Kolkata, 04-12-2019

ICC RCGC Open Golf Championship 2019 & India Tomorrow, Decoding the Future of Business

The Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) along with the Royal Calcutta Golf Club (RCGC) and the TATA Steel Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) have jointly launched the ICC RCGC Open Golf Championship; Prize purse of Rs. 40 lakhs;  Field to feature leading professionals Kshitij Naveed Kaul, Udayan Mane, Chiragh Kumar, Priyanshu Singh, Shamim Khan, Mukesh Kumar, Karandeep Kochhar; Unique format to witness greater participation of amateurs; TATA Steel PGTI returns to RCGC after two years.

•         Indian Chamber of Commerce is organizing a grand Corporate Strategic Think Tank Meet, ‘India Tomorrow’ in December  at Kolkata; Key attendees include Sanjiv Goenka – Chairman, RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group, Prof. Soumitra Dutta, Professor of Management at the SC Johnson College of Business, Cornell University, NY and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Global Business School Network, Washington DC, Roland Berger Chaired Professor of Business and Technology and Professor of Business and Technology at INSEAD & Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on Innovation Ecosystems, Uday Kulkarni, President (Emeritus) and Senior Adviser, Schindler India Pvt. Ltd

The Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) along with the Royal Calcutta Golf Club (RCGC) and the TATA Steel Professional Golf Tour of India (PGTI) have jointly launched the ICC RCGC Open Golf Championship. The inaugural edition of the Rs. 40 lakh event will be staged at the historic RCGC in Kolkata from December 11 – 15, 2019. The tournament witnesses the return of the TATA Steel PGTI to the revered RCGC after two years. The event is supported by Bharat Benz as the Powered By Partner, CESC and Urbana as Co-Partners, Ambuja, ITC and ICICI as Associate Partners and Selvel as Outdoor Partner.

The tournament features some of the top Indian professionals such as promising rookies Kshitij Naveed Kaul and Priyanshu Singh, both winners on the PGTI this year, youngsters Udayan Mane and Karandeep Kochhar, as well as the experienced Chiragh Kumar, Shamim Khan and Mukesh Kumar, to name a few. The international challenge will be led by the Sri Lankan quartet of Anura Rohana, Mithun Perera, N Thangaraja and K Prabagaran, Bangladesh’s Md Zamal Hossain Mollah and Australian Kunal Bhasin. The local challenge will be led by Kolkata-based professionals such as former PGTI Order of Merit champion Shankar Das, former Indian Open champion Feroz Ali Mollah and youngster Sunit Chowrasia. The tournament has a unique format which ensures a greater participation of amateurs thus adding more excitement. Amateurs will play alongside the professionals on the Pro-Am day on December 11 as well as in the last two rounds of the main event on December 14 and 15.

Alongside this Golf tournament, the Indian Chamber of Commerce is organizing a grand Corporate Strategic Think Tank Meet titled, ‘India Tomorrow’, Decoding the Future of Business on 13th December 2019 at Kolkata. At a time, when the economy is grappling with a slowdown and the Government is working towards a quick recovery, this Strategy Meet is going to come up with deliberations on sectoral growth strategies, which will create the new compendium of the Indian economy. The deliberations of the summit will revolve around Future of Advance Manufacturing; Design Thinking: Strategic Edge for Indian Inc; Digital Economy & Innovation; Supply Chain & Manufacturing 4.0; Food & Retail Ahead; Future of Banking & Fintech & India Tomorrow: The Vision, 5 Trillion Economy by 2024. The conclave will be attended by Ministers, Diplomats, Academia and lndustry. Dignitaries who will be attending the session include Prof. Soumitra Dutta, Professor of Management at the SC Johnson College of Business, Cornell University, NY and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Global Business School Network, Washington DC, Roland Berger Chaired Professor of Business and Technology and Professor of Business and Technology at INSEAD & Co-Chair of the World Economic Forum's Global Future Council on Innovation Ecosystems; Sanjiv Goenka – Chairman, RP-Sanjiv Goenka Group; Uday Kulkarni, President (Emeritus) and Senior Adviser, Schindler India Pvt. Ltd; Ashit Saxena, Associate Partner, Manufacturing & Operational Excellence, Ernst and Young; Sunil M K, Country Manager, Autodesk India & SAARC; Shashank Shwet, Partner EY; Prof. Arcot Desai N, Managing Innovator, Simha Innovations Pte Ltd and Adjunct Professor Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore Management University; Kishore Kar, Director Customer Success, AERIS Communications; Satyakam Arya, Managing Director & CEO, Daimler India Commercial Vehicles Private Ltd; Shridhar Kamath, Partner, Supply Chain & Manufacturing, Deloitte India; Ritesh Kapur, Viable Vision Expert, Goldratt Consulting; Sabyasachi Goswami, Chief Business Officer, Perfios Software Solutions; Sanjaya Shrestha, Director, India Innovation and Rise Mumbai, Barclays; Kushe Bahl, Partner, Mckinsey and Company.

Mr. Pradeep Sureka, VP, ICC, said, “ICC is proud to partner RCGC and PGTI in launching the ICC RCGC Open Golf Championship. We are happy to have leading professionals as well as amateurs participating in this tournament.  It’s really good to see TATA Steel PGTI returning to RCGC after two years. We are happy to let you know that, alongside the Golf Championship; we are also organizing a grand Corporate Strategic Think Tank Meet, ‘India Tomorrow’ on 13th December 2019 at Kolkata. The Conference will be attended by Government, Consultants and Corporate will be a policy compendium for New India.”

Mr Ashish C Doshi, Captain, Royal Calcutta Golf Club, said, "We are delighted to host the inaugural edition of the ICC RCGC Open Golf Championship at the Royal after a gap of two years. The course is in marvelous shape and we will offer the best playing conditions to all the professionals taking part in the Championship. We are also excited to enter into a partnership with ICC and PGTI which will generate great enthusiasm amongst the amateurs and golfers in Eastern India.”

Mr. Uttam Singh Mundy, CEO, PGTI, said, “We thank the ICC and RCGC for partnering with us in launching the ICC RCGC Open Golf Championship. The support of sponsors such as the ICC is a huge boost for Indian professional golf. We eagerly look forward to returning to the RCGC, one of the top championship venues in the country, after a gap of two years.

“The unique format for the tournament has been designed to get the amateurs more involved in the event which would in turn raise the excitement levels among the fans and spectators. The new format would also be more thrilling for the amateurs as they would be playing alongside the top PGTI professionals on the last two days of the tournament when the stakes are the highest.”

The world-renowned Royal Calcutta Golf Club (RCGC), affectionately known as the ‘Royal’, is steeped in history, as it is the oldest golf club outside of the British Isles, having been established in 1829. It is widely regarded as the founder of the game in the country and has staged some of the most prestigious tournaments on Indian soil, including the Indian Open and the All India Amateur Championship. The 7014-yard course favours long hitters and inaccurate shots are punished severely. The large number of water hazards makes this course a real challenge to master.

Photo Caption

L - R : Mr. Sudipto Goswami, Committee Member, RCGC; Dr. Rajeev Singh, Director General, ICC; Mr. Uttam Singh Mundy, CEO, PGTI; Mr. Pradeep Sureka, VP, ICC; Mr. Ashish Doshi, Captain, RCGC & Mr. Prashant Jalan, Executive Committee Member, ICC at a press conference in Kolkata, to announce the upcoming ICC RCGC Open Golf Championship.