'Niti Aayog to help traders adopt technology'

The assurance was given by Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant to a delegation of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) which met him today in New Delhi.

The delegation was led by CAIT's Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal. The Niti Aayog chief agreed with the trade body's demand for a National Trade Policy for retail trade and said that he would speak to Ministry of Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) in this regard, CAIT said in a press release.

Kant said that small business is the life line of the economy and as such needs a special focus on policy front. He stressed that traders and other small businesses should also understand that change is inevitable and as such they also need to upgrade and modernise their existing business format and adopt technology to accelerate growth in their trade which will culminate into growth of economy as well.

Kant also advocated a simplified and rationalised tax structure in the country and said that GST will certainly relieve the traders from various taxes and their paper formalities and will convert into ease of doing business in India.

The CAIT delegation sought government's support to incentivize cashless payments for broader acceptance. Its partnership, with global technology leader in electronic payments MasterCard, has achieved significant success across key states and has outlined an ambitious agenda for 2016, CAIT said.

Khandelwal told Kant that due recognition of “the magnificent contribution of small businesses to national exchequer is need of the hour” and a mechanism needs to be created which can have regular dialogue with traders on various issues.

The CAIT Secretary General said the traders are willing to adopt technology but there has to be a support policy from the Government.

“We are surely moving towards a technology dependent world wherein internet and mobile would be as essential as water and air," said Khandelwal.

He also urged for issuing clear guidelines and definition of ownership with respect to e-commerce business in India. (SH)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk – India