The Hindu Business Line : Management course for eastern region auto sector

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Kolkata Jan. 24 The eastern region's first sales management course for the automobile sector, being held jointly by the Federation of Automobile Dealers' Association (FADA) and the Institute of Business Management and Research (IMRB), was launched here on Wednesday.

The three-month course, which is open to graduates in any discipline, will cost Rs 20,000. Most important, placement is guaranteed on completion of the course.

Inaugurating the course, Mr Subhas Chakraborty, West Bengal Transport Minister, said the transport sector all over the world now emerged as the biggest employer, pushing agriculture down to the second position.

He cited the example of the civil aviation sector where, following the Government's open sky policy, plethora of new job opportunities were being created. A few years ago, there were no jobs available for trained pilots but now there was an acute shortage of them thanks to the emergence of a number of airlines.

He indicated that a private firm had asked for 5,000 acres of land in the State for setting up MRO (maintenance, repair and overhauling) facilities for aircraft, both domestic and foreign.

Welcoming FADA's decision, the Minister promised to extend assistance the organisers might need from the West Bengal Government.

Mr Binod Agarwal, President of FADA, pointed out that automobile dealers all over the country were facing an acute shortage of trained manpower, particularly in the area of sales and marketing.

FADA had organised similar training courses in Pune and Jaipur and after Kolkata there are proposals for holding the same in Mumbai and Kolhapur. "We plan to cover all major cities in a phased manner", he said.

In West Bengal, there are about 150 automobile dealers and their number is growing by 10 per cent every year. The sales growth of commercial vehicles in the State is almost at par with the national average of 35 per cent, he said.

Professor Alak Ghosh, Chairman of IMRB, said the course was a fine example of industry-institute partnership for tackling the problem of trained manpower shortage. "The course contents are comprehensive and structured in such a way to meet the requirements of growing automobile dealership segment", he said.

More Stories on : Education | Automobiles | West Bengal

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