Leaving a secure job in the US and coming back home to India to start my own business was not the kind of future my family had envisioned for me. And therefore, they were initially apprehensive about this whole idea. But, they have been supportive throughout the journey. There have been critics as well who wrote me off saying that a niche idea of using Internet for enhancing business services cannot be profitable.
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| Dinesh Agarwal |
Today, I am thankful to all the criticisms as these have been the driving force towards making the company a successful and a leading online B2B marketplace. We have never seen a downturn in our business.
I come from a traditional business family which is why I always had an inclination to set up my own business. And to give my dream a shape, I started this business with a capital of `40,000 and one assembled computer. At that time we did not have any investment from outside sources. It’s only recently that we got funds from a technology venture capital.
When we began our business, we had liaison with different trade associations like Federation of Indian Exporters, ASSOCHAM, PHD Chambers of Commerce, CII for their member directories which could be published online and also participated in certain trade fairs. We also posted mails and sent bulk faxes to various enterprises, details of which we had collected. At that time Internet was not a popular medium. We initially began as a website-making company and then developed into a complete B2B marketplace. Since we were developing business websites, I felt that it was imperative to build a directory of these business websites. As a result, our first few clients were primarily for website-making. Nirula’s was amongst our first clients and I am glad to share that they are still associated with us. Other clients which showed trust in our potential were Jindal Steel, the Triveni Group and some exporters. In 1998-99, when inbound travel and tourism took off, we were making websites for Indian Travel Agencies and Tour Operators. At this point, a major share of our revenues were generated from inbound tour operators in Delhi. By 2001, the travel market had slowed down, but by then, our B2B marketplace had matured and was showing signs of becoming one of the largest B2B portals in India.
| Snapshot |
| Name: Dinesh Agarwal Age: 41 years Education: Harcourt Butler Technological Institute – Kanpur, B. Tech, Computer Science & Engineering (1986-1990) Experience in business: Over 14 years Leadership Style: Participative Leadership Big Learning: Clarity of mind is a prerequisite for any budding entrepreneur. Besides, one must possess far sightedness and the drive to excel in any given scenario. |
| Factsheet |
| Name: IndiaMart.com Domain:Online B2B marketplace Turnover: 50 crores Set up in: 1996 Employees: Over 2000 Headquarters: Noida Website: www.indiamart.com |
| Business Model |
| Offering SMEs a virtual store-front with a dedicated webpage for business-business transaction. |
The time when we started it was extremely difficult to get people on board because of the niche idea of our business. Nobody wanted to join one-man army organisation. However, the valuable support of family members, friends and assistance from outsiders gave tremendous boost to turn the dream into reality. As the company grew, people showed more and more inclination to be a part of our company .
The major problem for us was the unawareness of Internet as a media among a large number of entrepreneurs, especially the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Moreover, when we started listing and categorising the websites designed by the company under various business verticals, we realized that these categories were either empty or contained few names. We took the decision to list companies for free and used them for lead generation. Apart from this, we launched an inquiry forwarding service where we started printing the email queries that came to us and forwarded the same to the relevant businesses by fax or post.
We sent around two to three hundred mailers from our office everyday and that continued for five years. This generated a lot of interest among SMEs and they called back to know more about IndiaMart.com. Our marketing team was actively involved in reaching out to these SMEs and educated them about us and the online media. This was majorly done as the Internet connection had not had a huge impact in the business community then, as it has today.
One of the biggest challenges that we faced was in educating about the benefits of the Internet for their businesses. One of the main reasons for this was that the SMEs were not aware of this medium. In addition, another initial challenge was building an efficient team. With our continuous efforts to address these impediments, we have been able to successfully resolve them over the years.
Our company has received funding from Intel Capital. We also have a private equity deal with BCCL (Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd.). The deal provides us with ad space in BCCL properties such as Times of India and Economic Times. Since the procurement of investment, there was no looking back and thus, I was able to build a strong growth trajectory for IndiaMART.com.
With the aim to present SMEs with all the possible matches in the B2B category, we have made conscious efforts towards providing the best in online B2B marketplace. This has been possible because of our sound and aggressive marketing strategy. For years now, we have planned nationwide awareness campaign. This campaign include advertising through print, TV, Radio, internet and events such as conference & seminars. Apart from this, we have joined hands with ET NOW to present IndiaMart Leaders of Tomorrow Awards 2010 specifically launched to acknowledge the significant contribution of SMEs in propelling the Indian economy.
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