Traders oppose FDI in retail at CAIT’s conclave

The three day national traders’ conclave of the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) at New Delhi which kicked off yesterday is holding a marathon debate on contentious issue of allowing FDI in e-commerce.

The conclave unanimously decided to launch an aggressive nationwide agitation against allowing FDI in e-commerce since it will create an uneven level playing field and the businesses of the brick and mortar shops will be transferred to e-commerce.

The conclave also noted that the policy of the government suffered from various loopholes which will be advantageous for the e-commerce companies, who will manage to flout the policy easily.

CAIT National Secretary General, Praveen Khandelwal, said that FDI in e-commerce or in retail trade will prove to be detrimental to the trading community. He further said that FDI is available either through private equity or venture capital which does not carry any interest whereas if it is plain funding even then in western countries, the funds are made available at an interest rate of 0.75% to 3% whereas in India the minimum interest rate is 12%.  Because of this wide gap in interest rate itself, the trading community will not be able to compete.

Delegates at the conclave lamented that though Prime Minister is emphasising on need of strengthening small businesses but sadly the actions and policies are much against his vision.

About 10 thousand trade leaders from all over the country are participating in the conclave which is chaired by Mr. B. C. Bhartia, National President of CAIT. Senior officials from Mastercard, HDFC Bank, Amway, eBay and Cibil.