CII plays second fiddle, Ficci gets lead role

The CII, which has a bigger presence in the state than the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Ficci), will be organising only the textile and jewellery shows in Surat as part of the main festival. Ficci will be the main partner of the summit, to be organised by the Gujarat government.

The Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) which is already split into various factions following internecine feuds, is content with 'not-so-mentionworthy' presence of the organisation in various smaller committees created for the show.

Meanwhile, though the secretary-general of Ficci, Amit Mitra, who was in Ahmedabad on Tuesday to attend a hurriedly convened meeting by the chief minister of Gujarat Narendra Modi along with the industrialists having base in Gujarat, claimed that 147 big and medium industry houses attended the meeting this morning to discuss 'Navratri festival' and GIS.

The chairman of Rs 1,100 crore Zydus Cadila Healthcare Group, Pankaj R Patel, and the chairman of another pharma major, Cadila Pharmaceuticals Ltd, I A Modi, were conspicuous by their absence, especially since they are considered among the stalwarts of Gujarat Inc.

It also has been learnt that Sudhir Mehta, the chairman of the Torrent Group, also had preferred to remain busy with his official work on Tuesday, rather then attending the meeting which have given birth of much curiosity among the industry and trade people here.

However, none of them was available to comment about their absence in this much important meeting of Tuesday.

About not-so-important roles of the CII and GCCI in these events and choosing FICCI as the main partner of the festivals and summit, there are talks doing rounds that Modi is yet to patchup with CII fully and take it on confidence following two incidents in last four months in Mumbai and New Delhi when in CII-organised conventions, some industrialists had raised the issues related to communal riot in Gujarat and its impact on industry and investment.

"Ficci has a smaller presence in Gujarat, while CII has been active here for long time and always remained in the limelight. This is the first time that Ficci has been given such importance in Gujarat, while CII plays second fiddle," said an industrialist.

"Both Ficci and CII along with GCCI could have been given equal responsibilities by the state government for the ensuing events which ultimately would have eased out the strained relations between CII and the GoG while GCCI being the apex body here in this state, would have been given its due importance," he added.

However, the heads of the CII's western region, Piruz Khambatta, who is also the chairman of Rasna and Mahendra Shah, president of GCCI, said that they were 'content' with the role given to them by the state government.