SOCIETY NEWS

BALANCING ONE’S STATE OF MIND

The Human Resources Development Study Circle arranged an excellent discussion on one of the most important topics requiring to be explained in detail in these devastating Covid times, viz., ‘Sthitapradnya’ (a state of balanced intellect in which one is not perturbed by emotions). This is a valued part of the Bhagwad Geeta. The presentation was made by the veteran CA C.N. Vaze in the course of a virtual (online) meeting on 11th May. It was followed by a brief talk by Ms Manasi Amdekar, counselling psychologist, who dwelt on the role of prayers in achieving ‘Sthitapradnya’.

C.N. Vaze explained that ‘Sthitapradnya’ or a balanced state of mind makes it possible for us to pursue our goals irrespective of our situation. Today, because of Covid and the resultant lockdowns there is a lot of negativity and depression leading to severe mental problems. The talk was aimed at generating positivity in the participants by focusing on the following qualities of ‘Sthitapradnya’:

1. Becoming desireless: Being fully satisfied with the self.
2. Stability in every situation: Such a person is stable (not shaken by whatever condition he is in, not too ambitious but not complacent either, and will work for growth but not be perturbed by negative results).
3. Emotional stability: Neither pleased with good nor angry at bad (evil).
4. Complete self-control.
5. Tranquility: Established in calmness of the mind.
6. Established in fullness: Undisturbed by desires, just as the ocean is undisturbed by the constant flow of rivers into it.
7. Oneness with Brahman.

‘In Indian culture, we use two words, Sukh which is material comfort, and Anand which is happiness and which depends on one’s mental state,’ C.N. Vaze pointed out.

यः सरत््व रानभिस्नेहस्तत्तत्प्राप्य शुभा शुभम।्
नाभिनन्दति न द्वेष्टि तस्य प्रज्ञा प्रतिष्ठिता।।2.57।।

• When a person draws in (his) senses from the objects of senses as the tortoise draws in its limbs (such as hands, feet, etc.) from all sides, then his Reason is (said to be) steady.The discussion then turned to Shad Ripu (the six ‘Enemies of Life’), viz.,

• Kaama – Desire
• Krodha – Anger
• Lobha – Greed
• Moha – Delusion
• Mada – Ego
• Matsara – Jealousy

C.N. Vaze concluded by quoting Swami Vivekananda who had exhorted Indians to ‘Arise, awake and do not stop until the goal is reached.’

He was followed by Ms Manasi Amdekar who focused on the role of prayers to achieve ‘Sthitapradnya’.

Among the points that she discussed were:

* The brain has different ‘phases’. It reacts to stimuli, and prayers can help in controlling it;
* Words affect water, too. Good words create ripples of good designs and bad language can create distorted designs. These affect the happenings in a person’s life; water molecules react to words and their vibrations; when we utter words of gratitude, there are beautiful, symmetrical patterns in water;
* Non-living objects also react to frequency and can change their position;
* Our brains behave differently depending on what we speak;
* Chanting religious mantras – Actively listening to what you are saying is important, they are holy words and have an effect on your mind; in fact, we dedicate time for them;
* Most people are in a chaotic state with so much noise around;
* We need to filter out other noise and give focused attention to the desired stimulus;
* Active and passive listening are crucial; we cannot move our outer ears, but we can still avoid distractions and concentrate our minds on the job we are doing.

The participants in the virtual meeting requested that both the speakers, C.N. Vaze and Ms Manasi Amdekar, be invited to speak once again as they found the sessions to be interesting and enlightening.

15TH RESIDENTIAL STUDY COURSE ON GST

When the country was grappling with the Covid pandemic and almost the whole of India came to a standstill owing to the ‘second wave’ which started in March, 2021, the BCAS organised its 15th Residential Study Course on Goods and Services Tax in an attempt to motivate people and offer them continuous study in such difficult times.

However, the course was held in virtual mode between 3rd and 6th June. It was well designed and planned. Proof of this was the fact that it was attended by 390 participants from all over India.

There were more than 45 live mega case studies. Each case study was unique in its own way and dwelt on several issues that the professionals and the taxpayers face every day. This time, a new concept, that of a MOCK group discussion, was planned in advance wherein the Group Leaders and Mentors were invited to participate in two ‘GD Papers’ and two ‘Panel Papers’. Before the actual event, selected Group Leaders were allotted the case studies which generated active participation all around and acted as a precursor to the main event. The Group Leaders presented their views first with slides on the case studies allotted to them and other members in the close group deliberated and added their viewpoints. After the Mock group discussion, a Common PPT was prepared for all the Group Leaders for the RSC group discussions. The outcome of this Mock discussion was excellent and offered a lot of value to the participants. All the Paper writers, faculties and panellists appreciated the idea of the Mock GD and the Common PPT.

