eBay India look to create the world's largest trader base

In a move to create the world's largest trader base, online marketplace eBay has tied up with traders body CAIT to encourage small retailers for selling products through its platform.

eBay and Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT), which is associated with over 20,000 small trader associations in the country, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for the education and modernisation of Indian traders with the establishment of an e-commerce centre of excellence (COE).

"The nationwide campaign, to be jointly launched by CAIT and eBay, will enable Indian traders for retail exports through our platform to 201 countries and to 4,306 locations in India," eBay Managing Director Latif Nathani said Thursday.

eBay, one of the world's largest e-commerce platforms, has about 25 million traders globally and around 45,000 in India.

When asked if this step will help the company in making its domestic trader base surpass its global trader count, Nathani said: "It is a huge opportunity and we are very excited about the opportunity."

He added that CAIT is an excellent partner with its large base of 60 million traders conducting business activities in retail trade in India.

"This MoU signals the beginning of a multi-year relationship and will add a new era to modernising the retail trade of India, which is the need of the hour," Nathani said.

CAIT National Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal said the strategy of providing education and awareness among the trading community will result into an effective e-commerce marketplace to our member traders to extend their customer base beyond their city.

"eBay India is investing in training our members to set up a successful e-commerce store via the COE within the CAIT retail school," he added.