CAIT & Mastercard launched “Digital Gyaan Se Vyapaar Nirmaan” national movement today at New Delhi

• Target to equip 1 crore Indian traders with digital skills by 2022
• The initiative will enable access to digital learning for MSMEs, women entrepreneurs and small businesses owners in remote areas across 300 cities

The Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) & the Mastercard today launched “Digital Gyaan Se Vyapaar Nirmaan”, a joint national campaign to help small businesses across India to acquire digital skills that are critical for their post-pandemic recovery and revival. The two organizations will work to jointly enable access to digital learning for 1 crore Indian traders in remote areas across 300 cities by 2022. This will be done via a series of virtual knowledge sessions allowing for a personalized learning experience. Besides, conferences will be held with local traders in different cities of various States.  The sessions will be especially helpful for groups such as women entrepreneurs and small business owners, who may not have access or the ability to attend regular courses.

The CAIT will engage Ministers from the Union Government, State Governments, heads of public sector banks, fintechs and experts from various sectors to conduct the virtual and physical knowledge sessions that will focus on a range of topics that are important to traders. These topics include challenges in digital adoption, new product innovations to help traders and businesses get online, and safety and security of digital payments and support policies from the Government.

Praveen Khandelwal, National Secretary General, CAIT said, “Small businesses have been the worst hit during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic and our efforts are aimed at supporting them with skills that will help them survive in this challenging time. The knowledge series designed with Mastercard will cover diverse topics from across the value chain to help build business continuity and resilience. We are proud of our partnership with Mastercard which also supported almost 1 lakh traders with sanitization kits and awareness during the worst phase of the Covid-19 outbreak.”

Ravi Aurora, Executive Director, Global Policy Affairs & Community Relations, Mastercard said, “To support the vision of a Digital India of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, Mastercard has been relentlessly focused on enabling small businesses to adopt digital tools and accelerate digital financial inclusion. Mastercard is delighted to launch this new initiative, with long-standing partner CAIT, that will help to narrow the digital knowledge gap for small businesses while also raising awareness of existing schemes by the Government of India.”

CAIT has been driving a campaign with Mastercard in the past years to create awareness of the benefits of electronic payments and how best to leverage them for business growth. To date, more than 50,000 traders have participated in training across New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Nagpur, Pune, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Ahmedabad amongst other cities. Mastercard and CAIT also run Team Cashless India, a multi-city campaign aimed at equipping 1 crore merchants with digital payments acceptance capabilities.

In July 2020, Mastercard committed INR 250 Crores to support small businesses in India over five years. As part of this commitment, multiple initiatives are being rolled out to  bring small businesses into the digital economy by enabling them to go online, provide MSMEs with catalytic inputs to operate growth-oriented businesses, including but not limited to access to credit, know-how, and value-added services while supporting them in meeting the new norms of safety and health protection; and empower women owned enterprises to unlock their economic potential.