Date:16/09/2004 URL: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2004/09/16/stories/2004091600620300.htm

Back CII-Godrej Green Biz Summit next week

Our Bureau

Hyderabad , Sept. 15

ENTHUSED by the response to the Green Business Summit organised last year, the CII-Godrej Green Business Centre (GBC) has decided to institutionalise the event and is now organising its second edition from September 21 to 23 here.

Announcing this at a press conference here on Wednesday, the Summit Chairman, Mr G.V. Prasad, who is also the Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Dr Reddy's Laboratories Ltd, said the objectives of organising the event were to disseminate information on latest trends and technologies and demonstrate the viability and benefits of green technologies, products and services.

According to him, the new green business strategy helps industries benefit from improved operational efficiency, additional revenue generation through utilisation of waste and reduction/avoidance of waste treatment costs.

In this background, the CII-Godrej GBC is organising the summit with the theme `Resource sustainability - Closing the materials loop', where UNIDO and USAID were partnering with the CII. This is the first in a series of programmes being organised by UNIDO worldwide on this theme, Mr Prasad said.

The summit has participation from Government agencies, policy makers, environment professionals and corporate houses. The Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industries, Mr E.V.K.S. Elangovan, would inaugurate.

According to the Senior Director & Head of CII-Godrej GBC, Mr S. Raghupathy, CII is currently negotiating with some of the leading global rating agencies for introducing environment compliance ratings to the Indian corporate houses. A team of CII would be visiting the US next month in this connection and the rating exercise would be in place by next year-end, he said. He said modelled on the CII-Godrej Green Business Centre at Hyderabad, as many as 15 green business centres were coming up across the country. While three of them would be ready by the year-end, the balance rest would be operational by 2005-end, he said.