On the first evening, 3rd June, the programme started at 4.45 pm. CA Sunil Gabhawalla, Chairman, Indirect Tax Committee (IDTC), welcomed the participants and shared the idea behind the RSC, the technical efforts and its design. This was followed by inaugural remarks by President CA Suhas Paranjpe, who gave a briefing on the BCAS. IDTC member CA Mrinal Mehta introduced the panellists, Advocate V. Sridharan, CA S.S. Gupta and Moderator Sunil Gabhawalla.

The panel discussion on ‘Case Studies on GST Law’ lasted about three hours. The concluding remarks were also made by Sunil Gabhawalla and the vote of thanks was proposed by CA Saurabh Shah, the IDTV Convener.

The morning of 4th June had Sunil Gabhawalla welcoming the participants for the Group discussion on ‘ITC – Myth or Reality’? The paper was written by Advocate V. Raghuraman. After the introduction of the Group Leaders and the Mentors and acknowledging their efforts, the Group discussion commenced. For every Group discussion paper, the participants were divided into ten online groups, each with a Group Leader and a Mentor. After the Group discussions, the Group Leaders and Mentors reported to the Paper Writer about the groups’ views, probable issues and challenges during the course of the discussion.

In the evening session, the opening remarks were made by IDTC senior member CA Puloma Dalal, the session chairperson. Following this, the speaker was introduced by CA Gaurav Save, IDTC member. Advocate Raghuraman, Faculty, presented his replies to the Paper that had been discussed in the morning. The participants enjoyed the free flow from the Paper presenter. The session concluded with a vote of thanks by CA Vikram Mehta, IDTC member.

The proceedings of the third day, 5th June, began with the Group discussion on ‘Corporate Restructuring & GST’, the Paper written by CA Gautam Doshi and CA Bhavna Doshi. In-depth discussions took place among all the ten groups. After the Group discussions, reporting to the Paper Writers was done as planned by all the Group Leaders and Mentors.

In the evening, the opening remarks were made by IDTC senior member and Past President, CA Govind Goyal, chairman of this technical session. CA Parth Shah, IDTC member, introduced the speakers. The Faculties then presented their replies to the Paper that had been discussed in the morning. The session was well appreciated for the simple solutions from the procedural and legal perspectives and for the practical solutions. It concluded with a vote of thanks proposed by CA Dushyant Bhatt, IDTC convener.

The concluding day, 6th June, saw two sessions. The first was chaired by CA Raman Jokhakar, Past President of the BCAS. After his opening remarks, CA Rishabh Singhvi, IDTC member, introduced CA Divyesh Lapsiwala, the speaker of the Presentation Paper ‘Tax Technology – Current and Future Trends’. The speaker explained the importance of technology adoption in GST practice and starting preparations in advance. Later, the chairman gave the concluding remarks and the vote of thanks was proposed by CA Suresh Choudhary, also an IDTC member.

After a break of five minutes, the last technical session on ‘GST Practice’ with the panellists, senior advocate Tarun Gulati and CA Sushil Solanki, commenced. The session was moderated by CA A.R. Krishnan, senior member of the IDTC. The concluding remarks were made by Sunil Gabhawalla, IDTC chairman, and the vote of thanks was proposed by CA Mandar Telang, IDTC convener.

Owing to time constraints, a few case studies could not be covered but, considering the importance of the topics concerned, the said session was carried over to 22nd June. The participants benefited from the valuable inputs, legal discussions and analysis of the GST law. Sunil Gabhawalla thanked both the panellists and the Moderator for their time and effort and also for agreeing to the extended session.

The virtual RSC concluded with acknowledgements and thanks to all those who had worked towards making the event a success, especially the Paper Writers, Group Leaders, Mentors, Panellists and others who had worked tirelessly to deliver a seamless experience. Last but not the least, thanks were expressed to the participants without whom the sessions would not have been so interactive.

Overall, it was an enriching experience and was appreciated by all the participants.

CREATING AND SUSTAINING TEAM CULTURE

The Human Resource Development Study Circle arranged a meeting on the virtual platform of BCAS on 8th June to discuss the subject ‘Creating & Sustaining a Team Culture (Introductory Session)’. It was addressed by Mr. Gopal Sehjpal.

