Dear Friends,
From this month (June 2009) onwards, VARIndia has taken an initiative to focus on the channel business of various states. We have realized that metros are not the only places for doing IT business. From the IT perspective, things are changing very fast. Every state has been chalking out a friendly policy framework to woo the investors in various sectors – be it energy, real estate, steel, mining, transportation, etc. This has encouraged MNCs to set up their plants in association with the domestic entrepreneurs. Even the state governments are encouraging the industrialists to develop to match with their foreign counterparts
SEZs are being set up all over the country in various sectors, including gems & jewellery, electronics & electricals, healthcare, petrochemicals, oil & gas, pharmaceuticals, apparels, etc. This development has created clustered industrial sectors in most of the states. This has opened lots of opportunities for the state IT players. Apart from this, eGovernance initiative has opened a definite opportunity for IT entrepreneurs.
Some time back, I had been to Gujarat to see the opportunities being offered by the state and the mindset of the channel partners to participate in the state’s growth. What I found was quite amazing. The partners in the state are very happy doing the business. The market slowdown has actually not impacted them to that extent as it is talked about in the metro cities. The realty sector is considered one of the indicators of the vibrancy of the states. While in the metros the realty sector has shown signs of weakness, in Gujarat it is quite vibrant.
The channel partners of Gujarat are not much fazed by the economic slowdown. Rather, they have a suggestion for their principals: be aggressive and invest in the supportive network. They want the principals to come up with new partner programmes to make partnership more sustainable. They also spoke that the pricing of the products should be renegotiated and discounts passed on to the partners so that in turn they can pass those on to the customers to make them more happy.
In July, we will be covering the financial capital of India - Maharashtra.
Sanjay Mahapatra
Editor
