R. K. Sehgal, commissioner of the Georgia State Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism, encouraged the newly formed Georgia Indo-American Chamber of Commerce at a dinner Sept. 21 to follow in the footsteps of the American-Israel Chamber of Commerce, Southeast Region.

      “The Israel-American Chamber has done a great job of creating credibility,” Mr. Sehgal said, “We need to work to achieve its level of credibility.”

      Mr. Sehgal was the keynote speaker at the dinner held at the Hilton, NW-Windy Hill during which the Indian chamber’s first board of directors was elected. More than 100 individuals representing corporations, universities, professional firms and small businesses attended.

      The elected board members are: Anurag “Ani” Agnihotri, a senior sales manager with SoftPros Inc.; Ajay Jindia, an attorney with the law firm of Altman, Kritzer & Levic; C.N. Madhusudan, president, strategic alliances, NIIT USA; Vir Nanda, president and director of Virat Invesments and VV Hospitality;

Harish Pattni, president and CEO of Pattni Lodging Group, Kirtan Patel, an attorney with the law firm of Ferguson and Saudners; R.C. Patel, director of Horizon Bank and chief operating officer of Diplomat Corp.;

Deepak Raghaven, a founder of Manhattan Corp. and senior vice president of Manhattan Associates; S.P. Reddy, founder and partner of H-Supply.com, Asha B. Scielzo, an attorney with the law firm of Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue;of Noble Investment Group Ltd.; Jaddish N. Sheth, Charles H. Kellstadt Professor of Marketing in the Goizueta Business School and founder of the Center for Relationship Marketing at Emory University; Ash Thakker, CEO of Global Technology Connection Inc.; Prakash Wadhwani, CEO and president of Mayfair Infotech Pvt. Ltd., and John Yates, partner in charge of the technology practice in the law firm of Morris, Manning and Martin.

      Mr. Sehgal accompanied Gov. Roy Barnes on a trip to Israel in June after which half a dozen Israeli firms announced that they would establish offices in Atlanta.  In his remarks, Mr. Sehgal praised the Israeli chamber for organizing the trip with the GDITT.

      “The recent trip of the governor to Israel was not done by the U.S. government or the Israeli government, but the result of the efforts of the American-Israel Chamber of Commerce,” he said.

      He also praised the Israeli chamber for creating alliances with other Southeastern states. The Israeli chamber was launched in 1992 with representatives on its board of directors from 11 cities in the region.

      The Indian chamber was organized to develop and promote trade, business and commercial and professional relations between India and the U.S. Charter membership to both individuals and corporations is available for a one-time additional fee to those who join before Jan. 5.

      For more information about the chamber’s activities, go to www.giacc.org or call Ani Agnihotri at (770) 840-1925 or send an e-mail to info@giacc.org