Creating a new team culture or improving upon an existing team culture is about answering the question: ‘Do you play well with others?’

The answer to this could lead to one’s success or failure as a leader. It could be the key factor in one’s personal and family relationships. Many think that ‘plays well with others’ is a category for grading school children, not grown-ups. ‘We tell ourselves, “I’m a successful, confident adult. I shouldn’t have to constantly monitor if I’m being nice or if people like me.”’

Most people hold themselves blameless for any inter-personal friction and believe that it’s always someone else’s fault not their own fault. They say, ‘The other guy needs to change. I shouldn’t have to. In fact, I don’t need to, it’s his fault.’

Mr. Gopal Sehjpal wondered whether people are so satisfied with how far their behaviour has already taken them in life that they smugly reject any reason to change? In other words, they believe that ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’

He narrated the story of Alan Mullaly who, when he became CEO of Ford, set to work to create an environment where the executive team, notorious for not working together, could learn to play well with each other. Through his leadership, the focus of the team, and ultimately of the entire company, became ‘How can we help one another more?’ It worked. The company survived through incredibly difficult times and returned to achieving great success again through working together. If Ford had been a schoolyard and the executives school children, they would have received the highest marks in ‘playing well with others’.

How well does your team play together?

Mr. Gopal Sehjpal said that one could answer this question about one’s team by trying the simple, four-step process which can be called ‘team-building without time-wasting.’ The steps are:

1. In a team meeting, ask each team member to rate ‘How well are we doing?’ vs. ‘How well do we need to be doing?’ in terms of teamwork. Have each member do this on paper. Have one of the members calculate the scores without identifying anyone. On a 1-10 scale, with 10 being the highest score, the average evaluation from over 1,000 teams is ‘We are a 5.8. We need to be an 8.7.’

2. Assuming that there is a gap between ‘we are’ and ‘we need to be,’ ask each team member to list two key behaviours that if every other individual team member improved, could help close the gap and improve teamwork. Do not mention people, only behaviour, such as listening better, clear goals, etc. Then list the behaviours on a flip chart and have the team pick the one that they believe will have the biggest impact.

3. Have each team member conduct a three-minute, one-on-one meeting with each of the other team members. (Do this while standing and rotate as members become available.) In these sessions, each person should ask, ‘Please suggest one or two positive changes I can make individually to help our team work together more effectively.’ Then have each person pick one behaviour to focus on improving.

4. Begin a regular monthly follow-up process in which each team member asks each other member for suggestions on how to continue their improvement based on their behaviour the previous month. The conversations should focus on the specific areas identified for improvement individually as well as general suggestions for how to be better team members.

When asking for inputs, the rules are that the person receiving the ideas cannot judge or critique the ideas. He must just listen and say ‘Thank you.’ The person giving the ideas must focus on the future, not the past.

Mr. Gopal Sehjpal said this is a quick and easy process that helps teams improve and helps team members become better team players.

‘We hope this is helpful to you and those around you. Life is good.’

For goals of the organisation to be met, he suggested: 1) Creating teams, 2) Team culture. Sustaining a team culture is an independent task with a view to ensuring that teams function to achieve the goals of the organisation.

Any defect in the system of creating teams will be harmful to the organisation. The process involves: 1) Creating teams, 2) Assessment of each team member, and 3) Overall assessment of team performance – Feedback, feedforward, differentials are also important aspects to sustain team performance and achievement of the organisation’s goal, Mr. Gopal Sehjpal added.

FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT

The FEMA Study Circle conducted a virtual knowledge session on ‘Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)’ on 19th June to help provide working knowledge about FDI to members of the Study Circle. The discussion was led by Group Leader CA Mukesh Dhoot who explained key provisions of FDI along with the applicable regulatory framework on it.

Mukesh Dhoot led the discussion by comparing the current regulatory framework with the erstwhile FERA 1973 and by highlighting the differences in their objectives. Apart from this comparison, various key provisions such as capital and current transactions, pricing guidelines, sectoral caps, prohibited sectors, KYC, minimum lock-in period, etc., were also taken up. Multiple case studies based on practical aspects of FDI were also discussed. Group Leader Mukesh Dhoot also encouraged the participants to share their responses / inputs.

It was an enlightening discussion with senior members discussing practical examples and approaches in relation to the subject. Several seniors and members of the BCAS FEMA Study Circle also participated in the discussion and their participation made it more interesting.

