 How old is CMDA? Please share the details of the Governing Body of CMDA? The Computer Media Dealers’ Association (CMDA), a registered body under the Societies Act, was formed way back in 2000 and ever since it has been functioning as a platform voicing and catering to the needs and problems of the Consumable Trade fraternity. It aims at protecting and promoting the interests of all the Association members and making the trade follow fair trade practices, besides overall betterment of the Channel community as a whole. CMDA as a body comprises of a President, two Vice-Presidents, a Secretary and a Treasurer, handling different responsibilities and looking after the smooth functioning of the Association. Please elaborate the election system and what is the current number of your members? We hold elections once in three years. The Association has recently held its third elections in March for the appointment of the new office-bearers for the year 2010-11. Puneet Singhal was been elected as the President, A. K. Pandey and Sharad Midha as Vice-Presidents, Manoj Khanna as the Treasurer and Pramod Rajpal as the Secretary of the Association. Besides, a handful of Executive Members heading different departments were also appointed. We have presently 94 Life Members on our rolls. How do you tackle the channel-vendor issues? Please share some details, if possible? Our Association has always stood by our members in their hour of crisis and has resolved many trade disputes to their satisfaction. We are, at present, protecting our members as well as the entire country’s computer dealers’ interest by contesting a Monopolistic Restricted Trade Practices (MRTP) being adopted by a particular vendor (Samsung) regarding parallel imports and seek support on this issue. Another important issue which is addressed by the Association is to handle or sell the material imported by the companies other than the Principal Companies/Vendors in a responsible way. Our Association has also fought a fiercely contested legal battle lasting two years at different forums to bring the VAT tariff down from 12.5% to 4% in the state of Delhi. Are fraudulent and "fly-by-night" kind of activities prevalent in the metros? What measures do you adopt to minimize them? There is no denying the fact that fraudulent activities will continue, despite the efforts to put a stop to them. I am of the view that “fly-by-night” operators are more in the metro cities than smaller towns. But our consistent efforts to put a check on such activities will continue by acting sternly on them and taking recourse to the law. Within the CMDA-Delhi, the issue of rampant trade default was brought to the notice of the Association from time and time. To handle this crisis, A. K. Pandey volunteered to spearhead our Association’s initiative against such defaults and accordingly, CMDA-Delhi (Regd.) constituted a Default Handling Committee under his chairmanship along with Puneet Singhal, Naresh Kohli, Shashi Agarwal, Manoj Khanna and T. Ahluwalia as members. Disputes involving large amounts between the members of the Association were amicably settled and certain issues of criminal nature were also successfully handled by this Committee. The scope of this Committee was then extended to help out innocent members being harassed by way of raids by various enforcement agencies also. What kind of support do you have from the IT vendors? The kind of support that the Association is receiving from the IT vendors is very impressive and promising. We hope to receive this same kind of adulation and support from them in the years to come. But, at the same time, it is true that most vendors do not lend their whole-hearted support to the Association. Do you organize any IT fair or exhibition to bring the IT community together? CMDA has, from time to time, been organizing conventions, forums and exhibitions at the regional level to felicitate trade and address problems pertaining to the media and consumable trade. It also held its first International Conference in Thailand in 2007 which was a huge success and a favourable response from this event encouraged us to further act on this trail and organize more of such shows in the near future. What is your target for 2010? We will continue with our good work and even address issues which are of prime concern to the consumable trade community. We would closely work with PCAIT in Delhi to come out with Joint Successful Activities like Trade Expos/Trade Directories etc., besides improving the IT trade. The Association is vying for a stronger presence for which a couple of activities have been lined up this year. We are looking forward to organizing a trade expo in Delhi, for which we have already started looking for partnerships. A revamped website and a new edition of our Directory of Members are also in the pipeline. |
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