Braving the after-effects of communal riots and volatile market conditions, IT reselling business in Ahmedabad has managed to post a 20 percent revenue growth in the JAS quarter, as compared to the AMJ quarter. While payment recovery still remains a problem area, resellers claim that customer purchases is showing signs of recovery. Though May and June were a let-down, purchases by government and corporate sectors came to the rescue of resellers in July and August.

Sanjay Tayal of Emerald Infocom says, “Corporate buying is happening reasonably well. However government buying has slowed down a bit due to diversion of funds, because of the earthquake and riots.” Sanjay feels that with the upcoming festive season, purchases in the home segment will build up.

Adds Naishadh Diwanji, CMD, Pace Computer Consultants, “The overall market scenario is not too great but it is better than what it was four-five months ago. With the exception of September -- because of shraadh period -- the overall business over last three months has grown between 15 to 20 percent over what it was in AMJ.”

However, a major disappointment prevails among partners in the service business. Most feel that making money in this business is nearly an impossible task. Says RG Patel of Parr Computer, “Nobody is willing to pay up for service offerings and clients expect AMCs at as low as few hundred rupees per PC. One cannot survive by just providing services.”

Another major concern is multiple layers in the distribution chain, which is affecting everyone’s bottomlines. “Vendors should go back to the days of two-tier distribution,” suggests Naisadh.

GOLDIE
AHMEDABAD