The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has announced to launch an e-commerce marketplace “bharatemarket” for the retail traders in collaboration with the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). The portal will be launched soon, said CAIT in a statement here recently.
The Idea germinated during the lockdown period wherein local kirana stores were asked by the government to provide home deliveries via online orders. The Idea is now being implemented across the country by the with the support of traders. The marketplace will provide end-to-end services in the logistics and supply chains from manufacturers to consumers’ home.
CAIT General Secretary Praveen Khandelwal informed that, “CAIT with initial hand-holding of DPIIT, is launching this national e- marketplace to bring 95% of retail trade of India on-board the platform. In a virtual press meet, he added that the portal is a by-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 idea took shape when the Start-up India Division under the DPIIT synergised the efforts of various companies and startups working in supply chain management area to help the local kirana stores to take online orders from the consumers and identify potential companies dealing with various aspects of retail to consumer supplies.
We have already started this programme as a pilot project, initially with a limited number of essential commodities, in six cities – Prayagraj, Gorakhpur, Varanasi, Lucknow, Kanpur and Bengaluru and are getting tremendous response from retailers, distributors and consumers. This has now grown to 90+ cities in a matter of two weeks. The learning from the pilot will allow us to scale upto 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 efforts.”