The Hindu Business Line : Professional help at hand for trade, industry

THE Indian industry and trade can now look for intermediation and resolution of sector-specific problems from a professional group of experts who have banded together to launch a new Foundation for Promotion of Indian Industry & Trade (FPIIT) in order to make them globally competitive in all parameters of manufacturing, price, quality and delivery.

FPIIT as a society to help industry and trade has been registered as per the Society Registration Act, 1980 and a first meeting of the Board of Governors was held here on January 8, 2004, the Chairman of the Foundation, Mr N. Rangachary, former Chairman, Insurance Regulatory Authority of India, told Business Line.

Other members of the Board of Governors include Mr A.K. Luke, Managing Director, Gujarat State Fertiliser Corporation, Mr P.K. Taneja, Managing Director, Gujarat Alkalise Chemicals Ltd, Dr Ashwan Kapur, Managing Director, Uniproducts (India) Ltd, Mr Sanjay Bansal, Member, Ambootiya Tea (Kolkata), Mr Nishant Gowda, Coffee entrepreneur, Bangalore, and Mr Sai Rajagopal, lawyer and intellectual property right (IPR) consultant, Mr S. Krishna Moorthy, retired senior bureaucrat, Dr K.N.Raghavan, Managing Director, Rubbermark, Kochi, and Mr A.K.Gupta, Member-Secretary and a consultant on WTO issues.

Mr Rangachary said that at a time when the manufacturing sector in India has been facing new problems in the deregulated economy with competition from abroad posing threat to its existence, there ought to be some inbuilt support to Indian industry and trade and the proposed Foundation would be a place where an integrated and seamless services would be extended to them by a pool of experts drawn from different fields of specialisation.

Mr Rangachary said the principal remit of the Foundation is to strategically plan, introduce executive programmes at the national and global level for promoting industry and trade, agriculture and services, besides serving as a platform in concert with the industrialists, professionals, research scientists, technocrats, agriculturists, service providers and trade bodies so as to address their respective common critical issues through collective thinking.

The Foundation would also make available to the members specific advice for various projects including their commercial, financial and economic viability for operations and suitable expert advice and inputs to prospective investors with a view to reinforcing the respective sectors of national economy to world-class levels in terms of technology and market access.

It would also maintain a centralised pool of legal, technical, financial and management experts, advisors and professionals, as also experts from the field of anti-dumping, safeguards, subsidies, countervailing duties, IPR issues relating to trade marks, patents, copyrights, designs, geographical indications of goods, protection of plant varieties and farmers' rights.

The Foundation would also organise and conduct promotional and training programmes, entrepreneurial development programme, executive development programmes, quality orientation programme, refresher courses, lectures and seminars, besides organising or assisting in the transfer of technology from global organisations and institutions engaged in or connected with any of the fields for which the Foundation is established.

The Foundation would have a one-time contribution from corporate member ranging from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 15 lakh, depending upon the turnover of the firm from Rs 20 crore to Rs 500 crore for the preceding financial year.

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