Punjab partners rejoice as government abolishes octroi

Channel partners in Punjab heaved a sigh of relief when the Punjab government
finally put a seal on its decision to abolish octroi from the state. With this
announcement all the agitations and appeals made by traders and IT associations
in the last couple of years came to an end.

It may be mentioned that from September 1, barring petrol, diesel, liquor and
electricity, all other commodities have been exempted from octroi by the state
government.

Applauding this decision of the government, Rajiv Khanna, President,
Jalandhar Computer Dealers Association (JCDA), which played a significant role
in getting octroi abolished from Punjab said, “This was the long pending
demand of channel partners and traders which the government has fulfilled now.”

However, there are many partners who consider the announcement to be a
political stunt as it was made just a few months before the state assembly
elections. But they are happy about the decision nonetheless.

The move has brought cheers to partners especially to those who believe in a
fair game. One such partner from Ludhiana, Paramjit Singh Juneja of Secant
Technologies said, “Before this decision many of the small time shopkeepers
would get articles into the city using illegal methods thus saving octroi fee.
Hence, they were able to sell the goods at a comparatively lower price. This
practice was spoiling fair trade in the IT market of the state as after paying a
three percent octroi we could not sell PCs and other articles at such low
prices. So now with the octroi abolished, it has become a fair game and they can't
beat us by using wrong methods.”

Echoing similar sentiments Parminder Saini of Netpro, Jalandhar said, “This
decision has given us the opportunity to expand our network. We are planning to
open our branch in Ludhiana. Unlike before, now the articles can be transited to
other cities of Punjab without paying octroi. So now it matters little where the
warehouse is. Earlier because of octroi we had a warehouse at the outskirts of
the city and we would then bring in goods to the city as per the demand for the
product. There were times when goods could not be delivered on time due to long
queues at octroi posts. So this decision will save our time, energy and margins
also.”

Partners in Amritsar and Patiala echoed similar views also. Sunil Vohra of
Computer Associates, Amritsar said, “The announcement will give us relief from
the unnecessary exertion which we had to face to get articles out of octroi
post.” Atul Singla, of Computer Empire, Patiala said, “The move by the
government will definitely help us to earn better margins.”

Seema Kakkar