Thanks to heavy Govt buying Dehradun market is booming

With the carving out of a new state from UP--Uttaranchal--and Dehradun becoming its capital, the IT market in this once sleepy town is booming.

"With the formation of the state, the government has become the major buyer in the city, which has resulted in the IT market here seeing a major shift," pointed out Ashok Mehta, Director, Strategic Information Technologies Pvt Ltd, Dehradun's leading reseller. "As far as Strategic is concerned, government is the major buyer for us and that too of the branded products."

Unlike in most of the upcountry market, where assembled still rules, here it is the opposite. The branded ones sell more than the assembled ones. Thanks once again to the government, which buys only branded products and the assembled market

doesn't command more than 30 percent of the total market share, according to another leading reseller.

The fact about the boom can be very much seen in the turnovers of the channel partners, which has seen a major jump in the last two years.

Agreed another reseller JP Singh, Director, JP Sales Corporation, "With Dehradun becoming the capital, the IT market here got a major boost." It is not only the government, which form a major chunk of the buyers. Dehradun and Mussorie also boast of a number of educational institutions. Therefore, educational buying also commands a major share. "Most of the big schools buy branded PCs and the smaller schools go for the assembled ones," elaborated Mehta. "There is one school which every year gives us a business of over Rs 20

lakh."

Apart from the educational institutions in Dehradun and Mussorie, IIT Roorkee also does a lot of buying.

But the prosperity that this boom has brought has come with its share of problems too. Singh talked about the growing competition in the market, which has eaten into their profits. "With every Tom, Dick and Harry entering the market, the end result is rampant price undercutting. In addition, the kind of pressures that the MNCs put on the partners is again a pain. Everyday they want change and pressurize us to meet the targets."

Resellers in the city also have a major problems with vendors who don't have proper service centers. Most of the service centers of the vendors do not function properly. One reseller even termed them as `unprofessional'.

Despite all the problems, still the resellers community in Dehradun is quite contented, as deals are pouring in everyday from the government and also the educational institutions.

Karma Negi