New Delhi, Mar 5 (KNN) Retail trade of India is bound to expand in coming years and its imperative upon the traders to adopt technology and digitization, said Amitabh Kant, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Niti Aayog.

He was speaking at a conference organized by Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) to gather views of all the stakeholders on the recently released draft of the e-commerce policy here.

Kant said, “The retail trade in India boasts the most promising future and it’s growing by leaps and bounds.”

However, he stated that Indian retail trade as well as the retailers must go digital since embracing digital is the only way forward for the trading community of such a diverse and growing country like India.

“As far as e-commerce is concerned it’s a revolution and no one can afford to spare itself from the ground reality. The traders have wide network even on streets and every area of the country. No one can beat them," said Kant.

However, in the changing scenario, the Government will protect traders and on the other hand will also do best to have linkage between big players and small traders to ensure principle of co-existence, he added.

Voicing the concerns on the e new commerce policy, CAIT National President B.C. Bhartia and Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said, “On the whole we welcome the new e-commerce policy but it should also address the concerns of all the stakeholders. Even though the policy looks comprehensive it has not provided solutions to a wide range of issues currently faced by the domestic e-commerce players.”

Besides, the policy should be helpful in providing the opportunity of growth and expansion to the indigenous players in this segment only then the vision of making India a global hub for the manufacturing of goods can be achieved, they added.

Further, CAIT said “We demand some immediate changes in the policy such as inclusion of all players of digital payments not only BHIM & UPI, A Regulatory Authority should be set up for e-commerce, COD in e-commerce should not be allowed and domestic players should be brought under the ambit of the policy.”

The CAIT which has been pushing the government to release the most awaited policy invited the suggestions of all the participants to further send the final proposals to the Department of Internal Trade under Ministry of Commerce before March 9, 2019.

The traders’ body reiterated at the occasion that the objections and suggestions received by it today will be submitted to the Ministry Of Commerce with the rational expectation of making the final outcome much improved and comprehensive.