# India’s small shopkeepers back Modi despite demonetisation pain 2026-08-20T02:16:56+00:00 | World & Diplomacy | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 1 independent outlet NEW DELHI, India’s influential small merchants appear to have thrown their weight behind Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the ongoing general election, despite having suffered from his government’s 2016 demonetisation drive and the chaotic rollout of the goods and services tax. The Confederation of All India Traders, which claims to represent 80,000 trade associations and over 80 million merchants, has declared its support for Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party. Traders form a powerful voting bloc in India, where an estimated 90% of retail is controlled by small, family-run shops. Many merchants credit Modi for the better business environment under his government. ## Indian Opinion Analysis India has over 63 million small retail businesses that form the backbone of domestic consumption. The Confederation of All India Traders, which claims 80,000 affiliated associations, often mobilises this bloc. Modi directly courted traders with schemes like the PM Swanidhi micro-credit programme and a lower GST registration threshold that exempts many small shops. The election result in states such as Uttar Pradesh, where BJP faces strong anti-incumbency, will gauge whether this support translates into seats. Counting is on 4 June. ## Coverage - asia.nikkei.com Leads by stating merchants suffered from demonetisation and GST chaos, then reports they still back Modi, giving balanced tension This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above. Tags: Bharatiya Janata Party, Confederation of All India Traders, demonetisation, GST, India general election 2024, Narendra Modi Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/indias-small-shopkeepers-back-modi-despite-demonetisation-pain/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/indias-small-shopkeepers-back-modi-despite-demonetisation-pain/#story-in-brief Review state: restored archive article, accurate at time of publication, not offered to search indexes. How this brief was made: an AI model read the report linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/