NACIT shapes up

Twenty-five trade associations from across the country came together in Mumbai on 26th July to form National Association of Channels of Information Technology or NACIT. The body was formed as a consequence of a day-long National Conference of IT Trade Associations held on the same day. The conference was facilitated by DQ Channels India.

The response to the conference of its kind, was overwhelming. All the 25 associations who had confirmed participation, were present. Fifty-four representatives who participated in the conference unanimously voted for the formation of NACIT.

A working committee was formed with 24 members, who in turn voted for a 12-member managing committee. Saurin Shah, currently the Chairman of Mumbai-based TAIT, was unanimously elected as the President of NACIT, while Arun K Jalan, President of Kolkata-based COMPASS, was elected as the National Vice-President.

Chetan Shah of Surat-based SITA was elected as Secretary, and Devang Shah of Mumbai-based CMDA became the Treasurer. The working committee also appointed four regional VPs: John Thomas of CMDA, Pune (West); Rupesh Kedia of RCTA, Rajasthan (North); TS Srinivasan of TCCDA, Hyderabad (South) and Manoj Lalani of ITAO, Orissa (East).

Four members were co-opted to the managing committee, namely Naishadh Diwanji of ACMA, Ahmedabad, JP Bansal of DCTA, Delhi; Moolchand Jain of ITTA, Chennai and Lalit Prakash Bhartia of AIT, Bangalore. CW Kadwadkar of TAIT would function as the secretary general of NACIT.

The member associations have decided to contribute Rs 10,000 each, to kickstart the activities of NACIT.The participants at the conference highlighted a range of prominent issues that they felt, NACIT should take up. Primarily these were segregated into areas- vendor and taxation.

The vendor-related issues included, warranty, DOA, RMA, backends, ORCs and service infrastructure. Participants wanted NACIT to take up these issues with vendors and ensure that channels' concerns were rightly addressed.

On the taxation front, NACIT was expected to pay a pivotal role in making representations to the government on VAT, service tax, excise and octroi (in relation to VAT).

The gathering suggested that among other activities the association should also look at providing legal counseling to channel partners. A meeting of the working committee, once-a-quarter was also recommended. Speaking on the occasion, Chairperson for the day's proceedings, Saurin Shah said, "The efforts put in by DQ Channels India in facilitating this conference, which has led to the realization of a long-cherished dream of formation of a national body, is highly commendable."

He also added that with the formation of NACIT, member associations will now need to work together to ensure that the national body achieves its objectives. Those present also strongly felt that the member associations would need to put in lot of efforts to create a strong branding around NACIT. "We need to project NACIT on lines parallel to the way Nasscom and MAIT do for themselves," suggested Brijesh Khanna of FITAG.



Registration of the association as a co-operative body, was a suggestion put forth by Arun Jalan of COMPASS, that was unanimously agreed upon.

Association members also recommended various development plans for channels. These included imparting education to partners on latest trends, issues, business ethics and practices. They also discussed the idea of synchronizing the election process of all the member associations with that of NACIT. For practical purposes, majority of the attendees agreed upon Mumbai being the head-quarters for NACIT for the time being. Members have set a time-period of six months to complete the registration and other legalities related to the association.

(CNS)