ICT Trade Associations play a vital role in nurturing healthy relations between the supply chain partners, vendors and the government; coordinating their activities; resolving the issues related to payments; and in convincing the governments to change policies in favor of the partners in positive manner; and motivating them to perform better, at the regional and national level. We have two types of associations: The first type where partners become members (such as TAIT, PCAIT, etc) and the second type are federations where associations are members (such as FAIITA, FiTAG, etc.,). ICT associations also educate the partners on the govt policies and run training & awareness campaigns for them. There has been a significant growth in memberships of ICT associations across in India during the last 14 years. In this Panel Discussion, panelists focused on various measures undertaken by different IT associations across the country to create a healthy and safe ecosystem for partners and the ICT business in the country.
Moderator: Mr. Sukanta Dey (a senior ICT Industry expert & veteran)
Panelists Participated: Mr. Devesh Rastogi, President, FAIITA, Mr. Prashant Jain, Chairman, ISODA; Mr. Nilesh Kadakia, Chairman, ASIRT; Mr. Alok Gupta, President, PCAIT; and Mr. Alok Ghelani, President, FITAG.
Moderator: Mr. Sukanta Dey (a senior ICT Industry expert & veteran)
“India is a vast and complex country, and the Indian ICT industry is one of the largest in the world with millions of partners involved. There are many complex government regulations and they keep changing year on year. All these factors demand that the ICT associations play a key role in protecting the members’ interests, resolving the issues between vendors and partners, coordinate with different smaller associations at the regional level and negotiating with the government to create a healthy and harmonious ecosystem. Here we have the representatives of the leading ICT associations in India. I request the eminent panelists to elaborate on how they deal with different issues, entities and solve the problems.”
Panelist: Mr. Devesh Rastogi, President, FAIITA
“FAIITA is the National Federation of all the state & regional associations of IT businesses in India spread across different states. Business landscape is changing very fast with many new brands entering the market and as many leaving the market. With the increase is competition, disruption also increases. All this makes partners face a host of issues and challenges which are difficult deal by individual companies. FAIITA has resolved many vendor-partner issues in the last few years related to payments and other matters. For example, in one case, a Hong Kong-based company suddenly closed its operations in India without addressing the issues such as stock with the partners, stock moving in the supply chain market, and warranty & services needed to be provided. Then FAIITA intervened and negotiated with the company and fought for the claims of the partners and made the company pay through their ND, compensations amounting to many crores of rupees to the affected partners in India. It is just one of our many success stories. Also, on several occasions in the past, we negotiated with the state and central governments and got policies amended in favor of the partners.”
Panelist: Mr. Prashant Jain, Chairman, ISODA
“At ISODA, we carry out several activities and programs to help the members in addition to mediating between the disputing parties. We also help partners how to find new business avenues and exploit new opportunities. On Fridays, what we call as Friday series, we invite the experts from different fields such as valuation, taxation, AI, govt policies, cybersecurity etc and ask them to enlighten the partners on their subjects and about the changing business environments. Not only do these sessions provide valuable business-critical knowledge to the partners on various topics and but also opens new avenues for collaboration and business opportunities.”
Panelist: Mr. Alok Gupta, President, PCAIT
“Most of the PCAIT’s members are from Delhi-NCR and this gives us a special advantage as many brands have their head offices here and the government is centered here. At PCAIT, we resolved many disputes between OEMs and partners. If any partner in Delhi-NCR or outside has issues with any distributor or OEM in Delhi, we try to clear them in the best possible way. For example, a partner from Cochin had a payment dispute with a partner in Noida (UP). We got the matter settled in a short time in a way both are satisfied. So far we have settled payments issues of over Rs 100 crore worth between different parties in a way all the parties are satisfied, and we will continue to do this. When OEMs come with new and innovative products, we help the partners to take the first-mover advantage. We also conduct partner meets periodically and update the partners about the latest scenario and help the members on how to take their businesses to the next level.”
Panelist: Mr. Nilesh Kadakia, Chairman, ASIRT
“ASIRT strives to motivate the association partners and OEMs, who usually treat one another as competitors and rivals, work as friends, team members and collaborators. If different members and entities work in harmony it will place everyone in Win-Win situation. This process reduces the suspicions and doubts between different partners and the OEMs and minimizes grievances. ASIRT is dedicated to creating winning partnerships and helping the IT community reach new heights in business growth and expansion. We ensure that all members, including OEMs, collaborate and do business together and grow together.”
Panelist: Mr. Alok Ghelani, President, FiTAG
“FiTAG is an umbrella-body of regional IT associations in Gujarat. Currently, 43 smaller and medium IT associations of Gujarat representing over 4200 registered business representatives are members of FiTAG. We regularly stay connected with our member-associations, the individual partners and the government and do our best to resolve the issues between them. We have our ‘FiTAG Help Desk’ online platform where members can post their issues and grievances and we try to respond and resolve them as quickly as possible. As a part of the FiTAG Sethu Yatra initiative, the senior members of FiTAG go to every nook and corner of Gujarat and interact with the remote members and partners and update them about the latest technologies, opportunities and govt policies. The responses to this initiative and the way we could resolve the issues have been very encouraging. We already conducted over 70 events across 30 cities in Gujarat as a part of this program.”
To Sum up
Today, the IT associations at the regional as well as national levels are very active and effective in encouraging the partners, promoting and safeguarding the business interests of the member companies engaged in selling, trading and distributing ICT products, solutions and services. It is obvious that individual partners and partner associations can benefit significantly by taking the support of associations than fighting alone while resolving their business issues. Being part of associations also helps partners to stay up-to-date about the developments taking place in the country, changing business dynamics and technology trends.
Covered By: NCN MAGAZINE / ICT Associations
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