DIRECT TAX LAWS STUDY CIRCLE

The Direct Tax Laws Study Circle organised a virtual meeting on 21st June at which ‘Key Amendments Related to TDS Provisions, Effective 1st July, 2021’ were taken up.

Group Leader CA Bhaumik Goda gave a brief overview of the changing TDS landscape. The provisions of section 194Q were discussed in depth with illustrations. The applicability of TDS on GST was taken up in light of judicial precedents and Circulars. Further, the exemptions to such TDS provisions were also highlighted.

Thereafter, the Study Circle discussed the inter-play between the TDS and TCS provisions with illustrations. Also discussed was the TDS impact on non-filers of ITR. The session ended with Bhaumik Goda sharing his thoughts on the practical challenges that will be faced during implementation of the new TDS provisions.

INTERNATIONAL DAY OF YOGA: 21ST JUNE

The Human Resource Development Committee, along with The Yoga Institute, Santacruz East, organised an online programme to mark the International Day of Yoga on 21st June from 8 am to 9.45 am. The programme was conducted by CA Manoj Alimchandani along with CA Neeta Bakshi, Ms Manju Khatri, Ms Naznin Hussein and Ms Hital Shah making up the faculty.

Chairman CA Govind Goyal welcomed the gathering which was then addressed by President Suhas Paranjpe and Vice-President CA Abhay Mehta. Ms Naznin Hussein spoke at length on food, nutrition and precautions. She captioned her presentation ‘Ahar, Vihar, Achaar, Vichar.’

She spoke about sattvik, rajasik and tamasik food with slides and suggested that one should choose sattvik food, with a gap of four hours between two meals. Breakfast must be taken within one hour of waking up. There must be a gap of four hours between meals and it would be best to eat 40% less than the actual appetite. The last meal of the day should be not later than 7 pm. She also spoke about the value of gratitude and prayer, as well as sunlight and exercise.

Ms Hital Shah demonstrated the way to perform Suryanamaskar. Ms Manju Khatri showed how to perform Talaasan, Utkatasan, Sukhasan, Vajrasan and neck and shoulder-relaxing postures. Ms Nita Bakshi explained the importance of pranayam and warm water and suggested that everyone should practice this in the current pandemic for better health.

The programme was anchored by CA Anand Kothari and the Q&A session by CA Mukesh Trivedi. About 60 participants took part in it.

CRYPTOCURRENCY: THE FUTURE OF MONEY?

The BCAS organised a lecture meeting by Mr. Nishith Desai on ‘Is cryptocurrency the future of money? Challenges and complexities’ on 23rd June. It was planned keeping in mind the current trend of money exchanges and the related challenges and complexities. Mr. Desai, along with his team comprising Mr. Suril Desai, Mr. Meyyappan Nagappan, Mr Vaibhav Parikh and Mr. Purushotham Kittane, took the participants through the entire gamut of cryptocurrency (crypto).

The role of Moderator was played by CA Ninad Karpe, who set the ball rolling by stating that there were many mysteries surrounding cryptocurrency and the technology used in it. He was confident that the meeting would help solve some of the mysteries regarding crypto as the future of money.

Mr. Nishith Desai introduced the topic and provided his insight on the crypto market and its development globally and in India. He also explained the history of the evolution of crypto and the legal tussle between crypto and banks. He noted that there was a Supreme Court order stating that crypto could not be banned. At the same time, it was true that some countries considered crypto as money, while some treated it as security.

Mr. Suril Desai recalled the history of crypto and noted that it was during the recession of 2008 that the concept paper for crypto came in; however, history states that the first blog on Bitcon was issued in January, 2003. The real pick-up in crypto came after the 2008 recession. Blockchain technology, on which the entire system of crypto was based, was nothing but a shared distribution ledger system which was available on multiple systems or notes and was considered to be very secure, unlike a centralised system where a single attack could bring down the entire system. Bitcoin was programmable money. Currently, the Bitcoin world was limited to 21 million coins but this limit could be changed with the approval of more than 51% of the holders.

Next, Mr. Vaibhav Parikh shared his thoughts on the Indian legal landscape and the opportunity in the technology world related to remittances. There was a big market for blockchain developers. One could not separate public blockchain and crypto, although one could separate private blockchain and crypto. He also described how blockchain will change the way the finance industry worked. In his talk, he covered the Supreme Court judgment on whether crypto was legal or not, the relevance of the FEMA Act, the Payment and Settlement Act, the Security Contract Regulation Act, 1956, FDI, the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the Companies Act and other subjects.

