Centre for Independent Directors, IICA organized Power Talk with Dr. Debra Brown: Top 7 Boardroom Biases program for the members of Independent Director’s Databank on Thursday 31st March, 2022.

The main objective of this event was to highlight the boardroom bias and associated aspects. .

The Program commenced on 31stMarch, 2022at 05:00 PM with the theme address of Dr. Niraj Gupta, Head, School of Corporate Governance and Public Policy & Nodal Officer, Centre for Independent Director, IICA. He briefed the participants about Dr. Debra Brown.

Principal speaker:

Dr. Debra Brown is a globally-respected thought leader and the founder, President and CEO of Governance Solutions, which has developed a comprehensive, principles-based governance system that has been adopted by organizations, governments, and not-for-profits around the world. A Professional Director and member of The Institute of Corporate Directors, Debra also holds a Doctorate in Leadership. .

Dr. Debra shared her views on various boardroom bias and implication on effective working of boards. Discussion was focused around Pessimism Bias, Optimism Bias, Conformity/Courtesy Bias, Anchoring Bias, Confirmation Bias, In Group Bias and Egocentric Bias. There were lots of questions from participants and Dr. Debra gave answers to all these queries with the satisfaction of the participants.

Program concluded with the valedictory address of remarks of Dr. Niraj Gupta, Head, School of Corporate Governance and Public Policy & Nodal Officer, Centre for Independent Director, IICA. Centre for Independent Directors coordinated the event and ensured successful delivery of the program.

Centre for Independent Directors, IICA organized Power Talk with Prof. Anil Kumar Gupta: Role of Board in Connecting Corporate and Communitiesprogram for the members of Independent Director’s Databank on Thursday 25th March, 2022.

The main objective of this event was to highlight the need of healthy connection between corporate and community and what steps should boards take to ensure this.

The Program commenced on 25th March, 2022at 04:15 PM with the theme address of Dr. Niraj Gupta, Head, School of Corporate Governance and Public Policy& Nodal Officer, Centre for Independent Director, IICA. He briefed the participants about Prof. Anil Kumar Gupta.

Principal speaker:

Prof. Anil Kumar Gupta is Visiting Faculty, IIM Ahmedabad & IIT Bombay, Fellow, National Academy of Agricultural Sciences; Fellow, the World Academy of Art and Science, California 2001 and Fellow, INSA (Indian National Science Academy); AcSIR (Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research) Academy professor.Prof. Gupta expressed his views on corporate actions and impact of such actions on community at large in terms of socio-economic development. He also emphasised on long-term survival of companies with strong community connection via effective communication channels.

Prof. Gupta shared his views on need of healthy connection between corporate and community and associated benefits of such connection for companies as well as for community at large where such corporate operate.

There were lots of questions from participants and Prof. Anil Kumar Guptagave answers to all these queries with the satisfaction of the participants.

Program concluded with the valedictory address of remarks of Dr. Niraj Gupta, Head, School of Corporate Governance and Public Policy & Nodal Officer, Centre for Independent Director, IICA. Centre for Independent Directors coordinated the event and ensured successful delivery of the program.

In continuation to the ‘National Consultation on Futuristic Collaboration for Collective Impact’ held on 26 February 2022, the regional consultation in North-East region was organized by School of Business Environment, IICA at Hotel Rajdhani Regency, Guwahati in association with Sphere India (National Coalition of Humanitarian Agencies in India) on 22 March 2022. In the National Consultation held at New Delhi, DG & CEO, IICA Shri Praveen Kumar and Head, School of Business Environment, IICA Dr. Garima Dadhich committed towards forging larger collaborations and development of a Standard for Partnership. As agreed in the national consultation, several regional consultations on the topic are to be organized in different parts of the country. The consultation in Guwahati was the first among them

Several top experts and speakers like Mr Mrinal Gohain, IAG Assam Chairperson, Fr. Sebastian Ousepparampil, IAG Assam Convener, Mr. Rajesh Dutta, Engg. Consultant, Earthquake Risk Mitigation, ASDMA, Mr. Ravi Shankar Ravi, Editor in Chief, Dainik Purvoday, Dr. Ravi Raj Atrey Programme Manager, IICA, and Dr. Madhulika Jonathan, Chief, Field Office, NE, UNICEF India shared their views in the plenary session. Sessions on Impactful CSR, challenges faced by NGOs and Media were organized as part of the consultation.

Dr. Ravi Raj Atrey, Programme Manager IICA, moderated the session on Impactful CSR with Mr. Atul Singh, Vice President, CSR, Emami Ltd, Dr. Lopamudra Priyadarshini, General Manager Sustainability Communication & Community Relations, Aditya Birla Group, Mr. DigantaThakuria, Dy. General Manager, HR-CSR, Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, Dr. K K Upadhyay, Professor and Chairperson, BIMTECH, Mr. Marshal Kumar, HCL Foundation and Ms. Uma Seth (FICCI) shared their expert views on challenges and the way forward. The Panel talked about the trust deficit between stakeholders and how the gap can be bridged through these partnership standards. It was opined that in coming times, as CSR we should start looking for alleviating the suffering of people and long pending structural social problems of the nation, for which effective collaborative efforts are essential.

