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The need for a national association
By Dhaval Valia
If ever there was an urgent and compelling need for a strong national channel body, it is now.
For an industry the size of the Indian IT channel not to have a credible and strong association that can make a just and proper representation of the interests of the industry is very unfortunate.
Associations such as Nasscom and MAIT have completely failed in safeguarding the interests of the IT channels, be it hardware or software. While MAIT lacks authority, Nasscom is focused mostly on the software export segment with no clear charter for the domestic market.
How else do you explain that even after almost 10 months the double taxation issue on the sale of software products hasn’t been resolved?
In fact, a month after the service tax levy notification was issued in May 2008, I had called Nasscom to know their plan of action for resolving the issue—and they weren’t even aware of the notification. I haven’t seen the association even come up with a press statement on the matter.
MAIT, on the other hand, is losing its relevance. Whether on the issue of double taxation or the recent notification for the levy of ST on back-end rebates, there hasn’t been a single MAIT press statement.
This essentially means that the IT channel will have to create its own platform which provides national  representation for their issues and aspirations.
In the past, there have been notable efforts to form a national association, but the initiatives failed to fructify. Even so, this failure shouldn’t deter us from trying again.
Several channel associations are doing credible work at the city or regional level. However, they have been unable to emulate their camaraderie at the national level.
For putting a national association together, it’s necessary to involve the vendors and distributors. According to me, one reason why efforts to set up a national association haven’t succeeded in the past is because channel associations per se are perceived by vendors and distributors to be anti-bodies formed to challenge their channel policies and systems.
Yet today, both vendors and channels have matured. Many channel associations have demonstrated, over the last few years, their ability to create better business ethics, thus improving the overall channel ecosystem. I certainly believe that there are far more benefits of working together than working against each other.
With this fundamental premise, vendors and channels need to exchange ideas on how to create an industry body that contributes to the betterment of the entire IT sector. This is the only way to form a powerful national association.
Do let me know your views.
Following the passionate comments to the above opinion, I am attaching the Confed-ITA presentation on how to form a national association sent by PN Prasad. This may serve as food for thought for all of us who feel the compelling need to have a national association.
Click here to download
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