IPA History

The seeds of IPA’s origin go back to early nineties. The presence of Indian community in Paris had been growing over the years but this growth consisted of disparate sections involved in various trades. This period also coincided with the opening up of the Indian economy and the Government of India started looking at the NRI community as a potential powerful group that needed to be utilized for the benefit of the motherland.

However the community in France did not present itself as a well-organized group of professionals, something that had already happened in U.S.A. The Paris based professionals among them therefore felt the need to organize themselves as a coherent forum where mutual interaction could take place on a sustained and regular basis. It was clear that it would not only serve the interests of the members themselves but will also facilitate improvement of Indian community’s profile as a whole. This awareness prompted the efforts of the Indian professionals themselves and the Embassy to encourage the professionals in various fields to come together and form an association, group or a forum.

It is in this background that some professionals and the then Indian Embassy’s Consular section, specifically the then Minister for Consular Affairs of Indian Embassy at Paris Mr. S.K. Sharma, came up with the idea to form a platform for Indian origin professionals i.e. persons with certain professional background in their respective fields. Mr. Sharma did certain background work during his tenure and he also raised it at his farewell party at UNESCO in 1995. However it was at the behest of Mr. Sharma’s successor, Mr. Nagarajan that the idea took a concrete shape.

It was over a dinner at Mr. Nagarajan’s house in November 1995 that a group of professionals accepted the idea in real earnest. These included Rakesh Chandra (IBM), Gope Hathiramani, Saifuddin Jetpurwalla, Vimal Khosla, Kanwar Mathur (UNESCO), Prem Puri (IBM), Mohan Rao (LEXMARK) and Bikas Sanyal (UNESCO). These eight thus became the founding members of IPA.

Rakesh Chandra said ’ We have been talking and talking. Why not we do it now. Let everybody chip in 100 francs.’ The above eight present put 100 Francs on the table. Rakesh Chandra even suggested that Kanwar Mathur be the Founder President. This was accepted.

Then, following further encouragement from R. Nagarajan, the founder members re-initiated the move by sending a letter on Nov 25th, 1995 inviting a total of 24 professionals including those present at Nagarajan’s dinner, for a luncheon meeting on December 10th, 1995. A copy of this first formal notification letter is attached to this document. It lists eight founder members and another sixteen persons invited to be the members of this ’Indian Professional’s Association’.

Fifteen persons attended this first historic meeting. These included Ramesh Bahl, C.R. Bakhshi, Gul Chadiramani, Rakesh Chandra, Lissorgues Christian, Gope Hathiramani, Saifuddin Jetpurwalla, Dr. Rajendran Kalikiri, Vimal Khosla, Jagjit Lanba, R. Nagarajan, Vijay Phadke, Prem Puri, Mohan Rao and Naresh Shah. A list signed by these present is attached.

During the above meeting, the association was tentatively named ’ Indian Professionals Club’.

It was agreed that Prem Puri would start coordinating the activities of the fledgling body on behalf of the Managing Committee. Prem Puri requested Vimal Khosla to assist him for various activities. The IPA was thus launched.

Over the years the membership has grown to cover various disciplines like Architecture, Aeronautics, Banking, Bio-technology, Commercial/ Civil Aviation, Communication, Computer Science, Economics, Education, Engineering, Finance & Chartered Accountancy, Hotel Management and Hospitality Services, History, Information Technology, International Trading, Legal, Management, Marketing, Medicine and Nuclear Science.

Just as the members come from different backgrounds, so have the successive Presidents of the Association. These have been Prem Puri (IBM), Saifuddin Jetpurwalla, Vimal Khosla (ex-SFR), Deepak Mathur (Dassault), T.R. Jayadevan (Thales), P.K.Singh (Technip), and N.V.Varghese (IIEP, UNESCO), President for 2008.

Apart from the professional concerns, IPA has been also awake to the social causes like raising funds for calamities such as Tsunami. During the last ten years of its existence, IPA has consistently invited both Indian and French speakers and organized talks on contemporary and useful topics like Genetics, PIO Card, IT revolution, Doing Business with India, Ancient Indian Architecture, Launch of EURO, research to eradicate AIDS, Industrial relations between India and France, Policy Changes in Education in India, Future Generations of Mobile Telephones, Globalization and Education, Developing Human Capital: the Role of NRI, Indian Space Programme, Experience of French Aircraft manufacturer Dassault in India, Management of Giant Projects in Oil and Chemical Industry, Infrastructure Development and Financing in general in India and many others, each being given by the experts in their related fields. Of particular highlight was the talk by the famous Indian scientist Dr. Jayant Narlikar on Extra-Terrestrial Life in 2004. The topics for the year 2007 included Tradition and modernity in India, Globalization and Indian Professionals Indian Diaspora, Energy and Climate Change, Management Cultures and Styles, South Asian Framework for Peace and Prosperity.

In addition IPA has been organizing theme seminars and lecture cum demonstrations on such diverse topics like Developments in China and their relevance to India, Misconceptions of Indian Philosophy, Indian Diaspora, Textiles, Garments and Fashion, Indian Classical Dances, Indian Economic Development and together with the Indian Embassy on J.R.D. Tata’s Birth Centenary in 2004. The theme for the seminar in June 2007 was Cross Border Education and Indian Students Abroad.

IPA organized special meetings when the Honourable Minister Mr. Vayalar Ravi, (Minister for NRI Affairs), visited Paris in October 2006 and when Honourable Minister E. Ahmed, Minister of State for External Affairs visited Paris in December 2007.

Another permanent event of the year is the exclusive Deewali dinner with entertainment programme that IPA organizes and that brings together the families of the members and the guests invited by the members or the IPA. The Ambassador of India in France has been our chief guest on the Occasion in the past years.

Over the years the IPA has become a notable forum for the Indian professionals and has certainly helped in meeting one of the most important goals of its charter - bring the professionals together and help raise the profile of India and the Indians.