GUWAHATI, Oct 29 � In their first major show of resentment and anguish over the online retail business, the offline traders across the country will be staging �Attention Dharna� at more than 150 cities in different states of the country on October 31 under the banner of Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT).
Assam Chamber of Commerce will stage dharna extending solidarity to the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT). The dharna will be held at Christianbasti from 11 am to 1 pm.
In their bid to hold one-to-one talks with the brand owners whose products are sold both online and offline, the CAIT has also convened a meeting with senior officials of such companies on November 5.
�The dharna across the country is being organized to attain focus of the Government towards current business practices of the online retail portals which have destroyed business of offline markets to a great extent,� said Rupam Goswami, CAIT National vice- president in a statement issued at Guwahati.
Demanding specific rules and regulations for e-commerce business and formation of a regulatory authority for retail trade in India, the protesters at the dharna will also demand investigation of business module of online retail portals by the Government. �The offline market has suffered a business loss of about 45 per cent this Diwali in comparison to last year's Diwali festival,� said Goswami. Goswami accused that so far the online retail business was conducted without any kind of specific law, rules and regulations, which has distorted the basic fabric of Indian retail and has badly affected the offline market.
�Any sort of trading in the country could not be continued without any law and checks of the Government and therefore in the wake of emergence of online retail business, there was an urgent need to draw laws and respective rules and regulations by the Government for conducting e-commerce business,� said Goswami.
