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| Latest
News |
| 02nd
Aug 2010 / Business Standard |
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IIFT inaugurates African business cell
After focusing on the Indian market, the Delhi-based Indian
Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) is now spreading its
wings. The institute recently inaugurated its Africa Business
Cell to bring business leaders to India to promote partnerships
and encourage entrepreneurship.
“The Africa cell is completely a students’
initiative as for far too long, the world has been overlooking
the significance of Africa. To a large extent, the misconceptions
surrounding Africa today are similar to the ones that
surrounded India in the past,” says K T Chacko,
director, IIFT.
The cell will focus on two activities — to bring
African business leaders to Delhi for promoting partnerships
and schemes involving India and second, to do live projects
in Africa so that students get an opportunity to work
there. The major business opportunities in Africa would
be in agricultural commodities sourcing and trading, consumer
goods, oil and natural gas, automobiles, education and
healthcare.
IIFT has also been actively involved with the Ministries
of External Affairs and Commerce to set up an African
Institute of Foreign Trade in the continent. “Discussions
are on and we have given the ministries our inputs on
academic linkages and faculties for the African institute
that will be set up on the same lines as IIFT. In fact,
this will be India’s contribution to Africa,”
says Chacko.
The potential is huge. Last year, India called for doubling
the India-Africa bilateral trade to the level of $70 billion
over a five-year period, continuing the growth trajectory
that began in 2000-01, when trade was a mere $3 billion.
It shot up to $36 billion in 2007-08. In April 2008, India
had announced a duty-free tariff preferential scheme for
49 least developed countries (LDCs) which has benefited
33 African countries.
African leaders have often called for boosting investments
in agriculture, mining, power, agro-processing, irrigation,
pharmaceuticals, IT, health, retail chain and small- and
medium-scale sector for generating employment.
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