“A professional is someone who can do his best work when he doesn’t feel like it.” – Alistair Cooke
Dear Professional Colleagues,
Friends, lot has happened in the last one month on many fronts. I would like to share with you some of the developments through this communication.
ICSI Welcomes Dr. M Veerappa Moily, Hon’ble Minister of Corporate Affairs
Your ICSI extends its heartiest felicitations to Dr. M Veerappa Moily on assuming the charge of Union Minister of Corporate Affairs. A delegation of your ICSI comprising myself, Vice President, Secretary & CEO and the Council Members met him and apprised him about the activities and initiatives of the Institute towards growth and development of the profession of Company Secretaries. The delegation also apprised about the Institute’s initiatives towards Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibilities and assured its complete cooperation and support in the legislative and procedural reforms process of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs.
Meeting with Shri Sushil Kumar Modi, Hon’ble Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar
A delegation of your Institute comprising Vice President, Secretary & CEO and Office bearers of Patna Chapter and Senior Officials of the Institute met Shri Sushil Kumar Modi, Hon’ble Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar and Chairman of Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers on GST. During the meeting the delegation apprised Hon’ble Deputy Chief Minister about the Institute and the services being rendered by the Company Secretaries to the Corporate Sector. He was also briefed of the recognitions accorded to the Company Secretaries under various Laws relating to Central Excise, Customs, Service Tax and State VAT legislations. The delegation also apprised about the initiatives taken by the ICSI in respect of Goods and Services Tax such as constitution of Core Group, Capacity building of members on GST etc. and impressed upon Hon’ble Deputy Chief Minister to recognize the profession of Company Secretaries under GST regime.
Meeting with Mrs. Sheila Dikshit, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Delhi
A delegation of your Institute comprising Secretary & CEO, Chairman, NIRC of the ICSI and Office bearers of NIRC and Senior Officials of the Institute met Mrs. Sheila Dikshit, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Delhi. The delegation apprised Chief Minister about the initiatives of the Institute towards Corporate Governance, Corporate Social Responsibilities and its Go Green initiatives. The delegation also apprised about the recognition of the Company Secretaries under various legislations particularly in relation to various Tax Laws and impressed upon her to recognize the profession of Company Secretaries to act as authorized representative and to conduct audit under Delhi VAT Act.
Vision 2020 -Exposure Draft
I am pleased to inform you that the Exposure Draft of ICSI Vision 2020 was released at the 12th National Conference of Practising Company Secretaries at the gracious hands of Mrs. Vimla Yadav, Member (Technical) Company Law Board at Ooty. I appeal to all my professional colleagues to spare some of your valuable time to peruse this Exposure Draft, brainstorm and provide your valuable suggestions, t o enable the Council to ensure that the ICSI Vision 2020 truly reflects the vision of its stakeholders.
Guidelines for Peer Review – Exposure Draft
As a step to enhance the quality of professional services of Practising Company Secretaries, the Peer Review Board of the Council of your Institute finalised Exposure Draft on Guidelines for Peer Review of Attestation Services by Practising Company Secretaries and the same was released at the inaugural session of 12th National Conference of Practising Company Secretaries. I request all members to scrutinize the exposure draft and provide your valuable suggestions that would help the Peer Review Board to finalise the guidelines.
Placement Committee
With the growing expectations of members, placement services of the Institute become significant. Placement cells are being set up at the Regional Councils and Chapters level to ensure better employability of members in general and particularly new members. During the recent years, placement services particularly through campus placement have attained immense significance in the professional institutions across the country. Recently, Institute successfully organised campus placement in NCR Region. It is with a view to provide focussed attention to the placement of our members, the Council of the Institute constituted a Placement Committee to devise strategies and action plans for placement of members.
Goals of the Council – Action Taken
I have informed you in my previous communication that the Council of the Institute has finalised its Goals for the year 2011-14. I am pleased to inform you that the Committees of the Council have been assigned specific responsibilities and are taking necessary steps towards achieving the top ten goals of the Institute.
12th National Conference of Practicing Company Secretaries
12th National Conference of Practising Company Secretaries on the Theme “PCS: Strategic Options in the New Decade” was successfully organised on July 14-16, 2011, at Ooty. I wish to place on record my sincere appreciations to my colleagues on the Council, Chairman and members of SIRC, Chairman and Members of Management Committee of Coimbatore Chapter, Team ICSI and all of you for making the conference a grand success.