For his part, Mr Meyyappan Nagappan covered the taxation aspects of crypto. He explained that from the taxation perspective its classification could be in three categories, namely, goods, property or currency. There were also issues regarding whether it was a capital asset vs. a stock-in-trade. He broadly covered the topics related to Significant Economic Presence (SEP), Income attributable to SEP taxable in India, Risk in case of non-treaty jurisdictions, Equalisation Levy (EL), tax base for levy of EL, Withholding Tax Obligation of crypto exchange and Tax Collection / Deduction at Source.

Indirect tax aspects related to crypto, such as did sale of crypto constitute supply? Is a crypto exchange an intermediary under the IGST Act? Is the sale of crypto to a resident buyer import of goods? Or is the sale of crypto to a non-resident buyer export of goods? Tax Collected at Source (TCS), registration requirements, these were some of the other areas covered by him.

Mr. Purushotham Kittane explained the RBI’s stand and its Circular related to crypto and the emphasis that RBI has put on KYC norms, prevention of money laundering laws and combatting of terrorism funding. There were several developments on the policy level by the Government of India. RBI had also proposed its own cryptocurrency as a centralised currency for the country. Ninad Karpe summarised the session by posing some very relevant questions to the speakers based on his own research and the questions asked by the participants on the chat and Q&A box.

The meeting attracted a large number of participants. It concluded with CA Mihir Sheth proposing the vote of thanks. An archival video of the meeting has, in a short time, garnered a few thousand views. It can be viewed on the following YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iO1aNXusAp4&t=6s&ab

LEADERSHIP RETREAT

The last programme of the society for the year 2020-21 was organised by the Human Resource Committee on 29th June, 2021. The regular Leadership Camp was not organised owing to the lockdown; and in view of the prevailing situation an online presentation was arranged on the topic ‘Creating a High Performing Organisation’. The distinguished faculty was Prof. Dr. Zubin Mulla, who has been a regular on the BCAS platform. More than 160 participants attended the programme.

It commenced with a welcome address by Chairman CA Govind Goyal, followed by talks by President Suhas Paranjpe and Vice-President Abhay Mehta. CA Krishankumar Jhunjhunwala introduced the speaker.

Dr. Mulla discussed the following important points:

• Correct human resource practice and good leadership followed by employees, operations and customer outcome create a high-performing organisation. Employees display skills and competencies, with job satisfaction and commitment and have good behaviour to contribute. On the other hand, customer satisfaction creates loyalty and productivity brings good operational outcome.
• What are HR practices? The speaker shared an acronym ‘AMO’, for Ability-enhancing, Motivation and Opportunity.
• Ability and skill-enhancing practices should come with a comprehensive scientific recruitment policy, rigorous selection criteria and extensive training. Motivation can be enhanced with developmental performance management, competitive compensation, giving incentives and rewards and creating career prospects with job security. The opportunity can be enhanced with a flexible job design, creating right teams, information-sharing and employee involvement and psychological safety.
• How to select the appropriate candidate? The speaker emphasised that the top five drivers that the employee looks at are attractive salary, work-life balance, job security, pleasant work atmosphere and career progression. The top five resources for getting applicants were job portals, placement agencies, referrals, social media and company websites. Before recruiting, one must identify employee segments, create an employer brand and identify the appropriate channel.

There must be a robust selection process.

• Dr. Mulla emphasised that even though paying a high salary is the easiest way to get the employee, it is not the most scientific approach and in the long run it becomes counter-productive. However, performance incentive is an excellent way to attract and motivate the employees and high performers. Employers must focus on human capital as per the requirements of the organisation. Human capital is the value of the employee in the organisation.
• While discussing the concept of human capital, the speaker explained that it would pay to look at the value of the employee in the organisation irrespective of his value in the general market. Once an employee is selected on the firm’s capital value, he should be shown the path of growth within the firm and also explained what quality of behaviour is expected of him.
• The speaker advised that it was best to design the job in such a way that is inherently motivating, based on skill variety, task variety, autonomy and giving an opportunity to the employee to give feedback. The vision of the supervisor should be wider compared to the subordinate. The authority and responsibility of the manager should be commensurate.
Dr. Mulla said ‘AMO’ must work together as per the needs of the business. He also discussed a case study of one of the most valuable placement service companies, Egonzender, which has the following process:

1.    Understand client’s situation
2.    Confirm proposal and specification
3.    Conduct systematic research
4.    Interview potential candidate
5.    Present candidate and check references
6.    Assist in negotiation and follow-up.

