Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT)

The Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) was established in 1964 by the Government of India with the objective of strengthening the country’s external trade sector through development of human resources; generating, analyzing and disseminating data; conducting research and providing consultancy services. The Institute has been playing a pioneering role in imparting training in foreign trade management in the country besides undertaking research and consultancy in various areas of international business. The Institute was conferred Deemed University status by the University Grants Commission in May 2002 enabling it to award degrees and start its own doctoral programme.

Details of the major activities carried out by the Institute during 2006-07 in the areas of training, research and conducting seminars/workshops are given below:

Education

Training

Research

Workshops/Seminars

Library

The Library of the Institute is one of the largest of its kind (specializing in international business) in India. The WTO Resource Centre of the Library has rich collection of Books, Reports, Journals, video-cassettes, CD-ROMs and news items/articles on WTO and related issues. The WTO Centre brings out “WTO News Collection” (monthly – annotated), “WTO Documentation List” (monthly – annotated) and “Additions to WTO Resource Centre” (monthly – annotated).

The Institute continued the publication of its periodicals on Foreign Trade Review (quarterly), Focus WTO (bi-monthly), Newsletter “Technology Exports” (bi-monthly) in collaboration with the Department of Scientific & Industrial Research (DSIR) and an Occasional Paper entitled “A Review of India Sri-Lanka Trade Cooperation”.

There are four Computer Centres in the Institute. Out of these, three are exclusively for the students and the fourth is dedicated to training and research activities of the Institute. The network facilities have been extended to entire campus. The Institute has 4 mbps lease line to provide internet access to all the terminals. The class rooms are equipped with LCD projectors and embedded PCs for online presentations.

IIFT Centre at Kolkata

During 2006-07, the government had approved a proposal for setting up a Centre of the Institute at Kolkata. The Govt. of West Bengal has allotted 7 acres of land free of cost in the south Kolkata for the campus. The number of students in different programmes being currently run by the Institute are given below:

• Two-year full time MBA (IB) for the academic year 2006-08 - 61 students.
• Two-year full time MBA (IB) for the academic year 2007-09 - 54 students.
• Three-year part time MBA (IB) for the academic year 2006-09 - 49 students.
• Three-year part time MBA (IB) for the academic year 2007-10 - 53 students.

During the year, the recruitment process
for faculty in various field continued. The Institute also organized an IIFT Alumni meet in Kolkata.

National Centre for Trade Information (NCTI)

The National Centre for Trade Information (NCTI) was incorporated on 31st March, 1995 as a Company under Section 25 of Companies Act, 1956. The Company started functioning w.e.f. March, 1996. It has a Board of Directors for administration of its affairs, which includes representatives from Ministry of Commerce & Industry, National Informatics Centre (NIC), Indian Institute of Foreign trade (IIFT), Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence & Statistics (DGCI&S).

The ITPO and NIC are co-promoters of the Company and have contributed a sum of Rs. 4.00 crore (Rs.2.00 crore each) as Corpus Fund in the equity contribution of the Company. The ITPO provides fully furnished office space and the NIC provides the Software and Hardware against their equity contribution in kind.

The Centre provide value added information in the field of electronic trading opportunities, live trade leads from World Trade Point Federation (WTPF), trade data analysis and organized export awareness seminars and updating/uploading information on its website. It has uploaded on its Website 52 issues of Trade Point-India containing approximately 250 Trade Leads each week.

NCTI signed four MOUs during the year with:

• Trade and Investment Facilitation Corporation Ltd., Bhopal for setting up of Trade and Investment Information Centre at Bhopal,
• Visvesvarya Industrial Trade Centre for providing ETO service,
• Indian Merchants’ Chamber for working as Tier 2 partner for the project on ‘Strategies & Preparedness for Globalisation in India’,
• Czech Trade of Czech Republic for exchange of trade related information.
  

Indian Institute of Packaging (IIP), Mumbai

The Indian Institute of Packaging (IIP) was registered under the Societies Registration Act in 1966 with a view to stimulate consciousness for good packaging by undertaking study, research and development in packaging, packaging designs etc. The Institute’s Head Office is located at Mumbai with its Branch Offices at Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad. The Institute provides services for testing and evaluation of packages and packaging designs etc. The Institute also conducted a Two Year Post Graduate Diploma Course in Packaging apart from 3 months Intensive Training Course in Packaging & a Distance Education (Correspondence Programme in Packaging).