CSIA First International Conference on Corporate Governance
Corporate Secretaries International Association (CSIA) – a new voice in global governance and Shanghai Stock Exchange (SSE) – a leading exchange in China, are jointly organizing International Corporate Governance Conference on September 21-23, 2011 at JW Marriott Hotel, Shanghai.
A selective group of international experts drawn from the UK, US, Australia, Africa, China and Asia would address the prevailing issues in corporate governance. Added to these international experts will be participants from all CSIA member countries and a significant number of leading corporate executives. I appeal to all members to join the conference and benefit from global experience.
Corporate Governance Conclave
You are already aware that the Institute has decided to observe “ICSI Corporate Governance Week”, as an Annual Event and this year this week will be observed from August 8-12, 2011. The celebrations of the Corporate Governance Week shall culminate in Corporate Governance Conclave on the Theme “Integrating Sustainability into Corporate DNA” on August 12, 2011 at New Delhi.
Dr. M Veerappa Moily, Hon’ble Union Minister of Corporate Affairs has very kindly agreed to be the Chief Guest at the Conclave. Smt. Sheila Dikshit, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Delhi will deliver the Key Note address, Shri Arun Maira, Member, Planning Commission has kindly consented to be the Guest of Honour. Shri D K Mittal, Secretary, Ministry of Corporate Affairs and Dr. J J Irani, Former Director, Tata Sons Ltd. will deliver the Special Address. Besides building awareness, the Conclave would provide insights into the various facets of the corporate governance which have assumed significance in the changing business landscape and need the attention from governance professionals, industry leaders, academia, students and other stakeholders. I invite all members and other professionals to participate in large numbers and make the CG Conclave a grand success.
XBRL – Capacity Building Initiatives
The Institute as part of its capacity building initiatives has chalked out action plan for organizing chain of programmes on XBRL through out India, through Regional Councils and Chapters. In this sequence your Institute has organised a nationwide webcast on XBRL on July 11 and July 20, 2011. I request the members to participate in these programmes in large numbers and acquire acumen in this new area.
39th National Convention
You are aware that the 39th National Convention will be held on the theme ‘Corporate Dynamism and Innovative Professionalism’ on October 13-15, 2011 at Jaypee Palace and Convention Centre, Agra. I request my professional colleagues to finalise their travel plans for attending the Convention. A brochure containing details of the theme, sub themes, delegate fees, registration procedure, registration form etc. has been published in this issue. I request you to avail early bird incentive by sending duly filled in delegate registration form to the Institute on or before August 30, 2011. I also look forward to your support and cooperation in arranging sponsorships/advertisement for the Convention.
MAICSA Annual Conference, 2011
A delegation of your Institute comprising myself, Vice President and Secretary & CEO attended and participated in the Annual Conference 2011 of The Malaysian Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators (MAICSA) on the theme “Governing Responsibly: Inevitable Changes!” on July 4-5, 2011 at Kuala Lumpur. During the visit, we took the opportunity to meet the office bearers of MAICSA and discussed matters of mutual interest.
Jammu University recognises CS qualification for Ph.D.
Your Institute is making constant efforts to secure recognitions for our members to pursue Ph.D. programme. So far more than fifty Universities have recognised CS Qualification for pursuing Ph.D. programme. I am pleased to inform you that University of Jammu has recognized Company Secretaryship Qualification as equivalent to Masters Degree for pursuing Ph.D in Commerce/Management/Law.
CS Benevolent Fund
The CS Benevolent Fund is an effort in extending the financial support to our members in times of distress. Keeping in view the importance of financial assistance in demanding times, it has been my endeavour to strengthen the fund and expand its membership so that the adequate financial support is made available to the needy ones. I appreciate the efforts made by Headquarters, Regional Councils and Chapters in their initiatives in increasing the corpus of the fund.
We will be celebrating 65th Independence Day on August 15, 2011. I wish all my professional colleagues HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY on this occasion.
“Excellence is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well.” – John W. Gardner
With kind regards,
New Delhi
July 28, 2011
