National traders' body to hold retail summit in Delhi next month

The Confederation of All India Traders will hold its first ever National Retail Summit  on April 18 and 19 in New Delhi in a bit to forge a bigger alliance of the Indian retail trade. The summit will see participation from trade leaders from the transport, SMEs (small and medium enterprises), SHGs (self-help groups), non-corporate sector, and others.

During the conclave, CAIT and other traders will discuss ways and means to get “One nation — One Licenxe” implemented, as well as conduct a review of Acts and Rules governing trade.

These include:

Effective pension and insurance scheme for traders

Applicability of proposed Mediation Bill, Food Safety & Standards Act, Competition Act, BIS standards

Simplification of GST, need for a e-commerce policy and regulator

Faster acceptance & adoption of tigital technology and digital payments by trading community

Access to finance for SMEs, cyber security, curbing unethical e-commerce

Plans to promote women entrepreneurship, abolition of mandi cess and professional tax

Strengthening of NBFCs & MFIs, strengthening of distribution supply chain, protection against big manufacturers

CAIT is an umbrella body the aim of which is to "render best possible assistance to Trading Community; communicate with Administrators concerned to seek redress of legitimate grievances of Traders; impart education to Traders to upgrade their performance to render most satisfactory service to consumers by adhering to fair trading policy; lend full cooperation to the Govt. in streamlining existing system; organise seminars, conference and lectures etc. for imparting latest knowledge to traders about core issues concerning trading community; lay down code of conduct for Traders to pursue business activity based on integrity, fair play and render satisfactory service to consumers; render effective service to traders, units of CAIT have been setup in almost all the states and regular coordination is being maintained with them; adopt digitalisation, computerisation, adoption & acceptance of digital payments and other significant digital technology in existing business format of domestic trade of India; create an Indian E-Commerce Portal promoting Indian Goods; bring traders of the country on E commerce platform for adoption as an additional business avenue".