Jammu retail traders face online shopping heat

A slump in the market, coupled with a huge boom in online shopping, has brought the traders and business community of the winter capital on the edge, as losses of retail business outlets mount.
Disturbed over the losses, traders and businessmen have requested the government to keep a check and impose taxes on online shopping products to keep the market stable.
The deserted markets and idle shopkeepers in Jammu were already presenting signs of how global recession was resulting in losses. The traders have been forced to sell their winter stock at 50 per cent discounts and ironically the big traders of Jammu have also vacated the first ever shopping mall of the city.
The first mall of the city, ‘City Square’, has started dismantling the interiors of about 20 showrooms of its first two floors, as the leaseholders have vacated the buildings due to market recession.
One of the leaseholders of ‘City Square’ mall said, “It had become difficult to pay the huge rent and expenses of the mall, so we have closed our showrooms at the mall and shifted to our old shops at Gandhi Nagar.”
However, there are reports that ‘Big Bazar’ will open its outlet in the first two floors of ‘City Square’ soon.
Experts list several reasons behind the slowdown of business in Jammu, including weak winters, global recession, the success of online shopping portals and the recent Jat stir in Haryana, which affected the state tourism in a negative way.
Rakesh Gupta, who heads the Chamber of Commerce and Industries, said, “The market is globally down, which has affected Jammu as well and the Jat stir has affected tourism. Most of the business in Jammu is dependent on tourism so the traders are facing the heat.”
He added: “Online portals are selling their products without paying VAT to the state government so they can offer a good deal to the customers; however, our traders have to pay VAT. They can’t even afford the hefty rents of shopping malls, so they have to vacate the showrooms.”
The state government charges VAT from the traders on the purchase of items worth Rs 5,000 and above, while online portals don’t have to pay any VAT on a single purchase.
Gupta said the former Finance Minister had agreed to their demand to levy VAT on purchase of items worth every single rupee from the online portals.
Neeraj Anand, general secretary of the Chamber of Traders’ Federation, said, “The business class was already suffering after the opening of ‘Best Price’ in Jammu and now online shopping is taking a heavy toll on our business. It is a matter of concern for the entire business community and the government should seriously look into it.”