Details of major activities carried out by the Institute during the year are given below:

Development Packaging Projects

During April-December 2007, the Institute undertook various development projects namely packaging of coconut products (e.g. coconut chips, edible copra, frozen coconut meat, coconut shell handicrafts, snowball tender nuts, minimally processed tender coconut); village industries products (e.g. papads, pickles, honey, herbal mehndi, creams, ayurvedic powders, shampoos, soaps & detergents, washing soap, detergent powder, herbal /ayurvedic products); capacitor; air conditioner; phenol resin; earth moving equipment spare parts; luminaries; glass funnels and picture tubes; ammunition; ice-cream; seeds; dairy products; instrument transformers; motorcycles; printing machines; refractories; prasad; high security registration plates; pistons and rings; handloom and handicrafts products; colour TV; ceiling fans; level marking valves; solar cells; domineer aircraft assembly; farm machinery; gold jewellery; synthetic yarn; auto spare parts; explosives; compatibility studies of packaging materials for packing hydraulic brake fluid; studies on packing materials used by pharma industries for formulations in the country, and standardization of speed post bags.

The Institute also proposed to take up projects on packaging of cut-flowers, packaging of opium,packaging of agro-chemicals, packaging of beverages, packaging of industrial valves, packaging of bus ducts for power stations, packaging of alumina powder, packaging of engineering products etc.

During the year, MOUs have been signed with NPPA and KVIC for assistance in the field of packaging.

Testing and Evaluation

The Institute undertakes testing and evaluation of different kinds of packaging materials and packages at its principal laboratories at Mumbai and also in the laboratories of the four Regional Centres located at Chennai, Delhi, Kolkata and Hyderabad. All the laboratories have provided the services to 4030 industries by way of testing of 5930 samples. In addition, the laboratories have also issued 2016 UN Certificates for the carriage of dangerous goods for export by Air and also by Sea.

The Institute has also taken a major step to upgrade the image of the principal laboratory, Mumbai by way of enhancement of the scope of accreditation by NABL. As a result, the scope of accreditation has been increased to 102 tests covering the different packaging materials like paper, paperboard, plastic films and laminates, corrugated fiberboard boxes, HDPE woven sack, BOPP tape, plastic feeding bottles, metal drum, wooden pallet, caps and closures, etc. for 3 different fields like, Mechanical Testing, Chemical Testing and Photometry Testing. In addition, the laboratories have also achieved the accreditation from Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) under Laboratory Accreditation Scheme for undertaking the testing of 29 product specification.

The Eastern Regional Centre of the Institute has also taken initiative for obtaining the NABL accreditation as per ISO/IEC: 17025.

The Institute has upgraded its laboratory facilities by way incorporating & installing a number of testing equipments like Spectrophotometer, WVTR (MOCON), OTR (MOCON), 1U V Resistance Tester, Gloss & Opacity Tester for Plastic Film, Oxygen & Carbon-dioxide Head Space Analyzer, Cold Chamber for Intermediate Rigid Bulk Container, Pneumatic Drop Tester, Density Gradient Column for plastic film, Torque Tester for caps & closures etc. The equipments were procured under the Plan Fund.

Training and Education

The Institute awarded Post Graduate Diploma in Packaging (2- year full time course) to 35 students of the 21st Batch (Mumbai) and 36 students of the 21st Batch (Delhi), who qualified for the same. In addition, 35 students of the 11th Batch and 18 students of the previous batches also qualified for the Graduate Diploma in Packaging by Correspondence and 35 students qualified for the Certificate Course in Packaging which is a 3-months full time programme.

Besides these Educational Programmes, the Institute also conducted training programmes and seminars for Working Executives on topics covering Principles and Developments in Packaging, Packaging of Pharmaceuticals, Package Printing, Package Testing & Quality Evaluation and many other subjects.

The Institute also conducts Special Programmes for Entrepreneurs in Small Scale Industries in Association with Development Commissioner of Small Scale Industries, at various centres in the country. In-house programmes tailored to specific organizational needs are also conducted for various organisations.

Library and Publication

The Institute’s Library is constantly being upgraded with induction of new books, journals and magazines for the benefit of students and members of the Institute. The Institute published its bi-monthly journal on New Directives in Packaging Technology, Its Now the Package, and Food Packaging – A Team Work etc during the period.

Footwear Design and Development Institute (FDDI)

Footwear Design and Development Institute (FDDI), Noida

The Footwear Design and Development Institute (FDDI) Noida was established in the year 1986 with an objective to train the professional manpower for Footwear Industry and thereby promoting the growth of export production of quality footwear and allied products of international standards. In just a span of two decades, it has evolved from being India’s premier institute to a notable International Training Institute. It is among the first institutes in the world to get prestigious ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 Certification.

The Governing Council of FDDI is a judicious blend of representatives from the Government, prestigious educational institutions such as National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) in New Delhi, National Institute of Design (NID) in Ahmedabad, Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI) in Chennai, as well as the top representatives of the Industry from all over the country. The management of the Institute is a consortium of renowned & result oriented professionals.

