Karachi:The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (UNISAME) has urged the prime minister (PM) Imran Khan and all the provincial chief ministers to allow e-Commerce companies to function and deliver all essential and also non-essential items to customers at their doorstep under standard operation procedures (SOP) to revive the businesses of the SMEs which is suffering because of the lockdown due to Coronavirus.
Any delay would cause irreparable damage to the SME sector and will prove disastrous said the stakeholders. President UNISAME Zulfikar Thaver said it is very important for the federal and provincial governments to be on the same page as far as the economic agenda is concerned.
The SMEs are the worst affected and lockdown has ruined their business. It is very necessary and crucial to allow e-Commerce SME companies to function without any impediment lamented the union chief. The ecommerce companies are already abiding by the social distancing protocol for permitted items and would obviously follow the same protocol for all the items as well under the SOPs defined by the committee, the union fails to understand the delay and procrastination in such critical decisions.
Thaver said by allowing the e-commerce companies to function they would be saving many businesses from losses and collapse as businesses have suffered due to lockdown. Many countries of the world have allowed e-commerce companies to function and they are delivering goods to the buyers at their doorstep for online orders placed by the customers.
Thaver said we fail to understand the wisdom of the government in only allowing few selected essential items only and not all items as the concept of deliveries at doorstep is the same and social distancing is the aim. The idea is to discourage gatherings of customers at malls, shopping centres and shops in markets and in the case of ecommerce all this is avoided and secondly the staff in the warehouse is compelled to follow hand washing and sanitization and also the SOP fully.
It is pertinent to note that holy month of Ramadhan is fast approaching and believers will need to do their shopping of many items in good time which they can conveniently do online. The online business will also enable a price check system which can be monitored by the departments. UNISAME also advised all SMEs to lower their prices for the holy month of Ramadhan and ensure no member indulges in making unreasonable profit.
Our neighboring country has also allowed e-commerce of all items with immediate effect and likewise many other countries are also allowing one by one. It would be wise of the governments both federal and provincial to immediately allow e-Commerce of all items and promote business activity in full swing under social distancing protocol.
UNISAME Council members Imran Bilal, Ms Minnat Nasser, Rabee Altaf and the provincial chief of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) Mukesh Kumar urged all the commercial banks to facilitate e-commerce and online business through simplified “Merchant Accounts” on top priority basis without any annual fees and also to reduce the transaction charges. UNISAME Council has also requested federal secretaries of ministry of Commerce, Information Technology, Industries and Production to act fast and open e-Commerce promptly.