Puja played a 'damp squib' for Burdwan IT market

Bardhaman, also called Burdwan or Barddhaman is a beautiful city located in the state of West Bengal. Located on the banks of the Damodar river, the city is a major communications center. It is quite an old and important town of the state and have strong reference in history with regard to trade and commerce. The origin of this name dates back to the 6th century BCE and is ascribed to Vardhaman Swami or Mahavira (599-527 BCE), the 24th Tirthankara of Jainism. This place was renamed as Vardhamana in his honor. Damodar and the Banka are the chief rivers flowing through the city. The Government of West Bengal is trying to bring in many new projects to facilitate the growth of Burdwan Township. Two large developments on a Public Private Partnership are coming up on the NH 2 connecting Kolkata and Delhi, on which Burdwan city lies.

Peeping into the information technology (IT) industry of Burdwan, one can find that the industry is not very thriving in the region. Business is going down since the past few months and the festive season also failed to add spark to the draggy market scenario. Said Vishwarup Sain, manager, Bluechip Infotech, "The market is completely down here. Sales have not gone up since a very long time. Durga Puja time always adds to the sale of products, but this time even Puja failed to increase the number of sales." Added Ujjal Chakraborty, director, Computer World, "Last month was still comparatively good, but this month the situation is worse."

The growth vertical of the city which contributes maximum to the city dealers is SOHO. Chakraborty and Sain both said in concurrence, "SOHO is the only vertical which contributes to our business in the region." Talking about the top-selling brands and products of the region, partners claimed that Lenovo, HP and Dell are doing good business in the region and laptops are the most sold product. Sain said, "HP brand in selling the most here; while laptops and assembled PCs are the sough-after products."

Operating with around 65 registered dealers, the city manages to churn out a monthly revenue of Rs 7-8 crore. The local IT association in the city-Computer Association of Burdwan (CAB) is also functioning decently in the city. Sain said, "Computer Association of Burdwan is fairly active in the region and is regular in its activities."

Talking about the vendor-dealer relationship in the city, Chakraborty said that he do not face any problem with his vendors while Sain had some other things to say. He said, "There are certain issues with the vendors. They are not worried about after-sales service, and do not bother about the harassment of consumers." However, predicting the future scenario of the region Chakraborty said thatb he is pinning hopes on Diwali, when the sale is expected to rise. "After November 20, I believe the sale will increase in the region," concluded Sain.

Market Name: Bardhaman

Market Location: West Bengal

Surrounding Markets: Kolkata, Siliguri, Jamshedpur, Dhanbad

Computer Association: Computer Association of Burdwan (CAB)

Prominent Dealers: Bluechip Infotech, Computer Essentials, Computer World, Dynamic Computers, Galaxy Computers, Microchip, Shristi Computer

Business Verticals: SOHO