The Confederation of Indian Industry has announced the launch of a new online business gateway for its members. The e-commerce platform will enable Indian businesses to promote their products and services, expand their boundaries and trade online, within India, across the region, and globally. The marketplace is powered by the secure technology platform from cloudBuy, the global e-commerce solution provider.

TT Ashok, Chairman, CII National SME Council, said, “We are pleased to be able to bring this e-commerce gateway to global supply chains to CII members. They are invited to list their company, products and services and trade securely online. We have made sure that the marketplace has low transaction costs and delivers fast payments direct to sellers’ bank accounts. We believe the initiative is a simple way to increase visibility. It will provide Indian businesses with a new gateway to the world.”

Companies of all sizes can take advantage of a free listing on the CII e-commerce gateway and be trading online the same day. The secure cloudBuy platform, which powers the CII e-marketplace, provides sophisticated e-commerce capabilities giving businesses the ability to:

Sell products and services online
Process inquiries, orders, invoices and payments
Offer a secure shopping basket and checkout process
Take payment by a variety of methods
Upload an existing product catalogue
Display multiple images for products and services

Lyn Duncan, CEO of cloudBuy, said, “We are delighted to be working in collaboration with CII in India to deliver the B2B marketplace infrastructure to enable secure e-commerce on the CII business gateway. Our cloudBuy teams in the UK and India are now focused on bringing as many organisations as possible onto the marketplace and making it simple for them to do business globally.”
CII members can join the e-commerce gateway at www.ciitrade.com.

The article was originally posted at http://businesswireindia.com/news/news-details/confederation-indian-industry-cii-launches-‘gateway-world-indian-busin/43529

CII Mission on Best Practices Mission on Environment, Health & Safety (EHS)
7/5/2015 0 Comments

CII Southern Region is organising a two day Benchmarking Mission on Environment, Health and Safety (“EHS”) on 14-15 May 2015 in Chennai where participants will visit Lucas TVS Ltd, Hyundai, Honeywell Electrical Devices & Systems India Ltd, Saint-Gobain Glass India Ltd and Tata Bluescope Steel Ltd. to create awareness and understanding on the stringent implementation of environment & safety regulations in India and how these organisations deal with them. For fee and other details kindly visit the CII website at http://goo.gl/521e9b

Hufriz Wadia (Partner, Kochhar & Co.) was among six women achievers awarded the ‘Women Achiever’s Award 2015’ by the Rajalakshmi Group of Educational Institutions at an award ceremony on March 10, 2015 celebrating the exemplary achievements in the world of women.
Hufriz was in august company with the other awardees being Padma Bhushan recipient Mrs. Sudha Raghunathan, Dr. Kamala Selvaraj, Ms. Srinidhi Chidambaram, Ms. Srimathi Shivashankar and Mrs. Pushpa Kansasamy.

Given that we have just come to the close of our financial year 2014-2015, it is prudent for each of us BBG Chennai members to look back and check whether each of our companies and organisations have met with a few important compliance requirements as under. Please consider it these have been followed by your Company and if not, it would be advisable to set about ensuring immediate compliance with the same.

1. In relation to the law on Prevention of Sexual Harassment at the Workplace:

a. Constitute an Internal Complaints Committee with a minimum of four members, of which one must be a non-employee member with relevant expertise in law or social service or from an NGO;

b. Ensure that your company has a written anti-sexual harassment policy. In addition to this, ensure that the names and contact details of the Internal Complaints Committee members and the penal provisions under the law are clearly displayed on notice boards in every office or unit;

c. Train all your employees on the provisions of this law. This should be undertaken at 2 to 3 times a year. Also ensure you provide training to the ICC on how to conduct proceedings.

d. Annual Reporting – Certain details on sexual harassment complaints received need to be included in the Annual Report of the Company and in the report to the relevant District Officer. Ensure this is done.

2. In relation to CSR requirement under the Companies Act:

If your company has a net worth of Rs.500 crore or more, or a turnover of Rs. 1,000 crore or more or a net profit of Rs. 5 crore or more during any financial year, the Company needs to have in place a written Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Policy, form a CSR Committee from amongst the Board of Directors and ensuring that the 2% of its average net profits for last three years are spent on CSR initiatives (as specified in the Companies Act and rules). The spending should have been completed by 31 March 2015.

3. Resident Director:

Every company is required to have a resident director. Please ensure that the company has at least one director that is resident in India.

4. Woman Director:

Every listed company is required to have at least one woman director on the board of directors. It is prudent to ensure this appointment at the earliest if not already complied with.

In case you have any questions or comments on the above, please contact the author.
Authored by:

Hufriz Wadia, Partner, Kochhar & Co.

Director and ICC member of a few private companies.