IIFT stresses for Cost Effective Innovative Models to attain Five percent share of World Trade by 2020

Five percent share in world trade by 2020- that’s the ambitious vision outlined for India by the erstwhile commerce minister Kamal Nath. India has taken giant strides in this respect in the past decade, but still a lot of ground needs to be covered to propel India into the big league of international trade. In line with the continuing effort to bolster trade, the government is going to announce the Foreign Trade Policy for 2009-2014. On these lines, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) organized the National Trade & Logistics Symposium in association with CII on August 26, 2009 at the ITC Sonar.

The theme of the symposium was Unleashing the untapped potential in trading with focus on sustenance and it discussed diverse issues such as the emergence of gold as an investment option, innovations in supply chain and logistics required in the current scenario and the roadmap to India’s vision 2020 of world trade.

Saugat Mukherjee, Regional Director, CII (Eastern Region) started the discussion by stressing the importance of collaborating with educational institutes to strengthen the bond between academia and industry through events such as the National and Trade Logistics Symposium. T.C Venkat Subramanian, CMD Exim Bank was the keynote speaker of the event. He gave a macro perspective on the global trade scenario and India’s role in the scheme of the things. He also emphasized the crucial role played by public intervention in the resurgence of the global economy.

The first session focused on Bullion Trading. V Shunmugan, Chief Economist MCX talked about the benefits of gold as an investment, particularly through the emergence of futures and Exchange Traded Funds. Gold is a safe haven for investors in times of geopolitical and financial instability. Ashutosh Kumar, Vice President Reliance discussed about the various aspects of Gold Exchange Traded Funds. After this, Saurav Arora, Director and Senior Vice President, Jaypee Capital gave an insightful comparison between gold and silver, where surprisingly silver came out as the investment option which offered better returns.

Following this session on “The New Age Gold Rush” was a panel discussion ascertaining whether India’s dream of achieving five percent share of world trade by 2020 will remain a fantasy. KT Chacko, Director IIFT and former DGFT was the moderator for the session. Deepak Amitabh, Director (Finance) PTC opined that the target of five percent share is not a fantasy but a reality. Bhaswar Mukherjee talked about the fluctuation in oil prices, with changing global economic conditions. He also raised the point of reversal of integration of global economies, due to the protectionist policies adopted by developed countries in the wake of the current recession. Vincent Fernandez, Director Corporate Affairs & Group Strategy, Triton Group spoke about the emergence of food as the next key commodity after oil. Illustrating from his industry, he talked about the large potential of fisheries exports in India. He also identified some major future trends in International trade, liberalization, evolution of multilateral trade and regional trading. In his words, the commerce ministry has done a good job of formulating effective trade policies and now the onus is on the states to play a more active role in its implementation.

The third session focused on the supply chain and logistics innovation required to propel India into the global arena of international trade. Shankar Chatterjee , MD Bertling Logistics lamented the lack of infrastructure in India which adds to the transaction cost. He laid importance on greater cohesiveness and co-ordination between the different ministries, Surface transport, rail and shipping. The future would see, customers benchmarking their expectations while the forwarders would set the service levels. Tamal Roy from Tata Martrade International talked about the best practices in handling bulk cargo, while Ashwath Nagendra, country head, LCA logistics spoke about the major software in vogue today which serves to make logistics and supply chain processes more efficient. Kalyan Ghosh, VP Supply Chain Essar Steel highlighted the importance of logistics as a major source of competitive advantage for companies.

The symposium provided an opportunity for people from diverse backgrounds to interact on a common platform and share their views on the major issues in international trade.

Mutual Funds as an Investment Avenue: Interactive session with Sandesh Kirkire at JBIMS

Today, when the whole world is smitten by the epidemic of recession, or rather the over usage of the term in many ways; principles, beliefs and habits of an investor have witnessed a total breakdown leading to a state of confusion. To throw light on an alternate investment option, mutual funds, JBIMS hosted Mr. Sandesh Kirkire (CEO, Kotak Mahindra Asset Management Company).

The session was organized to augment the knowledge of the students of the batch of 2010 in the domain of financial services. Kirkire, with his vast experience of close to two decades in the fields of corporate finance and treasury management, embarked onto a detailed account of the different pillars of the financial services sector of India. Kirkire kept the audience engrossed by throwing light on the New Pension Scheme which is the topic that is doing the rounds and its various implications. He then gave an overview of the mutual fund industry in India and provided insights on concepts such as the difference between insurance products and mutual funds and their tax implications.

Answering a question, Kirkire spelt out the distribution challenges to the institutions dealing in mutual funds and the presence of the different channels and hierarchy in India along with their breakup.