The Institute conducts wide range of long term and short term programmes in the area of Retail Management, Fashion Footwear Design Technology, Management, Fashion Merchandising, Marketing, Creative Designing, Leather Goods & Accessories Design etc. All programmes offered by the Institute meets the international standards. Besides, the Institute has also distinct presence in the spheres of Industrial Consultancy, Testing Facilities, Research & Development and Training of active industrial professionals. During the last two years, the Institute has trained more than 20,000 artisans/ workers involved in the making of footwear in SMEs and village clusters.

The details of the current long-term and short-term academic programmes conducted by the Institute and the number of students are given below:

Besides the above mentioned programmes, the Institute also conducts other short term or Industry specific programmes also as and when required.

The admission process for academic session 2008-09 has already started with total intake of 360 students in FDDI, Noida and FDDI, Fursatganj Rae Bareli.

The International Testing Centre (ITC) at FDDI, Noida is a state-of- the- art facility established under a German collaboration with Pruf- und Forschungsinstitute Pirmasens e. V (PFI). It is the first time PFI has collaborated with any laboratory in India. The ITC of FDDI is the only laboratory in India which has been ISO 17025 certified by Deutschen Akkreditierungs Rat (DAR) of Germany for testing of banned chemicals and safety footwear tests as per EN-344: 1993 norms. It has also been awarded the ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 by Bureau Veritas Quality International. The setting up of this centre has brought a revolutionary change in Indian Industries as for as the Chemical and Physical testing of leather, sole, metallic trims & accessories, fabric & components etc. are concerned.

Footwear Design Training Class at FDDI, Noida

For enhancing the training development capacity of FDDI, Noida, the following initiatives have been taken with financial assistance from the Department of Commerce:

• Setting up of Museum at a cost of Rs. 64 lakh.
• Setting up of Auditorium and procurement of machinery at a cost of Rs. 99.00 lakh
• Procurement of Training Machines concerning footwear at a cost of Rs. 398.00 lakh.

Footwear Fashions at FDDI, Noida

Footwear Design and Development Institute (FDDI), Fursatganj, Rae Bareli (U.P)

Seeing the huge shortage of trained manpower for the footwear industry at all levels and in line with the efforts to expand the training infrastructure in the country, the Govt. of India has approved to establish a branch of Footwear Design & Development Institute at Fursatganj, Rae Bareli (U.P) in 2006-07. For this purpose an amount of Rs.96.16 crore has been sanctioned during 2007-08. Out of this amount, Rs.38.17 crore have already been released. FDDI, Fursatganj will be a state of the art institute with the training capacity of 600-700 students. The Institute will start its operation from Academic session 2008-09.

Indian Diamond Institute (IDI), Surat

Indian Diamond Institute (IDI), Surat was established as a Society in 1978. The Institute is pivotal for imparting technical skills to the gems & jewellry industry in areas of gemmology and jewellery manufacturing. The Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Centre of Jewellery Design and Manufacture (SVJDM) of the Institute have the latest facilities for training in jewellery design and manufacturing.

The Institute also has certification services for diamonds, coloured stones and gold jewellery. The Institute is authorized for certification/grading of diamonds of 0.25 carat and above. The Institute also has an Assaying and Hallmarking Centre (AHMC) approved by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), Govt. of India. During 2006-07, 748 students enrolled for various courses offered by the Institute.

The following courses are conducted by the Institute:

• Graduate Diploma in Diamond Technology (GDDT)
• Diploma in Cutting and Polishing (DCP)
• Diploma in Diamond Grading (DDG)
• Diploma in Diamond Sorting (DDS)
• Graduate Diploma in Jewellery Designing Manufacturing & Appraising (GJDMA)
• Higher Diploma in Jewellery Design & Manufacture (HDJDM)
• Diploma in Model Making (DMM)
• Diploma in Gemmology (DG)
• Graduate Diploma in Gems & Jewellery: Home Study
• Diploma in Diamond Identification & Grading: Home Study
• Diploma in Gemmology: Home Study
• Fellow member of the Gemmological Association, Great Britain (FGA) &Diamond member of the Gemmological Association (DGA) Programmes.

The Web addresses of the above Organisations/ Institutes are given below:
(i) Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) – www.iift.edu/
(ii) National Centre for Trade Information (NCTI) – www.ncti-india.com/
(iii) Indian Institute of Packaging (IIP), Mumbai – www.iip-in.com/
(iv) Footwear Design and Development Institute (FDDI) – www.fddi.india.com/
(v) Indian Diamond Institute (IDI), Surat – www.diamondinstitute.net/