential to life".

ICC DELEGATION TO JAPAN:

President explained progress on visit of ICC delegation to Japan. JCIA wants to know the specific section / industry in which ICC will be interested. After receiving feedback from the members details will be worked out and communicated to JCIA accordingly.

MEMBERSHIP MATTERS :

Following companies were admitted to the membership of the Council:

Admissions

Patron Membership
Deepak Fertilisers and Petrochemicals Corporation Ltd

Ordinary Membership:
Laffans Petrochemicals Ltd., Mumbai

Associate Membership (SSI):
Yew Petroproducts Pvt. Ltd., Uttar Dinajpur, W.B.

Associate Membership (Others):
Asia Pacific Risk Management Services Pvt. Ltd., Chennai
Cell for Industrial Safety and Risk Analysis, Chennai
Goel Scientific Glass Works Pvt. Ltd., Vadodara
Goenka Chemical Industries, Kolkata
Linde Engineering India Pvt. Ltd., Vadodara
Pon Pure Chem (P) Ltd., Chennai
Prism Consultants, Chennai
SNC-Lavalin Engineering India Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai
Technip India Ltd., Chennai
Total LPG India Ltd., Bangalore

Change in the name of member-companies :

The Committee noted the change in name of following member-companies:

From Caleb Brett India Pvt Ltd to Intertek India Pvt Ltd
From Indian Oil Tanking Ltd to IOT Infrastructure & Energy Services Ltd
From Rohm and Haas India to Dow Advanced Material Division
From Somaiya Organo Chemicals Ltd to Godavari Biorefineries Ltd

ANY OTHER MATTER WITH THE PERMISSION OF THE CHAIR :

Chemical News

Mr. Z. F. Lashkari, Hon. Editor, CHEMICAL NEWS discussed issue of review of the contents of CHEMICAL NEWS for which a feedback was requested in order to focus the articles on items of relevance and interest to the members.

All the members are requested to complete feedback form. Member's views then can be deliberated with some of the agencies for possible makeover of CHEMICAL NEWS. Current issue of CHEMICAL NEWS was distributed and its changed look was appreciated.

Inauguration of "Process Safety Centre"

Mr. S. K. Hazra, Chairman, SHE Expert Committee explained the concept of "Process Safety Centre". Thereafter president formerly Inaugurated the "Process Safety Centre". All the members were requested to utilize the "Process Safety Centre" for providing training in their respective industry.

DATE AND VENUE OF THE NEXT MEETING :

It was decided to organize Fifth Meeting of the Executive Committee after (within 15 days) the presentation of Union Budget 2009-10. Venue of the next meeting will be Mumbai.

Since there was no other matter to discuss, the meeting concluded with a Vote of Thanks to the Chair.

MEMBERS PRESENT :