Egonzender’s philosophy was to hire consultants who:

•     have little interest in personal aggrandisement

•     are team players

•     get more pleasure from group’s success and their own advancement

•     are collaborative

•     eagerly share ideas and information about existing and potential clients

•     share information about the candidate who may fit the best needs of the client

•     wants to stay long with a company.

The reward strategy emerges from the business strategy and must be aligned with all elements of HR.

In the second part of the presentation, the discussion was on leadership.

•    Three ways of getting work done are authority, transaction and leadership.
•    Leader has to have clarity of purpose and he must walk the talk.
•    Leaders take responsibility and share success.
•    Leaders help others to find purpose at work by engaging them in the pursuit of a higher vision.

Dr. Mulla suggested two books for reading: Investing in People by Wayne F. Cascio, John W. Boudreau, Alexis A. Fink; The Servant: A Simple story about the true essence of Leadership by James C. Hunter.

After the presentation CA Mukesh Trivedi conducted the Q&A session and proposed the vote of thanks.

FOUNDING DAY LECTURE BY  AZIM PREMJI

On 6th July, the 73rd Founding Day of the BCAS,  Mr. Azim Premji addressed the members on ‘Professional Excellence and Social Responsibilities’. He complimented the BCAS for its ability to reinvent itself over 72 years and stated that professional excellence and social responsibilities were not separate but were interlinked in many ways.

Elaborating, he said, both required focus, execution and trust of the stakeholders. Considering the complexities of a country as diverse as India, bringing about social change was more difficult than running a big business. Hence, it was absolutely essential to partner with the Government institutions and build the right professional environment and execution capabilities in philanthropy. Professional excellence with good execution skills would help build the right ethos of social responsibilities that, in turn, would create a sustainable society.

After his very brief talk, Mr. Premji engaged in a conversation with CA Naushad Panjwani in the course of which he addressed several questions.

Asked about his inspiration, he said it was his mother and also Mahatma Gandhi who had inspired him to follow the concept of trusteeship of wealth. This was the driving force that made his Foundation commit more than Rs. 1,000 crores to help the people affected by Covid-19. At the same time, he pointed out, his biggest regret was that he did not start on his journey of philanthropy earlier in life. He advised the youth of the country to engage with the real world and work in the field to experience the injustice, inequity and hardship that the common man has to face. This will help them develop empathy.

Mr. Premji apprised members about the various social initiatives in the areas of education, agriculture and poultry-farming that his Foundation had been engaged in and said that these had helped generate employment for 83 lakh people.

What was his opinion about the best structure for a philanthropic organisation? His view was that no form or structure would work unless one collaborated with the Government institutions which alone had the wherewithal to ensure that the benefits percolated down to the ground level. The Government institutions have to be convinced of the intent and the capability of the organisation.

What would be the best way to take up the issue of education which had suffered the most during and after the Covid pandemic? Mr. Premji advocated mohalla classes in open spaces, proper vaccination of the teachers and also financial and infrastructure support to them.

How could the inequality in income be reduced? For that, he said, it was necessary to improve the level of public education – but the entire thrust of development should be on the common man as the beneficiary. No one could be emotionally detached from misery; after all, empathy to other human beings is the core of human existence.

Addressing the impact of Covid-19 on the IT industry,  Mr. Premji said that the IT industry was quick to ‘rethink’ and ‘reshape’ against the challenges and had adopted the hybrid model to find optimal balance. It was this ability that could help India become the IT hub of the world and also help the country reach the target of becoming a US $5 trillion economy. In fact, the IT industry had added 1,58,000 new jobs during the pandemic year.

What were the secrets behind his company’s ability to manage the ethics and values across various cultures where his business had a presence? His reply was that it had been through a process of ‘communicate’, ‘demonstrate’ and ‘enforce (when violated)’ that it had been made possible.

In the course of his personal journey and his experience after over five decades in business, Mr. Premji said his best learning experience had come from people on the ground, teachers, students, workers, etc. That had helped him to evolve.

CA Abhay Mehta proposed the vote of thanks and added that as a token of appreciation to the esteemed guest, BCAS has sponsored 101 trees to be planted across the country.

The lecture meeting can be viewed on the following YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x46zwWVPZk8&t=135s