Traders to hone IT skills

The ministry of communications and information technology, along with the Confederation of All India Traders, will sensitise traders and encourage them to use information and communication technology (ICT) services.

To begin, a joint initiative by way of an orientation workshop for traders to encourage digital literacy and enabling of ICT Services is being organised Sep 18 in New Delhi.

Union Minister for IT & Communication Kapil Sibal has been requested to inaugurate the workshop, which will also be addressed by secretary, IT and other senior officials of the ministry.

As per an estimate, only about 12 percent traders across the country have adopted computerisation in their existing business format.

In such a scenario, effective steps are required to encourage the vast retail trade sector to adopt IT literacy programmes.

More than five crore business enterprises are working in the unorganised sector which contributes about 15 percent to the gross domestic product with an average annual growth of about 15 percent.

The adoption of IT skills will not only upgrade and modernise the retail trade but shall benefit the country in terms of the national economy.