‘Alliance for Digital Bharat’ to boost Digital India

'Alliance for Digital Bharat' to boost Digital India

Vijyender Sharma
NEW DELHI: In a bid to develop conducive atmosphere for digitalisation in non-corporate sector, prominent stakeholders of economy have come forward to form the 'Alliance for Digital Bharat'. The Alliance includes national organisations of traders, transporters, consumers,farmers, hawkers, SMEs, self-employed groups etc. Proposed GST which is designed to be based on a digital platform coupled with various moves of the Government to encourage cashless economy has necessitated the formation of an alliance which will become a common market in line with keeping at par, the goods & services in proposed GST.

 At a conference held today in New Delhi, the Alliance launched a nationwide advocacy campaign to extend support to encourage digitalisation among different verticals of non-corporate sector. The Alliance's objectives includes raising awareness levels, among its constituent, other such newer technologies, for the benefit of small business owners, largely include online marketplaces, ecommerce, digital payments, mobile wallets, cloud based accounting software and comprehensive use of social media for the purpose of aggressive marketing of smaller businesses.

Promotion of adoption of less cash payment system coupled with demanding simplified tax regime and favourable support policies including incentivising benefits for deeper percolation among the masses are being seen as measures to boost this sector which has long remain neglected when compared with rapid strides the organised sector has made over the last few years. This move not only supports the Government's intention to leverage its financial inclusion scheme, it also allows smaller business owners to realise impending benefits of these new age technologies. With mobile wallet user base expected to grow manifold and rise in circulation of credit and debit cards, it is crystal clear that the consumer of today is largely attracted by ease of service, followed by choice or range of products and/or services on display. Given that the non-corporate sector forms the backbone of the Indian economy, this Alliance aims at being perceived as the single largest platform within the ecosystem that has proactively taken the progressive step to embrace technology.

Mr. Praveen Khandelwal, Secretary General of Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) and Convenor of the Alliance said that unfortunately in absence of any specified Rules & Regulations, the e-commerce market in India has become an open play ground and e commerce companies are engaged in several activities that are detrimental to small businesses and digital payment is one of the core payment system largely used in e commerce. In the light of same, the alliance has been formed to empower different verticals of non- corporate sector to meet the challenges beside impressing upon the Government to take proactive steps for fair competition.

Mr. B. C. Bhartia, National President of CAIT said that complexity in understanding impending benefits, hesitation in maintaining websites along with necessary/added features such as payment gateways, and resistance to trust technologies such as cloud computing, are often cited as reasons not to avail these technologies. Added to this, dependency on private institutions for credit does not help even if a business owner is convinced to scale up its presence.He further said that that small & medium business are now moving beyond promotion and marketing related activities on social media and are increasingly realising benefits of being listed online as an e-seller

Keeping all things in mind, the Alliance has decided to empower and equip the non-corporate sector about importance and acceptance of emerging and newer technologies which is expected to drive future course of small & medium sized businesses in India. The intent of the Alliance will be to provide a set of principles, standards, policies and constraints and mutual support organization of different micro-merchant, trader and allied communities for the purpose of acceptance of adoption of emerging technologies such as e-commerce, mobile banking etc. including digital payments.

The Alliance intends to roll out its strategy in coming few weeks and will be holding multiple consultations both within and with external members of the industry in this regard. It expects to draw support from the private sector as well for this presents the unique opportunity for like-minded organisations to come together, on one single platform, and work for uplifting the small businesses.

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**VijyenderSharma*, Press Correspondent Bohan Dehra Road  JAWALAMUKHI-176031, Kangra HP(INDIA)*
 
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