The event was about strengthening the hands of FAIITA and show strength of partners
One of the unique events in the history of Indian IT industry – “CHANNEL VISTAS – 2018” – held at Hotel Crown Plaza, Okhla, New Delhi on May the 5th 2018, brought together the entire IT channel community under one umbrella. Although organized by Progressive Channels Association of Information Technology (PCAIT) in association with the Federation of All India IT Association (FAIITA), but the event was about strengthening the hands of FAIITA and show strength of the partners.
From the introduction of IT into the country till now, there was no central body of channel partners who could fight against the OEMs or Government or event with fellow partners on various issues and injustices but with the formation of FAIITA, it gave unanimity of voice of the pan India partners. There were various issues like differentiated pricing model between the off line and online product by the OEMs, high rate of taxation on various IT products, delayed financial pay outs and incentives by OEMs to the partners, disputes between distributor and partners or partner and partners. These issues finally got addressed through FAIITA. It being the central body with the power of the pan Indian partner community it could help the disputes redressed with a minimal time frame. So in a sense this event indicated the empowerment of IT partners in India.
Represented by 150 major partners from pan India and senior members of OEM, there were a lot of discussions around how to complement each other on various geographies and enhance business opportunities of the partners. The discussion also covered how to manage finance in a better way.
Alok Gupta, Convener, FAITA & President, PCAIT, said, “Many of our partners have started manufacturing keeping Make in India in mind. Now our objective is that how we can make tie ups that their products get market access in every corner of the country. We have more than 300 associations and more than 3000 partners under FAIITA. So we are expecting a sizable business will start after this meeting. “
Champak Gurjar, President, FAIITA, said, “The aim of FAIITA is to make the IT partners of India a single entity. We were doing business for a long time but were not able to do business unanimously. Now after being a single entity, we are able to connect with each other. At the same time, we have signed MOU with TAITRA that soon a lot of joint ventures would happen between TAIWAN and our partners. India as a country would also be benefited because of its software capability by being a complementing partner of the hardware capability of TAIWAN.”
Saket Kapur, General Secretary, FAIITA, said, “This event today is to match make channel partners. There was no event happened at the partners’ level which was aimed at business enhancement. Today, ever since we have entered this hall, we are only talking about channel partners’ business enhancement. There were a lot of companies who were offerings products and services, and there were a lot of company who wanted to sell these products and services, as they had a lot of customers and reach in multiple states, we have done match making between these two sets of parties. If this goes in the right direction, we can enhance business of the partners. Our target is to enhance every members’ business by more than 25%.”
Sanjeev Walia, member representative from PACT, Chandigarh, said, “All the associations across Indian have come under FAIITA. As of today, I am giving an example, my limitation was restricted to Punjab only, I was not able to file tender in other states but by coming under FAIITA I can now file tender in other states. This is the biggest network in India. Till now there was no pan India network like FAIITA.”
Naveen Gupta, member representative from Bihar IT Association said, “By the formation of FAIITA, it has brought in a huge confidence among the dealers. As of now we were being dependent upon the OEMs for various products, but now we can source product from any corner of the country if it is available with any dealer. We do not have any hiccup in the supply chain. Often, we find many products which are out of stock from the company is also available with some partners. The fear the dealers had from the companies in terms of their security and payment is now removed, if FAIITA comes to the picture as a mediator and the company is able to solve the problem in a few days.”
