The BCAS decided on a unique theme for the monthly HRD Study Circle meeting with the idea of giving members a break from their strenuous routine of managing office and work from home. A ‘Zumba’ class was the choice. This is an exercise fitness programme that combines international music with dance moves. Zumba routines incorporate interval training – alternating fast and slow rhythms to help cardiovascular fitness.
Organised on 8th December, 2020, the event featured faculty and trainer Mr. Burzin Engineer, who is a professional dancer and a fitness coach with over a decade’s experience. He started the class with light warm-up exercises to get everybody ready for a fun workout. The Zumba moves he picked were easy and the movements had a flow which the 50-plus participants thoroughly enjoyed. Amongst the participants were members of the Committee and BCAS members from Mumbai, Pune, Ahmedabad, Indore, Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata, Jodhpur and even Chicago.
Regular physical exercise / activity keeps the body fit and the mind refreshed. It was motivating to see some of the senior members participate with great enthusiasm. This session also offered some quality family time to members. Many children were seen enjoying exercising and moving to the beats of the music along with their parents.
‘RESIDENTIAL REFRESHER COURSE’
One of the most awaited events of the year, the ‘Youth Residential Refresher Course’, organised by the HRD Committee of the BCAS, saw its 8th run from 16th to 18th April, 2021.
The event was held under the aegis of the BCAS with support from President CA Suhas Paranjpe, HRD Committee Chairman CA Govind Goyal, mentor CA Naushad Panjwani and HRD Convener CA Anand Kothari. On account of the second wave of Covid-19, the event was conducted online but over 100 participants joined from 24 cities all over India.
A vast range of topics was covered over 12 sessions extending to 16 hours over a three-day virtual refresher course.
Going by the YRCC theme of ‘Re-Align | Re-Energize | Re-Connect’, the event had thought-provoking sessions by some excellent international guest speakers who gave meaningful and fascinating insights into the changing work culture, the new emerging technologies, the intricacies of the professional world and how one must adapt to them.
The technical sessions were followed by networking sessions wherein some special online networking activities were organised for the participants.
Part I – Speaker Sessions
The first day covered interesting topics ranging from ‘Journey of an Entrepreneur’, ‘Professional Social Responsibility – A Tool for Networking’ to ‘Why Indian Professionals are a Darling of Global Corporates’. An interesting fireside chat with young ‘technopreneurs’ came with the key takeaway of understanding one’s strengths and weaknesses and then tackling all obstacles on the road to achieving our dreams.
In the next session, Mr. Shailesh Haribhakti shared insights about life experiences, the importance of reading books and giving back to the society as a professional. The final topic had the speaker sharing success stories of Indian professionals abroad and their attitude and approach towards work, their talents, and the ‘Do’s and Don’ts’ that we should adopt in our professional journey.
The second day began with an early morning session on ‘Work Culture: Friendships at Workplace’. The speaker dwelt on the necessity of maintaining cordial and friendly relations at the workplace and threw light on where to draw the line. She answered multiple questions on work-life balance. The following session was a dialogue ‘Acing Appraisals’ with industry veterans where the participants learned the importance of timely appraisals and the key elements to use in their next appraisal meet.
Later during the day, there was an engaging session on ‘Building Social Media Presence within the ICAI Guidelines’. ‘Social Media’ is a wide spectrum of networking opportunities. The speaker guided the participants on the ethics to be followed when building a social media presence and seeking new opportunities. (What, how, when and related questions arising in our everyday life.)
The next panel on ‘Emerging Trends in the Financial World’ brought new thoughts on how blockchain, cryptocurrency and Artificial Intelligence will revolutionise the practice around us. Their impact on our work culture and strategies and our professional approach were also mentioned. The day ended with some fun, relaxation and rejuvenation for the family through a stand-up comedy session.
The final day at YRRC began with the interesting and relevant topic, ‘Kya WFH mein koi locha hai?’. It was one of the most relatable sessions for the participants, dealing with the importance of mental health in a world of increasing technology and diminishing human interface. The next topic, ‘Upgrading to a Global Outlook and Approach’, made the participants ponder over whether they need to change their traditional approach to meet global standards. If yes, then to what level, extent and with what mindset, was highlighted by the speaker. This was followed by an interesting panel discussion by the YRRC conveners and coordinators about their intriguing journey and success stories providing guidance on how to build a successful career while reminiscing old memories.
The final session could not have been more perfect. There was an excellent motivating and persuasive address by ICAI President CA Nihar Jambusaria to the youth, enlightening them about different aspects of the profession.
