Bengaluru: The Confederation of Indian Traders (CAIT) is all set to launch E-Lala—a nation-wide portal that will help small- and medium-sized traders sell goods to consumers online.

The portal will be piloted in Nagpur in August and will go national in two months.

E-Lala will allow consumers to buy products and services across categories, helping local traders sell through an additional channel—online, apart from their existing stores. Delivery will be facilitated by the local retailer.

CAIT, an independent body that lobbies for the cause of small- and medium-sized traders in the country, is hoping to rescue local traders of groceries, apparel and other household items from large, organized retailers that are shifting business to online portals.

“Online retailers are clearly dominating the market with deep discounts," said Praveen Khandelwal, secretary general, CAIT. Business, he said, is clearly moving online and small traders need to be protected. “We have to stop this shift," he said.

CAIT is finalizing details of the size and scope of retailers who will participate in the portal.

Growth of e-tail in India over the past two years has caused immense distress to both small and large brick-and-mortar traders who’ve opposed the business.

E-tail is expected to reach $50 billion in revenue by 2020, according to reports. Large e-tailers such as Flipkart, Amazon, Jabong, BigBasket, among others, are making it easier for shoppers to buy online. Clearly, business on the ground is being impacted.

India has roughly 5.77 crore retailers, spread across markets and shopping clusters.

Khandelwal said certain traders are opposed to the idea of associating with larger e-commerce companies and hyper-local portals that allow consumers to shop on their websites but link them to local kirana stores in the area. “These websites want to dominate and control the trader," he said.

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