Diwali sales: traders sold Rs 72k crore goods amid boycott of Chinese goods

Ease of doing business for MSMEs: The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) body of traders said on Sunday that traders across the country sold goods worth 72 billion rupees during the Diwali season due to the “complete boycott of Chinese products.” The confederation, representing around 7 crore of merchants and 40,000 trade associations, claimed the season also “gave China the expected loss of Rs 40,000 crore,” according to reports it collected from 20 different cities, including major metropolitan areas. , Nagpur, Lucknow, Ahmedabad. , Jaipur, Jammu, etc. However, small firecracker traders and sellers witnessed a loss of Rs 10 billion due to the ban on the sale of firecrackers in various states such as Delhi, West Bengal, Sikkim, Odisha, Rajasthan, Haryana, etc.

Consumer goods, toys, home appliances and appliances, utensils, gift items, confectionery, candy, furniture and home decor, footwear, apparel, Diwali pooja items, including clay diyas, handicraft items and more, remained the main products that were sold during the holiday season. “The merchants and the people of the country gave a big and strong shake to China,” said BCBhartia, national president and Praveen Khandelwal, CAIT secretary general in a joint statement. The traders body also expects to further reduce imports from China to the tune of Rs 1 lakh crore by December 2021.

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To help firecracker traders overcome losses due to the ban on the sale of firecrackers, CAIT last week had “vigorously demanded” compensation from Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and heads of other states. It called the ban a flagrant violation of a March 2019 order from the Supreme Court of India that said it was “not in favor of a comprehensive ban on crackers and instead suggested regulating the polluting aspect of the industry.” .

Meanwhile, CAIT is likely to launch its e-commerce portal BharatEMarket in December to bring its merchant community online, even as it continues to confront Amazon and Flipkart for their alleged bad business practices. The portal would be launched in partnership with the Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) and would be promoted by PM Modi’s Startup India and Invest India together with the Federation of Consumer Products Distributors of India and the lender of small businesses Avana Capital.