Trichy: Witnessing unpredictable growth

Trichy, also known as Tiruchirappalli, is the fourth largest city of Tamil Nadu. Situated on the banks of river Cauvery, the city is a unique blend of tradition and modernity built around the Rockfort, which is a combination of 2 famous 7th century Hindu temples. It is also a booming commercial center of the state and is famous for artificial diamonds, cigars, handloom cloth, glass bangles, and wooden and clay toys.

The industries in Trichy are developing at a rapid pace and the IT market is not far behind. It has around 100 channel partners, who cater to various business verticals. Owing to the presence of myriad institutions and colleges, Trichy is considered to be the educational hub of Tamil Nadu. Hence, a major chunk of revenue for channel partners come through the education sector as well as SMEs. However, most of the partners also cater to other verticals like government, corporate and SOHO. The annual turnover of the IT market is around Rs 100 crore. When it comes to the buying trend of consumers, they usually like to purchase laptops, desktops, software products and networking solutions. H Wilson of Cemos Electronics said, "People mostly prefer to buy Dell and Toshiba laptops, while HP and Compaq desktops are still in demand." According to S Threethananthan, CEO, Fusion Systems, "Our sale generally goes up during pre-Diwali, and in the months of July to September.

The growth of the IT market in Trichy has been fluctuating for the last 1 year because of the price inflation of gold, silver and other consumer products. This situation has become very unpredictable or uneven in terms of growth for the Trichy IT market. "There is a flat growth because business has become more and more unpredictable. Also the recent announcement by the Tamil Nadu government to issue free laptops has hindered the sales," said Threethananthan.

In order to keep the customers coming back again and again, vendors usually introduce schemes from time-to-time. "Last year, Lenovo launched a digital camera offer for customers, under which the company was offering free digital cameras on the purchase of laptops. This offer was a big hit among customers," said K Uttam of Paras Computers. Similarly, Toshiba had also introduced a scheme in which it was offering free home theater systems on the purchase of laptops.

Trichy also boasts of an active IT association-Association of Computers Traders, Trichy (ACTT), which organizes various activities for its members and partners, and effectively solve issues among dealers and vendors. Founded in 2005, the association has more than 65 registered members, for whom it organizes interpersonal communication skills and sales activities. On being asked about the vendor-partner relationships, B Kuberan of VBK Computers and Cube Systems said, "Generally, we do not face any kind of issues with companies, but if we have, then it is usually associated with warranty issues and service support."

Recently, there was an upsurge of 'fly by night' operators in the city, who usually do their business for a short period of time. "These operators deal with channel partners and after gaining their trust, they dump them and flee from the market. This way they eat up a big market share of partners, which eventually results in a huge loss. But now, this issue has been resolved," said Kuberan. The active participation of the association in resolving channel partners' issues has made it a favorite among them. But they want good service support and warranty from vendors.

Interview: S Threethananthan, CEO, Fusion Systems

Which are the most selling products and brands in Trichy?
HP and Dell laptops sell in good numbers.

How has been the market growth in the last 1 year?
There is a flat growth because business has become more and more unpredictable. Also, the recent announcement by the Tamil Nadu government to issue free laptops has hindered our sales.

To which business segment Trichy caters to?
Trichy IT market caters to SOHO, SMEs and education segment.

Do vendor companies introduce any schemes in the market?
Yes, there are aggressive schemes launched by HP and Toshiba.