The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said that it is highly unfortunate and extremely reprehensible that in this hour of global and national Crisis due to Covid19, the E-Commerce giants have stopped their operations and failed to stand up to the Nation’s needs.
Mr. B.C.Bhartia, National President & Mr. Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary General of CAIT said that this delinquent behaviour by E commerce portals is also condemnable because in such a scenario where all stakeholders should actually assume responsibility and come forward to help the country, they have chosen to step back and sit on the fence because doing business during crisis hours does not seem profitable to them. They further said that these E commerce players who have such deep pockets and keep indulging in malpractices throughout the year to destroy the business of small retailers by indulging in deep discounting, have completely gone into hibernation mode when they should have actually come out to deliver essentials throughout the country. They have shown their true colour to the nation and now can be labelled as ‘ fair weather friends’ only.
Both Mr. Bhartia & Mr. Khandelwal appreciated the role played by the offline traders of essential commodities throughout the country who against all odds have gone against the wishes of their family by putting their own life under severe threat of getting infected from Covid19 and serving the nation selflessly under such torrid circumstances and providing essential commodities to the people of the Country. The traders of India have responded to the call given by the Prime Minister to stand up tall and ensure that no Indian is left at the mercy of hunger and poverty. Both leaders said that out of 1.25 cr traders of essential goods about 25% of total traders of essential commodities are able to operate on ground due to various lockdown restrictions and movement hassles and these selfless traders are operating under losses but even then nothing has deterred them to rise to the occasion with utmost sincerity because they understand that in crisis, It is always nation before self and not self before nation as being practiced by the E commerce portals.
Both leaders further said that, the future looks uncertain and bleak at the moment. Indian retail is losing daily business of approximately USD 2 Billion i.e about Rs.15 crores for the last 20 days and at this stage we are still unsure how long this lockdown will continue. Of about 7 crore traders in India 6.5 crores are completely shut due to nationwide lockdown. The CAIT has written to the Government and has sought specific economic relief package from the Government so that the 7 crore traders of India are able to bounce back strongly from this Covid19 catastrophe which has not only endangered the life of humanity but also caused an economic pandemonium accross the globe, the repurcussions of which will reverberate for a long time to come.
