Chennai: Going Nebulous

An important
center
for Bharatnatyam and Carnatic music, Chennai formerly known as Madras
is the fifth most populous city in India. Located on the Coromandel
coast of the Bay of Bengal, Chennai is the capital city of the state
of Tamil Nadu. The urban agglomeration of
metropolitan Chennai has an estimated population over 8.2 million
people. The city has a vibrant culture and has a huge theater scene.
The Tamil film industry, one of the largest film industries in India,
is based in the city. The 13-km long Marina beach that forms the
city's East coast is one of the longest beaches in the world. A major
chunk of India's car manufacturing industry is based in and around
Chennai. The city accounts for 60 percent of the country's automotive
exports. Chennai's economy has a broad industrial base in computer,
technology, car, hardware manufacturing, and healthcare industries.
The city is India's second largest exporter of software, IT and
(ITeS).

Although, the festivities are still in continuation
the Chennai market has not yet seen any major growth in business.
Girish Madhavan, CEO, Quadsel Systems claimed, “The city has more
than 900 resellers and has seen a 30 percent growth over last year.
The SMB market has been picking up and there has been an increase in
the number of dealers in and around Chennai.” With no commendable
new trends coming up in the market, virtualization, consolidation and
cloud continue to catch-up the mid-market space as the enterprise
customers have started to recognize the impact of cost saving with
these technologies. The dubious price policies of the vendors seem to
be the root problem disconcerting the dealers in Chennai. They want
transparency in the channel policy of vendors. As RM Meenakshi
Sundaram, CEO, AN Marketing Service quoted, “There is no clear
roadmap. There is no transparency in business, which is definitely
the need of the hour. Insufficient communication about products and
their prices create a lot of confusion. Lack of support in marketing
also hinders growth.” Both Sundaram and Madhavan concurred that the
computer associations (SNEHAM and G-10) in Chennai are apathetic and
dealers do not find them dynamic enough in sorting out their
problems. SMB, SOHO, education and corporate segments,
enterprise costumers and engineering process and construction (EPC)
serve as major growth verticals for Chennai. The city enjoys an
annual revenue of more than Rs 3000 crore. The major brands in demand
are HP, Dell, Sony, Apple, and some other available brands include
Compact, Lenovo, Fujitsu, Toshiba.