IIFT to help Bengal units go global

SME TRAINING: Entrepreneurs can now avail of training facilities at IIFT's Kolkata campus.

The centre for SME Studies at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) is all set to help the small and medium enterprise (SME) units in West Bengal go global.

K Rangarajan, head, centre for SME Studies said, "We will be setting up this centre in Kolkata in our new Kolkata campus. The centre will deliver all the services as we do out of our Delhi centre."

"The objective is to help SME units to launch global operations, for which we conduct series of training programmes. The centre will be doing similar training programmes in the state," he added.

To begin with, the centre will be having its first 4-day training programme this September for processed food industry. The training programme will have 20 seats.

"We will be involving different chambers of commerce and industry including Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BNCCI), Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda) and other stakeholders in the training programme, to make it more interactive and meaningful," he added.

Rangarajan said that around 40 per cent of the faculty members will be from IIFT while the rest will be industry experts, concerned government officials and other stakeholders.

For the current year, the centre for SME studies is planning to touch upon a two more sectors in the state.

"We have identified textile and chemicals for which we will be organising similar training programme by March 2007. We will be exploring other sectors in future," he added.

These programmes will focus on foreign markets and general managerial capabilities and sector-specific needs, he explained.