School of Business Environment, IICA organized another regional consultation on Futuristic Collaboration for Collective Impact in West Region at Hotel Orchid, Mumbai on 25 March 2022 as part of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsava.

Several distinguished experts and speakers participated in the plenary session, including Ms. Rajeshwari Chandrasekar (Chief of Field Office, UNICEF Maharashtra), Dr. K. K. Upadhyay (Professor and Chairperson, BIMTECH), Mr. Vishwarth Nair (Editor-Publisher, Raigad Observer), Karon Shaiva, Chief Impact Officer – IDOBRO & Managing Trustee – RISE Infinity Foundation.

Addressing the Session on “Impactful CSRs: Challenges and Suggestions for larger collaboration”, the experts talked about various types of collaborations, inter-corporate collaborations, intra-corporate collaborations, and the challenges and opportunities linked with them. Dr. Ravi Raj Atrey, Programme Manager, IICA, moderated the session with Mr. Ashwini Saxena (Chief Executive Officer, JSW Foundation), Dr. Nidhi Kewalramin (Project Director, Techmahindra Foundation), Ayan Chatterjee, (Head, Sterlite EdIndia Foundation), Disha Shrivastava (Former Head- CSR and Communications, Sledgehammer Oil Tools Pvt. Ltd) shared their expert views on challenges and the way forward.

Two more Sessions on Role and Challenges Faced by NGOs and Suggestions for larger collaboration and Session on the Role and Challenges Faced by Media and Suggestions for larger collaboration were also organized as part of the consultation, several key personalities deliberated on key issues.

As a part of celebration of Global Money Week 2022 (GMW2022), along with the celebration of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav, a workshop was hosted at IICA campus for the GIP students on 23 March 2022. This year’s edition of GMW2022 was special, as it marked the 10th anniversary celebration. Since 2012, Global Money Week has been celebrated across 176 countries and has reached 5.30 crore children and youth across the globe. In 2021 alone, 21.90 crore people and 16,200 organisations across the world had participated in the celebrations.

The GMW2022 workshop at IICA was centred around the 2022 theme “Build your future, be smart about money” and was focussed on creating better understanding of the basic concepts of finance, money, investment, risk, return etc., which was thought to help youth in not only making financial decisions for their own financial well-being, but also enabling them in creating impact on the lives of those who interact with them by sharing their knowledge. The role of statutory bodies like IEPF Authority, financial sector regulators of India such as Reserve Bank of India, SEBI, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India, Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority, and specialist institutions like NCFE was also discussed in the areas of financial education and investor protection.

In the backdrop of National Initiative to become 5 Trillion Economy and AtmaNirbhar Bharat, Centre for MSME, IICA has organised Four Day Capacity Building Programme on “Procurement (Policy & Procedures based on GFR, GeM & E-Procurement) and Contract Management for Good Governance: Challenges in Implementation” during 8-11 March, 2022 at Goa.

In celebration of International Women’s Day on 8th March, 2022, Program Director - Shri Rajesh Batra, Head-Centre for MSME/IP&CC, IICA felicitated Women delegates associated with four day capacity building programme for their efforts.

The program was designed to provide insights on major issues like intricacies in Public Procurement, Enhancing efficiency of Public and Private sector through effective supply chain management, evolving trends in public procurement, e-procurement, Government guidelines & policies, regulatory issues and its practical aspects as well.

Besides, in view of the various amendments brought out in Public Procurement Order (PPO) of Government of India to promote domestic manufacturing and value addition in the country, the capacity building programme addressed the issues concerning various Departments, sectors with regard to the implementation of the Order. In this regard, a dedicated session was focused on – “Make in India & Public Procurement”

The programme was organized by IICA, witnessed engaged participation from Professionals (Joint Secretary, General Manager, Chief Manager, Independent Director, Asst. General Manager, Under Secretary, Administrative Officer, Sr. Manager, Manager, Dy. Manager, Asst. Director) involved in public procurement from major Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) / Govt. bodies under various Ministries of Govt. of India and Corporates.

The programme started with welcome address on 8th March, 2022 and concluded with Valedictory Address on 11th March, 2022 by Mr. Rajesh Batra, Head-Centre for MSME / IP&CC, IICA.

The participants appreciated the programme content, Resource Persons and training sessions.

School of Competition Law & Market Regulation and FOIR Centre (IICA) successfully completed all modules sessions/Practicum sessions/Webinars and Tests for the Online Certificate Course on Regulatory Governance-3rd Batch and Advance Professional Course in Competition Law & Market Regulation-6th Batch for FOIR member officials comprising of TRAI, IBBI, CCI and SERCs across the country and other legal professionals/students.

A total of 35 participants enrolled for Online Certificate Course on Regulatory Governance-3rd Batch and 18 participants for Advance Professional Course in Competition Law & Market Regulation-6th Batch. The courses were conducted in online mode over the weekends through the Blackboard LMS platform and were moderated by the course convener Dr. Abha Yadav, Associate Professor, School of Competition Law & Market Regulation & Director- FOIR Centre, IICA. The FOIR Team comprising of Ms Pooja Tiwari, Fellow, Ms. Ritima Singh, Research Associate and Mr. Avanish Ranjan, TA/Consultant assisted in the successful completion of both the courses.