By Preethi J, CRN, August 12, 2010, 1200 hrs
Seven apex channel bodies in the western region—Mumbai-based TAIT, Pune-based CMDA, Nashik-based CAN, ISODA, Gujarat’s FITAG and Aurangabad-based ACT and Goa’s GIBA—have united to form a new association called the West India Federation (WIF) to promote the health of channel partners. Soon, channel associations in Madhya Pradesh will be invited to join WIF.
“WIF will have membership strength of 10,000 channel businesses spread across the Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa and Madhya Pradesh, thus making it the largest and the strongest channel association in the country. This will give us the leverage to take up issues at both the government and vendor level. We believe that WIF will be taken more seriously while lobbying with the government—state and central—on matters of taxation and policy reforms related to the IT industry,” said Ketan Patel, President, TAIT.
The process to set up WIF is underway and is expected to be completed within 45 days, according to Patel. TAIT will handle the administration of WIF until it becomes an independent setup.
Over the next two weeks, the executive committee and chairman will be elected; chosen from amongst the presidents of the member associations.
“The broader agenda for WIF is to address fixing of channel margins, formalize contracts and agreements as well as offer training in modern management principles to upgrade skill sets of channel partners. It will also lobby with the government about new pollution control board norms, as well as issues with e-waste management and energy certification laws in India,” said Patel.
WIF will also pursue immediate issues including uniform pricing, and will back the movement launched by CMDA to get vendors to supply Octroi-paid material. “We expect uniform pricing to be adopted within a week,” said Harinder Salwan, Secretary General, ISODA.
The other current and pressing issue on WIF’s agenda is the concerns regarding the new HP PSG policy. “We have called for a meeting with HP PSG team in Mumbai to discuss our apprehensions about the new HP policy, particularly the signing up of telecom players as tier-1 and tier-2 partners. Our demand to HP is to replace telecom players with IT partners across all four states,” added Yogesh Godbole, Secretary, CMDA.
In Mumbai, the PC vendor has appointed Priyanka Telecom as a tier-1 partner. According to Satish Bhatija, a member of TAIT, three of the four tier-2 partners are also telecom players—RSG Telecom, Citiphone and CRM Technologies.
“From our interactions with HP so far, it appears that they are ready to co-operate and we are optimistic about getting them to amend their new policy,” added Patel. |