DARE organizes a three-city summit in Thane, Bangalore and Gurgaon to discuss the current economic turmoil in India and possible solutions to tackle its effect

Global slowdown is a dreaded word these days. With the world reeling under its effect and India too starting to feel the heat,

the atmosphere was intense at the three-city CEO Summit organized by DARE on “Strategies and Tips for Managing Slowdown.” The event, organized in the cities of Thane, Bangalore and Gurgaon during January 28-30, 2009, had speakers from Ras Al Khaimah Free Trade Zone (RAK FTZ), IBM, Adrenalin and Bank of India. The speakers gave their valuable insights on the issue and some possible solutions to tackle the turmoil better.

Giving an overview of RAK FTZ, Mohammed Nadeem said that it is one of the fastest growing and most cost-effective free trade zones in the UAE. He also said that the trade zone offers several advantages to companies investing in the region such as 100% tax exemption and foreign ownership, no restrictions on capital and profit repatriation, and state-of-the-art communication facilities. Talking on the strategic location of the free trade zone, he said, the region has proximity to Dubai, and provides easy access to Ras Al Khaimah international airport and a sea port.

Rohit Jain of IBM explained the importance of IT in slowdown and shared some IT solutions that can be adopted by companies to manage the slowdown. He spoke about several solution offered by IBM especially for small and medium enterprises that helped in cutting cost dramatically while being efficient. According to Vinay Nair of Adrenalin, in the longer run it is always better to retain employees as it saves the cost of employing new people and training them to become job ready.

Mr. Satish Goel, the Zonal Manager of Bank of India talked about the Credit Gurantee Fund Trust for Micro and Small Enterprises (CGTMSE) plan. He explained that, under the scheme, new or existing micro or small companies can apply for a loan upto a sum of Rs 1 crore, without depositing any collateral. He said anybody with a good business plan can approach a bank for a loan under the CGTMSE, and if convinced, the banks do provide loans. The scheme raised a lot of curiosity from the audience. An interactive session followed the presentations, with the audience raising questions and being satisfied by the panelists.

Other key speakers at the event were Suresh Iyer (IBM), SV Atre (Faculty at MDI), Shuvan Misra (Merce technologies), etc. In all, the successful event was attended by nearly 200 people.

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