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Shillong: The underdog market

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DQW Bureau
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The city has been witnessing a slow and steady growth in the IT business for the past few years with government, defense and education sector being the three prime business verticals

Ranjeeta Bhattacharjee

The capital of Meghalaya (one of the seven sisters of the north east of India), Shillong, is one of the smallest states in India. Situated at an average altitude of 4,908 feet above sea level, Shillong is also the headquarter of the East Khasi Hills district. Shillong remained the capital of undivided Assam until the creation of the new state of Meghalaya on January 21, 1972. It is said that the rolling hills around the town reminded the European settlers of Scotland. Hence, Shillong is also known as Scotland of the East. A self proclaimed rock music capital of India, Shillong is well connected by roads with all major north eastern states. Two major National Highways pass through Shillong, which connects the city to its neighboring cities like Guwahati, Tripura and Mizoram.

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The city has been witnessing a slow and steady growth in the IT business for the past few years. Government, defense and education sector are the three prime business verticals in Shillong, out of which the government sector contributes the most, as it receives a commendable amount of fund from the central government. According to Rajiv Kalra, CEO, Indian Export & Import, “Although the market has recovered from the slowdown, in the last two months, business has been quite dull with no new developments happening in the region.”

HP, Zenith, Hallmark and Sharp have been the major selling brands in the city and hardware, peripherals and laptops are the top selling products. Sharing the current market trend, Kalra said, “The shift in sales from desktops to laptops has been quite obvious, laptop sales off-late has been increasing tremendously. However, desktop still tops the SOHO chart.”

Although the city is located at a remote place, and there has not been any significant development in the IT sector in the recent past, Kalra still predicts that the market will definitely grow and improve in the coming years.

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