IIFT director Mitra quits 8-month prior to tenure completion

In a major development, Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) Director Surajit Mitra has resigned eight months prior to completion of his tenure. According to sources, Mitra, who was holding the offices of Director as well as Vice Chancellor of the premier public business school, has demitted the office as an immensely satisfied person. 

Notably, IIFT, which is under the ambit of Ministry of Commerce and Industry, was established to help professionalise the country’s foreign trade management and increase exports by developing human resources; generating, analysing and disseminating data; and conducting research. 

“The resignation of Mitra would prove to be a major setback for IIFT as during the tenure of Mitra, the institute has registered overwhelming growth in every sector. The ranking of the institute has improved from 24 in 2012 by Business Today (MDRA) to 10 in 2015 during Mitra’s regime,” the source said. 

“The number of seats for full time MBA increased from 204 in 2012 to 289 in 2016 during Mitra’s tenure. Ato provide more opportunities to the student community. In four years (2012 to 2016), the IIFT added five more international collaborations,” the source, while spelling out milestone achievements of Mitra.  “On revenue generation front, the IIFT made a huge gain as the figures of revenue generation went up from Rs 49.05 crore in 2012 to Rs 82.23 crore in 2016. The contribution of increased fee in revenue generation is just Rs 95,40,000 in 2016,” the source said. 

Mitra, a former secretary in Central government, had joined IIFT as its Director September 5, 2012 after KT Chacko had demitted the office.  Mitra is an IAS officer of 1977 batch from Assam-Meghalaya cadre with vast experience of working in the Central ministries of Commerce, Industries, Petroleum, Tourism, Rural Development, Communication, Defence, Home and Finance.