NEW DELHI, July 7: Divestment Commission chairman GV Ramakrishna called upon researchers in business management to study the implications of globalisation and the impact of economic liberalisation.

Inaugurating the project and research advisory council of the Institute of Management Technology (IMT) on Monday, Ramakrishna said that the country should be prepared to meet the challenges of globalisation and the process of economic liberalisation should be stepped up.

Ramakrishna said the 16 major agreements which India signed under the World Trade Organisation needed careful scrutiny. Corporate houses and exporters should be made aware of the implications of these agreements. He called upon IMT to conduct separate seminars on these agreements.

He said that `corporate governance' had become the buzzword of the day. Had the Indian corporates and exporters understood the implications of WTO and the 16 agreements, the problems of export of milk and milk products, textiles and packaging materials would not have arisen.

The E U has banned the import of milk and milk products from India.

Similarly the ban on use of azo dyes in textiles was the result of technical barriers agreement. Ramakrishna said that all these agreements were effective from January 1, 1995. He said it was time that we amended laws in tune with these agreements. He regretted that in spite of an ordinance amending the Patents Act, the same fell through as parliament was not able to pass an bill. He stated that the result of the delay in compliance with these agreements India was forced into a dispute with WTO. Ramakrishna called upon the domestic industry and research institutions to upgrade R&D and disseminate knowledge of patents.

Sarat Kumar, director, IMT, said that the 16-year old institution offered MBA and computer science courses. The institute had taken up three projects like mergers, acquisition and takeovers headed by SP Narang, secretary, Institute of Company Secretaries; outlook for financial sector headed by BB Bhattacharya of Institute of Economic Growth.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.