Smriti Irani to meet traders on Friday for campaign to promote women engagement in e-commerce

Smriti Irani retained women and child development ministry during the recent PM Modi cabinet reshuffle.

Technology for MSMEs: Women Development and Child Welfare minister Smriti Irani on Wednesday urged traders to engage women in their e-commerce businesses, said traders’ body Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) said. Irani was addressing the traders at a conference organized by CAIT. The association said Irani called for a joint campaign across the country with her ministry and CAIT to promote women’s safety and entrepreneurship. “In this context, a meeting of selected trade leaders of the country with Smt. Smriti Irani will be held in the ministry on the 16th of July in which the strategy will be decided on conducting a joint campaign,” CAIT said.

“Now a special campaign should be launched by the traders to make more and more women entrepreneurs in the country. From time to time, women have shown their ability by achieving heights in various fields, so why should the women lag behind in business and industry too,” CAIT cited Irani as saying during the event.

Subscribe to Financial Express SME newsletter now: Your weekly dose of news, views, and updates from the world of micro, small, and medium enterprises

Smriti Irani, who retained women and child development ministry during the recent PM Modi cabinet reshuffle, said that consumers have a special bond with their ‘Pados ki Baniya Ki Dukan’ who helps them in all circumstances and if these shops began adopting modern technology in their existing business format, they are capable of giving competition to any biggest company in the world. “if the ‘Pados ki Baniye Ki Dukan’ in every street and corner of any city also does online business then foreign companies around the world will get a clear message that India is not the same country anymore where anyone can become East India Company,” the minister added according to CAIT.

Traders’ body had recently said that the exploitation of e-commerce channel through unethical business practices of online retailers in India has led to lakh of shops being forced to close. CAIT had also urged Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal to launch the e-commerce policy immediately. The government had last month proposed amendments to Consumer Protection (E-commerce) Rules that indicated stricter compliance for e-commerce companies such as Amazon, Walmart-owned Flipkart, and others who have continuously questioned by CAIT against their alleged business malpractices.

Original Source