New Delhi, Apr 28 (IANS): Reiterating its demand for an economic package for the trading community, the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) on Tuesday said that it is high time for the announcement of relief measures for them.

In a statement, CAIT said that it has written to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, saying that the government has announced several packages of other sections of economy but the trading community is still awaiting a package.

It stressed that if an adequate package is not given to traders, the domestic trade in the country is likely to collapse to a large extent, adding that since the retail sector is the largest employment provider after agriculture, it is all the more necessary to provide relief to this sector.

According to CAIT National President B.C. Bhartia and Secretary General Praveen Khandelwal, it is a matter of satisfaction that about 45 lakh traders across the country played a crucial role in maintaining supply chain of essential commodities quite effectively and there was no shortage of any material all over the country.

"The traders put their lives at risk and served the citizens of India and as such have a right to ask the government to provide an economic stimulus package. They said that if no package is given to traders, the retail trade business in India will see its worst days and in all likelihood, a large number of traders will land themselves into bankruptcy," a CAIT statement said.

CAIT further said that traders were expecting that a package by the government will be given to traders around April 14 and as of now, there is no word about the package which is worrying the traders.