Tussle between Rashi and First IT Forum continues

CHANDIGARH, INDIA: It was more than two weeks back that dealers in Chandigarh

had banned Rashi Peripherals in their region, and today despite efforts by Rashi Peripherals and direct intervention by Suresh Pansari, First IT Forum, is firm on its stand to discontinue the billing till the distributor agrees to practice fair trade policies with channel partners.

Elaborating about the standoff, Sanjeev Walia, key member of First IT Forum, the IT association of Chandigarh said that the dealers do not have any personal issues with Rashi Peripherals and they will start the business again if Rashi assure the partners of fair practices and positive attitude in future.

“Dealers do not have personal issues with Rashi Peripherals. Our only problem is that for long Rashi has been doing unfair business with dealers in Chandigarh market and we are not going to tolerate it. We have been interacting with Rashi through e-mails but every time we get a diplomatic response. We can straight away start the business with Rashi but we do not want the same issues to be repeated in future. Rashi has to assure this to all the dealers in Chandigarh and we will start the billing,” said Walia.

First IT Forum will also be holding an internal meeting to discuss the issue and solve the matter at the earliest.

In a sustained e-mail interaction with members of First IT Forum, copies of which are available with The DQ Week, Suresh Pansari, MD, Rashi Peripherals, stated, “We have approached you and tried to resolve all the concerns raised by you (although most of the concerns were heard in our absence and decisions taken by the Forum). However, we are unable to get a fair trade practice solution/decision until now. We are requesting once again to provide us a solution in the interest of Members of IT Forum as well as IT Industry /public at large.”

He further said that partners in Chandigarh need to consider that 98 percent business of Rashi Peripherals comes from distribution and that the company is committed to holding on to its channel partners.

However, it is evident that there are few exceptions which every business house cannot fulfill the individual's wish list.

Sanjay Sharma from Chandigarh-based Microcom stated that the dealers do not want diplomatic statements from the distributor and if they are serious for resolving the issue they should come forward and interact with the dealers directly and assure them about uniform trade practices.

Rajesh Kakkar from Global Systems informed that the dealers of Chandigarh have lost faith in Rashi to such an extent that now they are not ready to do billing with them, however, the final decision will be taken after the internal meeting with the association.

Last week Rashi also organized a service camp in Chandigarh with the objective to support partners to overcome their service vows. Commenting on the same Kakkar said, “Rashi wants to make things appear very channel friendly but their actual trade policies are unfair. There is a difference between attending a service camp and doing any billing. Any partner would go to such service centers if he has service issues. There is no reason why he should not attend the event but that does not imply that the business has restarted.”

With the association sticking to its stand, despite efforts being made by Rashi to solve the problem, this standoff appears to be slated for a long haul.