Industry Body CAIT Called for Nationwide Protest Against GST On 5th March

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has announced to launch a national movement against the 'arbitrariness' of Goods and Services (GST) provisions and alleged malpractices of e-commerce giants.

'The campaign will begin from March 5 and continue till April 5 against the GST amendments and malpractices of foreign e-commerce companies,' CAIT said.

The trader's body said both these issues are directly related to the eight crore traders of the country and till the logical resolution of these two issues is achieved, the movement will continue throughout the country.

'At present, traders across the country are badly plagued by the provisions of GST and the constant arbitrariness of foreign companies in e-commerce and now, the traders are either forced to resolve these issues or shut their business,' CAIT stated.

According to Secretary General of CAIT, Praveen Khandelwal a video conference was held on Sunday in which more than 275 prominent leaders from all the states and union territories of the country participated and decided unanimously to launch a national wide campaign on these two issues.

"It is not the Centre but the states who are more responsible for diluting the spirit of GST, to their own likings and now they can't escape from their responsibilities," it said.

CAIT alleged that the state governments have left no stone unturned to distort the GST because of their own interests which has led to the sufferings of traders.

In this context, CAIT has urged the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman that since is the Chairperson of the GST Council, she should initiate dialogues with the traders' organisation immediately about the current distorted nature of GST.

Further, it has also urged the Union Commerce Minister, Piyush Goyal to issue further amend and clarify the FDI policy and also finalise and release e-commerce policy since the FDI policy is being grossly violated by foreign e-commerce companies.

"Since elections will be held in five states in the next few months and as a vote bank in all the states, the trading community holds a huge majority in strength and numbers and can be a deciding factor for the victory and defeat of any political party. Hence the decision of CAIT to launch a nationwide campaign amid elections and the anger of traders can affect the prospects of every political party," said the CAIT statement.

On March 13, traders' associations will picket in more than 600 districts of the country registering, while on March 20, trader rallies will be held in all the districts of the country.