Kohima: Govt driving IT business

Kohima, the hilly capital of India's north eastern border state of Nagaland which shares its borders with Burma, is called after the wild flowering plant Kewhi, found in the mountains. Earlier, Kohima was also known as 'Thigoma'. Kohima was the first seat of modern administration as the HQ of Naga Hills District (then under Assam) with the appointment of GH Damant as political officer in 1879. When Nagaland became a full fledged state on December 1, 1963, Kohima was christened as the state capital.

When it comes to the Kohima IT market, it has a turnover of around Rs 50 crore on y-o-y basis. IT distributors/dealers/channel partners are of the opinion that laptops account for some 55% of sales of total products being sold. Major brands which are generating moolah are HP, Compaq and IBM for both desktops and laptops. People generally prefer laptops in Kohima because of the fact that it is portable, thereby, one can easily work while on the move, as it is a hilly state, people have to frequently move from one place to other. Sony, Hitachi and Epson projectors are also showing good business prospects. As Kohima is the capital of Nagaland, all major departments/directorates are situated there. What it means that, government is the main driver of the IT market.

Dealers say that tender process is one of the big revenue generators. Susnata Roy, CEO, Hard 'n Soft, which is a exclusive distributor of Sony and Canon products said, "Government usually asks for quotations for small orders from the firms which have been empaneled for at least 1-year and whenever there is large order, tender process is chosen over the quotation process. There are around 20 major dealers in the state of Nagaland and around 10 in Kohima only.

To encourage inter-tribal interaction and to promote cultural heritage of Nagaland, the Government of Nagaland organizes the Hornbill Festival every year in the first week of December. Around this time, there is a different buzz in the market. People usually prefers to but products at the time of festival. Even national broadcasters like NDTV covers the 7-day event. Because Christmas is very close that time, and Kohima mostly have Christians as its habitants, December is the month to look out for business.

As far as relation between dealers and vendors are concerned, dealers say that they don't have any major problems with vendors, infact theya re helpful. Dealers wish that there would be more service centers in Kohima as mostly, service centers are in Guhawati which is around 500 kms from Kohima. Sometimes it is tough for customers to wait for their consignment to be delivered via courier.

INTERVIEW: Susnata Roy, CEO, Hard 'n Soft

What are the top selling products in the city?

HP, Compaq, IBM and Dell laptops are the most selling products, followed by desktops and all-in-ones.

Which business verticals you serve?

Owing to the large government officials in the city, SOHO and government are the major drivers of sale in Kohima.

What is the annual turnover of the city?

Around Rs 50 crore

How many channel partners are there?

There are around 10-12 odd channel partners in the city.