Jammu gets a new team

Jammu: After five years of inactivity, Jammu Computer Dealers Association (JCDA) was revived in December last and is making much progress today. The new team comprises Arvind Koul as President, Remit Jandiyal as VP, Roopesh Magotra as General Secretary, Naveen Sharma, as Organizing Secretary and Dikshit Gupta as Treasurer.

When contacted, Rakesh Badyal, one of the members who spearheaded the revival of JCDA, said that this time around new members were added to the office bearers list. “New members have joined our association and we decided to give them a chance,” said Badyal.

During the time the association was revived, on the agenda was getting JCDA registered with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and getting economic compensation from the state government.

Three months into its tenure and the new team has already made headway with these issues.

Sanjay Langer of AGM Sales Corp, the election commissioner at the recently held elections, added that the new team had initiated all the activities they had proposed, such as getting the association registered and taking up the VAT issue. “Registering the association is a lengthy process, but the new team has initiated it. They are taking up the issue with the state government,” shared Langer.

A major issue impacting resellers in Jammu is that of extra VAT on cartridges. “In J&K there is 12.5 percent VAT on cartridges, whereas in other states it is four percent. The problem is that the company fixes MRP as per four percent so we have to pay the difference from our side,” shared Dikshit Gupta of Source Peripherals. There are three states in the country that are paying 12.5 percent VAT as opposed to the four percent the other states are paying. These states are UP, Rajasthan and J&K. Arvind Kaul of Microcom Systems, the newly elected President said, “We have set up a meeting with the Chief Minister and Finance Minister of the state, to resolve the issue of VAT, by the end of this month.”

Another serious issue that has cropped up in the region is that of DGS&G rate contracts which were not released last year due to instability in dollar rate. But Langer opined that right now the association is too small an entity to take up issues of such enormity. “The association has been dormant for years now, so it will take a year or so for us to become strong enough to take up such issues,” he stated. However, he agreed that this was a concern for dealers in the state.

A new activity that the association has decided to focus on is finding a solution for bringing together the IT channel in the state. Presently the channel partner community is scattered across the state, with no organized IT hub. Sharing details on this front, Kaul said, “We have met an MLA and will be holding further discussion on the possibility of having an IT complex for dealers in Jammu.”

The association has resolved to stay active and conducts meetings twice a month. Recently a cricket match was also conducted between, distis, vendors and the members.

Office Bearers

President: Arvind Koul, Microcomp Systems

VP: Rohit Jandial, Aditya Technologies

General Secretary: Roopesh Magotra, Microware Communications

Organizing Secretary: Naveen Gupta, Computer Care

Treasurer: Dikshit Gupta, Source Peripherals

Executive Members: Rajan Gupta, RR Associates

Ritesh Gupta, Krishna Computech

Rohit Sadhotra, Sheetal Enterprises

Sanjay Gupta, Infotek Systems