TAIT supports Confed's decision to ban SES

CHENNAI, INDIA: In another major development in the Confed-SES standoff, Mumbai's Trade IT Association (TAIT) has extended its support to Confed-ITA in getting the matter solved in an amicable manner.

Anees Khalfay, President, TAIT mentioned, “TAIT has always extended its support to all the associations across the country. As far as the SES-Confed-ITA standoff is concerned, we are looking at ways to sort out the issue, since as an association we do not believe in boycotting any vendor.”

Pravin Dhoka, Secretary and spokesperson for TAIT added, “We are taking keen interest in the issue. We will be holding a meeting on Friday to discuss the strategy to be undertaken in terms of resolving the issue, and will support Confed-ITA.”

Following the letter sent to SES by Confed last week, the disti has sent a strong reply to the association. In the letter to SES, the association had demanded that the disti withdraw the cases filed against the channel partners. “We have received a legal notice from SES asking us not to interfere in their legal actions that have been initiated against channel partners in Tamil Nadu, and we have to pay for their business losses if Confed is going to impose a ban on the distributor for their activities,” informed PN Prasad, President, Confed-ITA.

He added that the associations under Confed-ITA were furious at receiving such a reply from SES and intend to take a definite course of action against the vendor. “Also, other associations like Mumbai's Trade IT Association (TAIT) are showing keen interest in the case and we want other associations across the country to come together and fight the issue,” Prasad claimed.

“We didn’t expect such a reply from a professional organization like SES. We have been doing business with them for years and taking a legal action on Confed is like taking action on all dealers in the state, as we are all part of the confederation. Moreover, legal action is not the only measure to solve problems and we need to solve this through various discussions. We can’t allow this to happen and this action of SES proves that there is a serious lack of thought within the organization,” claimed C Balakrishnan, President, Erode IT Association and VP of Confed.

He added that all associations in Tamil Nadu were discussing the matter seriously and any action to this particular notice from SES would be handled according to the decision taken by the associations under Confed.

Speaking on behalf of the disti, Suresh Tuteja, GM—Finance, SES Technologies clarified that the distributor hadn't send a legal notice to the association but only a reply through their lawyer. “They sent us a letter asking us to withdraw the case and we sent a letter asking them not to interfere in our business related actions or activities. Let the court decide who is the accused and we don’t want any suggestions or orders from others. We believe in justice and are confident that we will get it through the court,” Tuteja claimed.