India Symposium 2021 strengthens India and Europe ties in Fintech and AI
Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), Netherlands Chapter organised 9th edition of the “India Symposium 2021” on the 9th of December 2021 conceptualised by Dr. Vikas Chaturvedi, Chairman, ICAI Netherlands Chapter & India Dutch Financial Corridor (IDFC) and CEO, Valuecent Group together with Mrs. Prachee Van Brandenburg, Vice Chairman, India Dutch Financial Corridor (IDFC). The event was supported by India Dutch Financial Corridor (IDFC), Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA) and State of Haryana as the official partners.
The special topic of this year’s Online Symposium was “The New Kids on the Block : Fintech & Artificial Intelligence”. In his keynote speech H.E. Mr. Pradeep Kumar Rawat, Ambassador of India to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, stated the bilateral water relationship was further strengthen and encouraged ICAI members to set up a truly global Indian accounting firm potentially based out of The Netherlands. Mr. Arnoud Besseling, Executive Director for India Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency (NFIA) focused on the doing business angle between Netherlands and India showcasing the wide spectrum of Artificial Intelligence companies based out of The Netherlands. Mr. Munish Chandan Head State e-Gov Mission Team, Department of IT, Electronics and Communications, Haryana Government Official showcased the opportunities for fintech in Haryana and invited European Companies to invest in the State.
A line up of eminent CEO’s that are making waves in their fields were also speakers at the India Symposium: Mr. Amit Kumar, Founder Addverb Technologies, shared different warehousing solutions that are being used with AI technology a transition that may one day allow you to think it and see it take shape. Mr. Don Ginsel, CEO Holland FinTech, illustrated how the Fintech sector in The Netherlands has grown exponentially in just last 5-6 years and that strong start-up ecosystem is present that serves as a catalyst for further growth. Mr. Krish Subramanium, Co-founder & CEO Chargebee explained the importance today of retaining an existing customer as much as acquiring a new customer for subscription model businesses to continue to grow as well as highlighting the journey of Chargebee to its current global presence. Mr. Ashwin Chawwla (CEO & Founder, Escrowpay) highlighted what the benefits of digital escrow accounts are, for example the speed of setting them up, and how they are looking at expanding further internationally.
The President of ICAI Mr. Nihar Niranjan Jambusaria spoke on the Role of Accountants in Artificial Intelligence and Fintech pointing out that it is not sufficient to simply do audits in a manual form only, thus technology is the need of the hour. This edition has launched two more European Representative Offices of ICAI in Denmark (Copenhagen) headed by Mr. Padhya and Sweden (Stockholm) headed by Mr. Gandhi. Next to the existing ICAI Netherlands Chapter, this brings the total number of ICAI Representative Offices in Europe to Ten. These others are located in Ireland, UK, Germany, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark, Finland and Sweden. Mahavir Singhvi, Joint Secretary Minister of External Affairs, congratulated the new representative office and suggested closer collaboration between the various offices now in Europe and beyond would help in supporting selfreliant India. Mrs. Radha Nikhada thanked all the participants and speakers on behalf of the organizers bringing the programme to its end.