The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), today announced the launch soon of a national e-commerce Marketplace “bharatemarket” for all retail traders to be powered by collaboration with several technology partners. The marketplace will integrate capabilities of various technology companies to provide end to end services in the logistics and supply chains from manufacturers to end consumers including deliveries at home. The e commerce portal will include a nationwide participation by real-world retailers, who have served Indian consumers over the years, and in many cases, even across generations. To be owned by the traders themselves, it will ensure privacy of consumers data.
CAIT Secretary General Mr. Praveen Khandelwal said that acknowledging the magnificent role of traders in supply of essential goods to entire Country even in far flung & remote areas, Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi underlined the contribution of traders in three successive tweets he made recently has boosted the confidence of traders and to accomplish the vision of PM Shri Modi for “Digital India & fast adoption of Digital Payments, the CAIT with initial hand holding of DPIIT, is launching this national e marketplace to bring 95% of retail trade of India comprising of traders to bring one commerce platform. where each trader on-boarding the platform, will be the shareholder and the portal will be run exclusively by the traders, of the traders and for the traders & consumers.
Mr. Khandelwal while addressing a video Press Conference today said that the portal is a bye-product of experiences gained by CAIT while working with DPIIT to ensure supply of essential goods in containment zones during the periods of lockdown. The Startup India Division under the DPIIT synergise the efforts of various companies & startups working in supply chain to help the local Kirana stores to take online orders from the consumers. had launched the initiative to identify potential companies dealing with various aspects of retail to consumer supplies being done in electronic and contactless manner with delivery to home as the norm.
Mr. Khandelwal, making this announcement said, “we have already started this program as a pilot, initially with a limited number of essential commodities, in 6 cities – Prayagraj, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Lucknow, Kanpur and Bengaluru with tremendous response from Retailers, Distributors and even Consumers. This has now grown to 90+ cities in a matter of two weeks. The learnings from the pilot will allow us to scale to many more locations and soon to categories beyond Groceries. We have been very fortunate to have had the active support and guidance of the Ministry of Industry & Commerce (DPIIT), as they see this initiative as a very effective way to get essential commodities to consumers during the lockdown period and within containment zones. We are very thankful for their guidance and encouragement of our effortsâ€.
Mr. Khandelwal said that with the initial support of DPIIT, the traders across Country will once again step up and serve Indian consumers, in keeping with the changing preferences of young India – online and yet with the neighbourhood presence, as required. Indian consumers will soon be able to order anything they require, on their phones and devices at the click of a button and have it delivered through the closest neighbourhood store, within a short time. The entire logistic system of the portal will strictly observe all security and sanitation requirements. The traders, their employees and all delivery persons will invariably use the Arogya Setu app for their safety.
Mr. BC Bhartia, National President of CAIT added, “the CAIT-led National Traders’ eMarketplace will be of the Traders, by the Traders, for the Traders & Consumers. All Trade Partners will jointly own a portion of this eCommerce Marketplace, which has the potential to become the largest in the world. The mission of the portal is digitalising the end to end supply chain for India’s traditional self-organised chain of traders, bridging the digital divide between Bharat and India, offering full choice and maximum convenience to the consumers, build capacity in inventory management, book keeping and digital payments, develop alternative delivery models to serve customers and create value for Bharat and the stakeholders of the platform. The distinctive feature of the portal is that all value created through the platform will be captured onshore. The platform will strictly adhere to the letter and spirit of the law.â€
The core differentiators of BharatEMarket.in will be:
- One single URL (www.bharatemarket.in) to buy almost any product;
- Speed meets service – every consumer order will be routed to the nearest participating retailer;
- Of the traders by the traders – jointly owned by millions of Indian traders;
- Assurance of current stock and genuine products – traders’ share in BharatEMarket is contingent on this;
- No commissions and fees payable by participating Traders and faster realization of their funds;
- Support to India’s economy – consumers buying on BharatEMarket will support a better future for India’s largest employers and their ~40 crore employees;
- Full digitization of the backend supply chain – Brand – Distributor/Wholesaler – Retailer – Consumer. Probably, amongst the largest scale digitization program ever;
Mr. Bhartia said that CAIT is looking to enroll about 1 Crore Retailers on this eMarketplace in very quick time and make it the world’s largest and most unique eMarketplace ever. Consumers shopping here will get the benefit of receiving goods from trusted neighbourhood stores and the assurance of service support close at hand, but most importantly will have the satisfaction of helping the nearly 40 crore employees of these 7 crore traders have a better future for themselves and their families.
Mr. Bhartia said that the CAIT is looking to enrol quite sizeable traders by the end of 2020 on this eMarketplace and make it the world’s largest and unique eMarketplace. Consumers shopping here will get the benefit of receiving goods from trusted neighbourhood stores and the assurance of service support close at hand. This will also lead to consumers getting wider choices with technology enablement of neighbourhood stores.