The government is proposing to declare the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) as 'institution of national importance' with an aim to empower it to attain standards of global excellence.
IIFT has three branches in New Delhi, Kolkata and Kakinada. The institute is a deemed university.
It was set up in 1963 by the government as an autonomous organisation to help professionalise the country's foreign trade management and increase exports by developing human resources, analysing and disseminating data and conducting research.
According to the draft bill posted on the commerce ministry's website, all the Indian Institutes of Foreign Trade would be declared as "institutions of national importance with a view to empowering these institutions in attaining standards of global excellence in international trade (management and international economics) and allied areas of knowledge".
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The draft—The Indian Institutes of Foreign Trade Bill, 2022—stated that the director would be the chief executive officer of every institute, and would be responsible for proper administration.
Rakesh Mohan Joshi, Director at the Indian Institute of Plantation Management (IIPM), Bangalore, said that this status to IIFT would provide more autonomy and grant, and recognition to these institutes.
"There is a huge potential in these institutes," Joshi said. Earlier, he was a professor and Dean of IIFT in the national capital.
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