Market reacts positively to the business trends 

Is market looking up and will

2003 put smile back on the resellers’ face?

This is a million-dollar

question raised in everyone’s mind and certainly it seems to be `Yes’, if

you had to believe a section of resellers, distributors and vendors from the

local IT market.

For the last few weeks, the

local IT market is running with high spirits that the sales had picked up and

the dark side is over. According to the market sources, the sales has started

showing signs of improvement from the last week of December and January is sure

a better period for them in business. However, the long festival holidays

(Christmas and Pongal) had made a section of traders to adopt wait-and-watch

policy before they could say something is certain.

Meanwhile, there are varied

reports that which segment is driving the sales, presently. While some say it is

the home segment pushing the sales, few claim the corporate orders are driving

the growth. Much to the surprise, the government tenders are also opening up and

giving a new lease of life for the resellers.

Many are confident that 2003

is sure to be a good year for them and the first quarter (present JFM) of the

calendar year is any indication for this.

We, the Dqweek MADRAS,

contacted a section of resellers, distributors and vendors to get their opinion

and report on this. Here are the excerpts:

“It is true that the sales

has picked up from the last week of December and going by our records, the sales

is improving week-after-week. We see a lot of end-customers walking-in to our

shop and keep the sales flow,” said Shantilal, Proprietor, Devraj Computers.

For Microtek also, it is a

better time in business. The company has recorded some positive growth during

this period when compared to the previous terms. “Although, the festivals

lined up during this period, we recorded a good sales and home segment helped us

to push the figures,” said Sandeep Mathur, Branch Manager, Microtek

International Pvt Ltd. Microtek hopes a better period with government and

corporate segments opening up. “The forth coming union budget should lower the

tax structures of components going into the production of LCD monitors and make

the product more affordable for the consumers,” he opined.

“I would wish to wait for

few more weeks before I could say something on the market improvement. It is too

early to comment now,” said Jitendra Kulkarni, CEO of Redington India.

According to V Sakthivel,

Business Manager of Nebula Technologies Pvt Ltd, “I agree that the sales has

improved. But, it is only for the resellers and nothing is happening at the

distributors’ end. Resellers are clearing up whatever stocks they had with

them and not much of fresh orders placed with the distributors.”

Accel, a leading system

integrator, has also registered some positive growth and, government and

corporate orders are helping them to push the numbers. “However, we have to

wait-and-watch the trend and lots of hope is pinned on the new year,” said

Maqbool Hassan, General Manager, Accel ICIM Systems & Services Limited.

“January is a good month for

us and we have bagged some government orders worth several lakh,” said S

Samkumar, General Manager of Elite Peripherals Limited.

“I don’t see any

improvement in sales and it is business as usual,” said I Sadiq Batcha,

Director, SSS Systems Pvt Ltd. Opining the same, Shivakumar, Managing Director

of USAM, questions, “How sales is happening during the peak festival period

when offices and establishments were closed. Moreover, end-users (individuals)

would also had been busy celebrating the festivals.”

“Compared to October and

November, December and January seem to be a better period. But, there is nothing

to claim that the sales has improved and back on the track,” said A Rakesh

Jain, Director, Supreme Computers.

“The market might have

picked up for the resellers. But, we (distributor) are yet to see the impact.

Meanwhile, the shortage of certain products and price hike in some goods had

pushed the sales down,” said Subramanian Kankethi, Branch Manager, SES

Technologies.

“The market has improved

slightly and coming months should be a good period for the resellers,” said

Anand Mootha, Proprietor, ATI Inc.

According to Nitesh Bhandari,

Partner, Texonic Instruments, “I hope the worst is over and bright days are

ahead in business. Meanwhile, the introduction of value added tax (VAT) should

bring the price of products down and help the growth of business.”

S Gopikrishna