IIFT to set up centre for consumer affairs

The Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), New Delhi, has been approached by the Department of Consumer Affairs to set up a centre for consumer affairs on its premises.

The centre, to set up in a few months, will take up issues like labelling, technical content listing of food products and identifying genetically modified food products.

"MNCs in the consumer goods business are entering the Indian market and the services industry is also drastically expanding, thus there is a need to enhance the knowledge of customers. This centre will help spread awareness among consumers," said KT Chacko, director, IIFT.

"International trade and consumer interest are interlinked. If an imported product does not list its technical contents, a consumer could get cheated," added Chacko.

The centre will conduct in-depth study on how to keep the Indian consumer informed about what he is consuming.

"In an increasingly globalised world where more and more brands are coming up, there is a need to list out the areas in which work needs to be done to suggest policy changes," Chacko said.

While the IIFT will provide the infrastructure for the centre, the department of consumer affairs will supply all necessary data.