A mixed fiscal for South partners

FY12 was quite noteworthy for the channel partners in all South states. For the Tamil Nadu partners, it was a tough challenge when the state government announced free laptop scheme for the students. In Andhra Pradesh, the Telangana issue jolted the state market resulting in a huge drop of sales figures. If VAT and e-Sugam were the issues for the Karnataka partners, for the Kerala partners there were some service-related issues.

"The channel business of the country as a whole is completely different from what happened in Andhra Pradesh during the last fiscal. I can say that the Telangana issue had cost around 12% of our business," says G Mahedhar, CEO, Compage Computers, Hyderabad. He also added that the development factor of the state has also gone for a toss. "We did not see any great investments or expansion in the last financial year," he further added.

Kishan Tummala, CEO, K Computers, says that the economic recession, dollar value depreciation has added fuel to the fire. "We need to plan perfectly and find better opportunities in the forthcoming fiscal," he added.

In Karnataka and Kerala, the situation was pretty good. "I cannot say that there was a spectacular growth. It was around 0-15%. However, the partners were able to consolidate the margins as they have changed the way they look at business," says R Sridhar, CEO, Triangle Technologies, Bengaluru. He also added that though there were some challenges for retailers, the system integrators saw a little growth.

"Even though we can not say ‘very great', the year was good," says V Anathram, VP, AIT, Bengaluru. He also added that the forthcoming year seems to be positive for the partners. "Now there are signs of better trade and the first two quarters are good with lot of inquiries knocking the doors," he further added.

Toshy Mathew, president, AKITDA, Enakulam district, says that the last fiscal concluded well. "This was the year where we found lot of convergence of products among the channel partners. This year, many of the partners concentrated on smartphone business," Mathew said. Toshy further added that the forthcoming fiscal looks good and the partners are seeking more opportunities.

In Tamil Nadu, even though there was a little chaos among the members when the government announced the free laptop scheme, the members geared themselves for service and support business. "The business was good during the last fiscal. Even though there were some drops in the first three quarters, in the last quarter, especially from February 15, the signs were good," says V Adimurugan, AVM computers, Thiruvannamalai. Mutharasu, CEO, Zigma Computers, also predicts a bright FY13. "The last quarter was good, especially for those handling government-related projects, since all the projects and settlements will be done before March end," he said. He also added that the forthcoming year is also expected to be very positive with the boom of IT across the state.