Raring to go

Rajkot is the fourth largest city in Gujarat. It is well-known for its
casting and forging industries. The city is also ranked 22nd in the world's
fastest growing cities and urban areas from 2006 to

2020. In terms of the IT market scenario, the city caters to the whole of
Saurashtra. It is also making good progress as far as recovering from the
slowdown is concerned.

Amit Tanna of Softcom remarked, “We are selling a thousand assembled PCs each
month and therefore, there is absolutely no slowdown. As far as brands are
concerned, people are refraining from buying expensive brands like Intel,
Seagate and others and are instead buying local brands like Reo. But that's more
because of the price factor.”

However, another partner disagreed on this point and said that the market
indeed was a bit slower than before. “We are rapidly picking up and we are much
better off than the tier-1 cities like Ahmedabad. In fact people from outside
the city come here to make their purchases,” said Bimal Desai of Anil Infotech.

The education segment caters to a large part of the IT market here. There are
several institutes opening up in Rajkot and currently, a lot of students are
taking admission in various places. Schools and institutions are busy replacing
their PCs and peripherals and also students are keen on buying a new desktop or
laptop. Therefore, it is a favourable time for educational segment.

Market name: Rajkot Location: Western India, in Gujarat Size of market: 500-700 desktops per month Surrounding markets: Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodra, Bharuch Prominent dealers: Anil Infotech, Net-Link Infocom Association: Rajkot Computer Traders' Association (RCTA) Business Verticals: Education, corporate, government, SOHO Market trends: As the market is rapidly recovering from the slowdown, education sector is contributing a lot to the recovery. With new institutes opening up the segment is catering to almost 20-30 percent of the whole market

“Rajkot is becoming an educational hub with many new colleges coming up. And
it's only good news for all partners,” said Harish Virani of Net-Link Infocom.
According to him, education sector is contributing to around 50 percent of his
business.

Another trend that is catching up fast is the demand for anti-virus software.
The need for security is gaining importance and so is the demand for anti-virus
softwares. Agreeing with this notion, Desai of Anil Infotech remarked,
“Anti-virus software is faring very well. They are fast gaining popularity as
people gain awareness about the importance of these products.”

Harish Virani, Net-Link Infocom Which is the major vertical driving growth in the Rajkot IT market? Education is serving as the main segment as of now. In fact, Rajkot is becoming somewhat of an educational hub as many new colleges are coming up and thus, students and institutions form a big chunk of our customers. What new products/brands are gaining momentum in the market? Laptops are doing pretty well and in that category Acer is the most popular brand. What are the new trends in the market? In wake of the slowdown ending, B-class cities like Rajkot are attaining growth. However, I have observed that big cities like Ahmedabad are not doing that well, as in the recovery period is taking longer. That is our gain as people from outside Rajkot are also coming to the city to make their purchases. How is the IT association doing? The IT association Rajkot Computer Traders Association (RCTA) has been quite active. We have organized many events for partners, like matches and excursions. We try to ensure at least one or two main events a year so that the interaction between the partners remains consistent.

There is a regional association-Rajkot Computer Traders' Association (RCTA)-which
most partners agree is doing quite well. However, Tanna had a different view of
things. “Initially when the association was started, it was quite active, but
for the past four-five months I have not heard of any activity taking place,” he
said.

Besides that, partners in the market have almost nothing to complain about.
Things are progressing well and the Rajkot IT market is on its way to scaling
new heights.