Redington to increase dealer network to 6,000

Redington (India) Ltd, the distribution major with a
turnover of Rs 1,300 crore in 2000-01, is all set to broad-base its channel
network from the present 4,000 to 6,000 across the country in the current
fiscal. Plans also include introducing a host of new products to achieve a
moderate growth of 30 percent in the current fiscal.

"The continuous market slowdown and unhealthy
financial conditions are pushing us to take these measures to sustain our
growth. Achieving a 30 percent revenue growth in the current fiscal itself will
be a commendable one," pointed out Aniruddha Joshi, VP, Redington. Last
year, the company had recorded a growth rate of 74 percent and registered a
turnover of Rs 1,300 crore, as against Rs 749 crore in fiscal 1999-00.

Redington would be adding new product lines in the area
of networking and middle-ware tools for developing e-commerce applications.
"We are also expanding the integration product category and adding new
brand of mid-range and high-end servers to address the enterprise segment,"
said Joshi. The company will be adding this new range of products through
existing relationship with the principal companies, besides forming new
alliances with the leading MNC brands. However, the company is not limited to
the number of brands and products in each of the segments.

"We are also increasing our sales and stocking
offices across the country from 13 to 20 in the current fiscal and all the new
offices will be located in ‘B’ and ‘C’ class cities," he said.
While the offices in Madurai, Trivandrum and Nagpur were opened recently, Jaipur,
Indore, Bhubaneshwar and Vishakapatnam are the other cities short-listed in the
next stage.

According to the company, distribution in the slowing
economy and a competitive market can only result in margin squeeze and to
support growth one should focus more on offering value-added services and
building customer relations. "Keeping this philosophy in mind, the company
has adjusted itself to the changing market conditions and its new strategies
such as operations through one person (per account), empowering the field
executives with latest status of information and ERP implementation for faster
flow of information and VSAT connections in various offices would help us in
achieving our targets confidently," claimed Joshi.