ITC WELCOME HOTEL at Cathedral Road in Chennai saw top leaders of the business world congregate for a face-to-face meeting with the union finance minister Nirmala Sitaraman. Facilitated by the Chennai Citizens Forum, the informal gathering, organised on the morning of March 23, gave the industry captains across a wide canvas, an opportunity to interact with the finance minister. The participants included Mallika Srinivasan, Chairman of TAFE, and her daughter Lakshmi Venu (who recently got elevated as the Vice-Chairman of TAFE). MRF director Rahul Mammen, Chemplast Chairman Vijay Sankar, Sundaram Finance MD Rajeev Lochan, Wheels India MD Srivats Ram, Le Meridien owner Palani Periasamy, SriCity Chairman Ravindra Sennareddy, Kothari Industrial Corporation Chairman Rafiq Ahmed, Mafoi Pandiarajan, Trivitran MD G.S.K. Velu and Galaxy Health MD G. Srinivasan were among the top executives. It was a lively interaction and participants raised a number of issues that ranged from GST to IT and trade tariffs. Concerns were also raised over the skilling issue. While stating that the Centre was trying hard to onboard as many people as possible onto the system with a simple IT structure, the minister informed that New Delhi was proactive in its negotiations with the U S on tariffs so that the interests of both countries were protected. An array of issues ranging from tax on drones to doubts of certain MSMEs and farm-related queries came up for clarification at the meeting. It wasn’t the first time that Nirmala Sitaraman was meeting the Chennai industrialists. She had had similar informal interactions in the past as well. More than anything else, such informal meetings bring a sense of comfort to articulate diverse viewpoints.
