With trade barriers being lifted and greater movement of goods and services across borders, international marketing has come of age. International trade involves a greater degree of competition and a complexity of documentation.

Managing the diverse aspects of international trade requires specialisation in the field of understanding the techniques and approaches to international trade.

To cater to this vital area international trade a speciality branch of management is increasingly becoming a promising career avenue. More and more students are taking to international trade not only to expand their horizons but also to make a dent in the foreign trade scenario. Also, with the number of multinational companies increasing their reach in different countries, they need personnel who can understand the international business environment.

In this respect, two Delhi-based foreign trade institutions, the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) and the Foreign Trade Development Centre (FTDC), are offering comprehensive courses on the management of international business activities to both freshers as well as working executives.

The Indian Institute of Foreign Trade set up by the Ministry of Commerce, Government of India, in 1964, while the Foreign Trade Development Centre is a private organisation, founded in 1991 by Dr K L Bhatia, a name to be reckoned with in international trade consultancy in the country. Both these organisations have links with international trade bodies such as the International Trade Centre (ITC). This association is of much help to students in understanding current trends, techniques and approaches to global trade.

IIFT offers a number of foundation programmes, including a certificate course, post-graduate diploma course and a Master's programme, selected separately for freshers and working executives. While the institution's certificate and post-graduate diploma courses are offered exclusively to working executives and self-employed persons, freshers can take up the two-year Master's programme in International Business (MIPB). Working executives and self-employed individuals are also offered an Executive Master's Programme in international trade.

Master's programme in International Business is a semester-based programme with four semesters in each year. The eligibility criteria for this programme are in line with the same for admission into any one of the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs): a minimum of 50 per cent marks either in a Bachelor's or Master's degree from any recognised university and a maximum age of 28 years at the time of admission. Out of a total of 120 seats for this programme, 83 seats are open to general category students, while the rest are reserved for scheduled caste, scheduled tribe and foreign/non-resident, non-resident sponsored students.

The admission to the two-year Master's programme is based on the results of an admission test followed by group discussions and interviews. An admission fee of Rs 500 is charged. The total course fee for this two-year programme is, however, low at Rs 35,000 as compared to that for the IIMs.

In contrast, the programme offered to working executives, including the Executive Master's Programme, requires a Bachelor's degree and five years management experience, as the minimum eligibility condition. The admission procedures are based solely on interviews and sponsored candidates are preferred to self-financing ones.

IIFT has no option for students who want to pursue a distant learning course. Nor does it have any branch outside Delhi. FTDC, on the other hand, offers a four-month (Diploma In Export Management) distant learning course in export management, for freshers as well as working executives.FTDC also offers two entrepreneurial development programmes—a one-month Product Development Programme (PDP), envisaging development of item-wise knowledge in specific product areas and a five-day Comprehensive Export Development Programme (EDP).

The eligibility criteria and the admission procedure for FTDC's management programmes are rather simple. The eligibility for the diploma course requires a 10+2 qualification with no age bar; there are no stringent admission rules in the form of tests or interviews. The four-month DEM programme costs Rs 6,600, the PDP course, Rs 3,500, and the five-day programme, Rs 4,000. The students of the diploma programme, however, pay the course fee in two installments.

Export management is rapidly becoming a plum job. The salary package varies from Rs 50,000 to Rs 240,000 per annum, depending on the person's position on the management ladder and the company. Students with an FTDC diploma generally find employment in the lower-middle level executive positions with a salary that ranges between Rs 4,000 and Rs 8,000 per month, informs FTDC director Dr K L Bhatia. Students with a Master's degree from IIFT find employment in the upper-middle to higher management levels with a monthly salary package ranging from Rs 8,000 to Rs 12,000 at the start.

The renewed thrust in exports, in line with the changing economic perspectives, has opened up the floodgates to export management. Indeed, it is the right time to select a career in export management specialisation.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.