Musings about Niryat Bandhu - Export promotion through training
Govt of India started a program under Niryat Bandhu (Exporter's friend) scheme during 2013. It was an ambitious scheme and continues today. Hundreds of thousands have been trained across India under the scheme. 38 filed offices of DGFT, headed mostly by various Indian Trade Service officers are spearheading the efforts to help exporters through this scheme. However, the efficacy of the same, and the outcome has not been scientifically evaluated. I was posted at Bangalore at the time of launch of the scheme. My jurisdiction at that time covered the entire state of Karnataka. My then boss, an expert in trade himself, gave me a lot of freedom to implement the program in our jurisdiction. We launched out the program systematically. The program covered three training components. 1. Training new entrants to international trade 2. Outreach programs with various industry clusters 3. Outreach programs with universities and colleges Apart from the above three, at Ban...