Part II – Networking Sessions
All the participants belonging to different areas and regions had connected over Zoom meetings to be part of our ‘Networking sessions’ which were held after the speaker sessions ended. The participants were divided into six different teams to compete over the team-building activities organised by the YRRC team along with another fraternity member, CA Hrudyesh Pankhania.
To begin with, the participants were given multiple group tasks to perform and were then required to send the screenshot of the tasks performed. This gave them a chance to display their swiftness and coordination by sending their screenshots at the earliest.
One of the most creative activities given was composing your own song or modifying an existing song to accommodate the names of your team members in the lyrics. Not just that, the participants were even required to give a live performance. The final results were mind-blowing with fantastic innovation and compositions by the teams.
The participants also got a chance to display their artistic skills when they had to virtually draw a painting together (team spirit) and make it as realistic as possible. And how about shuffling the team members and asking them to choose their favourite celebrities (from the list given) whom they would save from a fire, and also come up with some hilarious reasons for the same? The choices had to be as unique as possible, because, after all, success lies in being different.
The final event of the ‘Networking Session’ was the ‘Networking People’s Tambola’ which required all the participants to network within cross-teams and make Tambola tickets. Of course, the best part was creating ‘Memes’ – for the YRCC, of the YRCC and by the YRCC. Kudos to all the participants who came up with some splendid and creative memes which left each and every one of them in splits.
Our Wall of Fame – Our Valued Speakers
Behind the Scenes – The YRRC Team
YRRC Participants at the Networking Sessions
ITF STUDY CIRCLE MEETING
The International Taxation Committee conducted a virtual meeting on ‘Residence of Individual under Income-tax Act – Recap on interpretation issues dealt by Courts and impact of new amendments’ on 24th May. It was led by Group Leader CA Hardik Mehta who explained the concepts with respect to residence of an Individual under the Indian Income-tax Act along with recent developments and interpretations made by Courts.
Determining an Individual’s residence status is one of the most important factors based on which taxability is decided. In view of this, the Group Leader walked the audience through the Income-tax Act, its amendments and various court rulings in relation to the residence of an Individual. With the help of several simplified illustrations, the speakers lucidly explained the various concepts. They also dealt with and resolved queries raised by the participants. The meeting was interactive and the participants benefited enormously from the discussions and insights provided.
A SWOT ANALYSIS OF CHINA
The International Economics Study Group held its meeting on 9th June to take up a ‘SWOT Analysis of China in the context of likely Cold War II’. CAs Harshad Shah and Deepak Karanth led the discussion and presented their views on the subject.
The participating experts warned that the two world powers were entering dangerous territory. Tensions are mounting by the day between the United States and China, leading to possibilities of a new Cold War. It resembles the US-Soviet ‘Cold War’ in certain respects and the group analysed this through a SWOT analysis. They said that what’s at stake is the future of the 21st century global order.
China’s strengths are economics, military firepower (it is the third largest defence power in the world), its own Google, Facebook, WhatsApp, Amazon – and thus technologically it is not dependent on the US.
China’s opportunities are a huge population with rising per capita income, a huge consumer base, lower dependence on exports, healthcare and education.
China’s weaknesses are dwindling cheap labour, demographic crisis (birthrate @ 1.3), Communism, governance issues, suppression of Uyghur Muslims, lack of innovation and basic research, a ‘Hungry for Money’ attitude, its military’s lack of actual war experience for 42 years, the brain-drain problem, extreme rural poverty, few English-speaking people and a huge pollution problem.
China’s threats are no protection of IPRs and blatant violations, Taiwan becoming the ‘Berlin’ of the Sino-American Cold War, China’s serious border disputes with most of its neighbours, South China Sea dispute (this can spark the next global conflict), looming debt crisis, not all of China’s investment decisions having been successful, China could be facing a food crisis and also a water crisis, possibility of civil war, a foreign policy that is in the gutter and its post-pandemic reputation crisis.
Later, CA Milan Sangani presented his views on the ‘State of the Indian Economy in relation to the second wave of Covid-19’. Compared to the GDP hit in F.Y. 2021, the impact of the second wave of lockdowns is expected to be less. And there was light at the end of the tunnel as the number of new cases was now lower than the number of recoveries. Vaccinations needed ramping up and real interest rates had turned negative, hurting fixed income investors with increasing inflation. He noted that historically, global non-financial disruptions like pandemics and World Wars are followed by periods of economic boom.
