NEW YORK -- The Citi-Anchin Indian Initiative celebrated its one year Anniversary on December 9 at an event hosted by Anchin at their offices in New York. The Initiative is a consortium of financial and business advisors dedicated to promoting growth for middle market Indian-American businesses. Established in 2008, the Initiative is part of Citi Commercial Banking’s “One-Citi India Initiative," a marketing platform developed to service the banking needs of the Indian Business Community in the United  States, in partnership with Anchin, one of the largest and fastest-growing accounting firms in the country, providing a wide range of traditional and non-traditional advisory services.  

In spite of the snow and rain earlier in the day, over 100 Indian businesspeople attended the event, representing middle market business owners, financial officers and consultants from as far away as Pennsylvania and Virginia.   

The celebration was the third event held by the Citi-Anchin Indian Initiative. At the event, Mr. Acharya focused on the needs of middle market businesses during difficult economic times. Ali Hirji, Vice President at Citibank and Mr. Acharya lauded the contributions of the Initiative’s Board of Directors in making all three events successful, and in particular, identified the contributions of Moses & Singer, AXA, ASB Communications, Hodgson Russ, Kelley Drye, and the Manhattan Chamber of Commerce. The event included a presentation by Mr. Gevertzman on the Top Ten Tax Issues to consider before the end of 2009.  

The first event, held in April of this year, was a charitable fund raiser for the March of Dimes. The second event, held in June at Citibank’s offices in midtown Manhattan, featured a panel discussion about state and local government incentives for Indian owned and operated companies.  

During the second event, Kuldeepak Acharya, CPA, an Accounting Services Partner at Anchin, moderated a panel discussion.  Paul Gevertzman, JD, CPA, a Tax Partner at Anchin, Alexandra Simon of New York City Small Business Services and David Meade, an Economic Development Project Manager at Anchin, were the featured panelists. The group identified and described the activities that make a business eligible for economic development incentives as well as the broad spectrum of benefits available for businesses that are expanding, moving or making investments.  

The Citi-Anchin Indian Initiative is already at work planning future events and outreach programs in 2010 to benefit more Indian Middle Market companies and their owners in the Tri-State area.