Gitikka Ganju Dhar is EVENTFAQS’ guest correspondent and contributor, reporting live from the events that she hosts. Gitikka a well-known anchor and one of the most established names amongst hosts for events and conferences, lends her journalist expertise while reporting from an event, with first-hand details of the on-goings.
It is not very often that I get to greet my audience by saying ‘As-salamu Alaykum!’ If it is an event that marks the launch of Doha Bank’s operations in India, then I happily do. The choice of Mumbai, the financial capital of India, as the location for the first branch is an obvious one!
The event unfolded at the Trident, with the attendance of the power wielders of the region’s financial world – Suresh Prabhu (Union Minister of Railways), Deepak Vasant Kesarkar (Minister of State for Finance & Rural Development) and Sanjiv Arora (Indian Ambassador to Qatar). They graced the occasion along with several dignitaries from Doha including the finance minister, Qatari Ambassador to India and Governor of Qatar Central Bank.
Dr. R. Seetharaman (Group CEO of Doha Bank) opened house along with H.E. Sheikh Fahad Bin Mohammad Bin Jabor Al-Thani (Chairman of Doha Bank Board of Directors) and H.E. Sheikh Abdul Rehman Bin Mohammad Bin Jabor Al-Thani (MD, Doha Bank) welcomed the guests of honor on stage with exquisite silk shawls from the House of Nalli. Nalli Kuppuswami Chetti (Chairman of Nalli) was also present on the occasion. The Finance Minister of Qatar then inaugurated the Raheja Centre Doha Bank Branch, Mumbai and also jointly launched the Doha Bank India website: www.dohabank.in.
The flow of this event was as simple as it can get and the setup was a neat and basic one. The dignitaries involved in the proceedings were very important people and there were a large number present, making it a nerve-wrecking affair for the organizing team from Qatar. In such an event, where the atmosphere crackles with the purest form of tension, all that the executing crew (including the MC) needs to do, is to get it right, because a single error can cause great embarrassment to the host. This crew followed the plan to the T…and Doha Bank was launched in India!
