Sanjam Sahi Gupta, president of WISTA India.
WISTA India, part of the Women’s International Shipping & Trading Association, has officially launched a chapter serving the north of the vast nation.
Marking rapid progress since the inauguration of WISTA India itself in 2012, the creation of a New Delhi branch is seen as a significant achievement.
The occasion for the official launch on January 29 2014 was the 3rd Indian Maritime HR summit, during India Maritime Week, and the venue the JW Mariott Hotel, Aerocity, New Delhi.
Sanjam Sahi Gupta, president of WISTA India, led the launch along with Shantha Martin, WISTA India executive committee member; Sharmila Amin, head of WISTA India membership committee and Vinita Venkatesh, head of WISTA South India.
The Delhi chapter will be headed by Sumiit Sharma (from Doehle Danautic India Private Ltd), who spoke at the event on her experience as a WISTA member and the plans she has for the sub-chapter. Along with Ittu Sharma and Poroma Rebello, she will take care of the North Indian region for WISTA. This team will be in charge of membership for the region, and interested prospective members have been requested to contact Ms Sumiit Sharma at ssharma@doehledanautic.com. Taking inspiration from the growth of WISTA Mumbai and Chennai chapters, she aspires to have similar success in Delhi.
Vinita Venkatesh, group advisor to Krishnapatnam Port and head of WISTA South India.
WISTA India reports that the event saw welcome support from the gentlemen of the shipping community, and a good turnout of prospective WISTA members and current members including Vanadan Singh, Maya Acharya, Sunnanda Panda, and Asha Pillai.
Ms Gupta, of Sitara Shipping, Mumbai, declared: “This platform gave WISTA an opportunity to showcase how women are emerging to take up senior roles in progressive countries and in international organisations.”
Earlier, on January 17, the WISTA India president addressed the 2014 Business Academia Conclave of SP Jain Institute of Management and Research, taking the opportunity to promote shipping and logistics as a career for students.
Sumiit Sharma of Doehle Danautic India, leader of WISTA North India Chapter
Other speakers at the premier business school event in Mumbai included Prof Nick Vyas, programme director at the University of South Carolina’s Marshall Center for Global Supply Chain Management; Vikas Anand, chief operating officer of DHL India; Jagdeesh Kunchey, head of supply chain management at ITC group, India; and Samit Dutta, president of global supply chain management at Piramal group.
Speaker panel at SP Jain Institute meeting
Dr Umesh Bahadur, professor and head of operations management at the S P Jain Institute, said that despite being the youngest speaker at the event, Ms Gupta, an alumna of the Institute, had achieved much and was keen for students to take inspiration from her.
All speakers agreed that corporate entities have an essential role to play in uplifting excellence in the logistics sector by displaying their spirit of competitiveness.
Attentive audience during India Maritime Week
Speakers from the top-notch corporate houses deliberated on current topics including the stubborn supply chain cost, the rollout of Goods & Services Tax, consolidation of warehousing, cost of IT in supply chain management, cutting down lead time, and the scarcity of human resources in logistics. They enlightened the audience on career options available in the shipping and logistics sector, especially for management students.
Participants were made aware of how the shipping and logistics industry is facing global and domestic challenges resulting from the economic slowdown and lack of implementation of various policy prescriptions by government.
