With the interim budget around the corner, Confederation of All India Traders has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to address the issues of the trading community and announce sops to bring in ease of doing business and to provide better business opportunities for small traders.
Listing out issues that need to be resolved, CAIT has requested accidental insurance of Rs 10 lakh for traders registered under GST. For traders to be able to upgrade and modernise their businesses, it has requested for a subsidy to traders purchasing computers and allied goods. “It is noteworthy to mention that so far only about 35% small businesses out of 7 crore could able to adopt computers. Since the Government has completely digitalised processes, the small traders should also be made computerised,” it said in the letter.
CAIT has also requested for a National Trade Policy for Retail Trade be formulated, a separate Ministry for Internal Trade to be constituted and a Retail Regulatory Authority to be formed to regulate the retail trade of the country. A request to create a Trade Promotion Council, which should act as bridge between traders and the government was also made.
Formulation of the e-commerce policy too, which the trader body has been fighting for found a mention in the letter, along with a need to provide assistance to traders in launching a transparent and trust worthy e commerce portal.
“It is also urged that the traders should be given loan by the banks at concessional rate of interest. So far only 5% of the small businesses could able to obtain loans from banks and financial institution and balance 95% are dependent upon private moneylenders, relatives and other private sources for their financial needs,” it wrote in the letter.
It has also requested that direct lending by Banks under MUDRA scheme be disbanded and registered Non-Banking Finance Companies (NBFCs), Micro Finance Institutions and private moneylenders to be roped in to lend to beneficiaries.
To promote digital payments, CAIT wants digital payments to be free from levy of Bank charges in order to encourage digital payment in the country. “As of now the Banks are charging 1% to 2% charges for digital payment transactions which discourages the adoption of digital payments. Tax benefits and other incentives should also be given for adoption & acceptance of digital payments by the traders and consumers,” it said.
Other demands also included a pension scheme for the traders registered under GST, abolishment of Mandi Tax all over the county, abolishment of tax slab of 18% under GST and revisiting some tax slabs were also made.