Belkin appoints Caltron as its RD

Reshuffling its old equation of channel policies and endeavouring to maximise
its presence in the East, Belkin has recently appointed Caltron as its regional
distributor in the East. The decision came after Advance Management Systems, the
former regional distributors of Belkin decided to focus more on retailing rather
than its distribution business.

Talking about the new appointment Mohit Anand, Country Manager, Belkin said,
“Advance is now focussing primarily the retail segment and is less interested in
distribution. We are growing across the nation at an aggressive pace and cannot
afford to leave the East unattended. The decision to appoint Caltron was
primarily based on the reach and market penetration of Caltron across the
region. Apart from its good market presence, the company also has a good track
record and is financially stable. According to my estimates, Caltron is among
the top four players in the eastern market.”

(L to R) Ganga Prasad, MLC, Vidhan Parishad, Bihar, Sushil Kr. Modi, Deputy CM, Bihar, Justice Anjana Prakash, Bihar and PK Sinha, Advisor and Promoter, CoE, Patna at the opening of the Center of Excellence. The CoE has been set up in association with Astric Computers, Patna, Tally India, Bihar State Electronic Development Corporation Ltd, (BELTRON) & Bihar IT Department

The networking company has started focussing on increasing its presence
across India and with its renewed set-up for East, Belkin is expecting at least
10 percent contribution to its total revenue to come from the region. Signalling
an aggressive market plan Anand elaborated, “In five months time we have grown
by $3 million and will be closing this FY at $5 million. Now, our target is to
take it to $100 in five years time. Primarily, we will be achieving this through
our product mix and our commitment to push the product

through channels”.

The company has already reinforced its loyalty to the channels as it avoids
direct billing and focuses on building its regional distribution base. At
present the company has seven regional distributors spread across India.

“I agree to the facts that East is plagued by problems like improper
infrastructure, low level of information and poor work culture. However, East
has the highest potential to grow. It needs to be stated that in times of the
slowdown, only East operations remained in profits. In my opinion, this region
is still an untapped one and we view it as an opportunity”, Anand added.

The company has also said that soon, it will be diversifying its product
range and will be expanding its horizon. Working strong over its distribution
base and the right product mix, Belkin is targeting to tap top 100 cities in the
coming FY. Commenting on the channel space in the East, Anand said, “Compared to
the national channel sales scenario, for us, East has always been consistent.
There is a good mix of products and brands with clear demarcated territory.
Further, this area is marked by brand loyalty and the channel partners know
their territory well and understand the area of operation”.

Also, Anand made it clear that despite Belkin's target of diversifying its
product range, the company will not be entering mainstream IT and will be
consolidating its channel policy in the region for atleast a year. Recently,
Belkin has come up with new product range in routers and switches and will soon
be launching a new range of mice.