The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has said that the present goods and services tax (GST) process is “extremely complicated” creating hurdles for the traders. It has now decided to launch a nationwide movement against the present form of GST.

The traders’ body in a statement on Sunday said that the going for the country’s retailers has become tough in the post Covid era. “The GST taxation system has become a devil for the business community due to several arbitrary amendments and in the wake of such a scenario,” the statement said, adding that retail trade stood neglected, despite generating an annual business turnover of Rs 80 lakh crore.

CAIT also said that the present status of GST in the country is “highly violative of its basic fundamentals which were announced at the time of implementing GST in year 2017.”

CAIT has decided to convene a three-day conference of trade leaders of all states between February 8 and 10 at Nagpur to discuss the future course of action. About 200 prominent trade leaders from across the country are likely to participate. CAIT Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said that the discussions will also be held on e-commerce and the proposed e-commerce policy, empowering women entrepreneurs, appraisal of Mudra Scheme, easy availability of finance for traders, among others.

Meanwhile, CAIT had called for boycotting Chinese goods under its mission “Bhartiya Saamaan-Hamara Abhiman”. Several Indian traders, who have been sourcing their goods—especially the finished items— from China, have already initiated talks with Taiwanese exporters to diversify their supply chain. CAIT said that imports of finished products from Taiwan will increase significantly in the new financial year.

There are about eight crore traders in the country employing over 40 crore persons.