Trading for a living

FOREIGN trade is one of the key elements in the country's development efforts. Post World War, India has gradually made enormous strides in the field of international trade. Though initially there were major set backs, the early 80's saw a rapid rise in Indian exports and ever since they have been rising at one and a half times the pace of growth in world exports. The focus of India's economic policy has been the maintenance of high levels of exports and regulation imports. India's trade with other countries has expanded and diversified in recent years.

The Work

Professionals in export and import industry have various job opportunities. Production, invoicing, packing, transport and shipping, marketing and documentation are some of the various tasks that are involved. Professionals in this field can work in buying houses, export units, the international business division of various multinational companies.

Export Managers: The Export Manager is in charge of the export section of a company. The job entails handling various aspects of exports with different agencies apart from being responsible for matters related to exports, incentives, bottlenecks and credits.

Executives: Executives deal with the buyers/agents in local and international markets. A fair amount of knowledge of procedures and related documentation on compensatory support will be an advantage. Documentation Assistant-A Documentation Assistant deals with the export promotion councils and shipping agents. It is imperative that candidates who wish to be in this field be conversant with export documentation work.

Purchase Officer: Purchasing raw material and selecting exportable merchandise for manufacturing a product is the work of a Purchase officer. Purchase managers also need to possess adequate knowledge of local and outside markets in order to be aware of the latest trends.

Business Associates:

Channelising agencies like The State Trading Corporation enrol exporters as their business associates. The latter are in contractual agreement to supply goods. In order to minimise expenses and overcome problems of language, and government rules and regulations, companies appoint sales agents on the basis of commission. These agents help exporters constantly assess the market situation and provide consultancy services. They impart advice on appropriate methods and strategies for selling their products in the concerned territories.

Manufacturers: To make an item saleable in the market a manufacturer needs to arrange finances, establish production units and employ workers. Manufacturers produce items that are at par with international standards that are later sold to exporters and business agents. Some manufacturers prefer to sell their products directly to various countries with others export products to fulfil the minimum export requirement in order to import certain goods and raw materials that they might require.

Inspectors: Their job entails checking the samples of the raw material and the quality of the finished product to ensure that they match the international standards. Those who import products also require the services of an inspector. They need to ensure that the goods that are to be imported are of a standard quality.

Eligibility

Candidates who wish to apply should have a master's degree in any stream with an aggregate of a minimum of 60 percent. There are various institutions that offer training to provide students a better insight into the areas of foreign trade. There are full time courses as well as diploma courses offered in this field. The Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) in New Delhi offers a two-year full time course with a curriculum related to management of international business operations.

The selection to the institution is done through an examination that is conducted at various centres in India. The examination aims at testing the candidate's knowledge of English, general awareness, analysis of a businesssituation and mathematical ability. IIFT also offers a three-month certificate course on shipping and documentation for foreign trade managers.

The main objective of the course is to impart systematic knowledge in trade-related aspects of international aspects.

Personal Attributes

Excellent communication skills, a keen aptitude for business, knowledge of foreign languages, persuasive ability and confidence are some of the attributes required to be successful in this field.

Job Prospects

A career in Foreign Trade is extremely lucrative and offers tremendous scope for wide travel. Opportunities in merchandising companies, export units and the international business divisions of various MNCs are open to candidates of foreign trade. Trained professionals can venture to open their own export houses after gaining adequate work experience. The public sector offers jobs in the State trading Corporation (STC) and the Minerals and Metals Trading Corporation (MMTC).

PRATIBHA GADHALAY

pratibha.hyd@careercommunity.co.in