The Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT) was set up in 1963 by the Government of India as an autonomous organisation to help professionalise the countrys foreign trade management and increase exports by developing human resources; generating, analysing and disseminating data; and conducting research.

AIM was established in the year 1996 under the aegis of a non-profitable autonomous body called All India Asian Education Foundation (AIAEF), registered under Indian Societies Registration Act,XXI of 1860. The growth of the institute has been spectacular in a short span of time.