Distis and partners lock heads at Jamshedpur

Jamshedpur

August 13, 2007

The DQ Week IT Panchayat was held at Jamshedpur last week and attracted
participation from a large number of channel partners across the city including
the members of Jamshedpur IT Association (JITA).

The event was formally inaugurated with a presentation by Shubhashish Roy,
Relationship Manager (East) - Hitachi, the title sponsor of the event. This was
followed by another presentation by K K Dutta, RSM-East, Amconics, the associate
sponsor of the event.

The much-awaited panel discussion followed suit and was moderated by Shivangi
Yadav, Executive Editor, The DQ Week. Panel members included Raghavendra N,
Regional Manager - Jalan Infotech and Anand A Raj, Branch Head - Neoteric, from
the distributor side. Indranil Gupta of Computer Wizard and Shailesh Kr
Mandawewala of Galaxy Infocom represented the channel community.

The highlight of the panel discussion was issues related to lack of
door-to-door delivery of products by the distributors to the local partners.
Apart from that issues related to inventory and Dead-on-Arrival were also
discussed during the session.

The partners jointly raised their voices against the distributors especially
Jalan Infotech mentioning that there has been no facility for door-to-door
delivery by the distributor in Jamshedpur. The partners said that in the absence
of a proper delivery system the channel faced tremendous problems over the years
including theft of products in transit. Countering the complaint Raghavendra
said, "As a company policy, Jalan does not provide door-to-door delivery to
those partners who are based at Jamshedpur. But we do provide such facility to
partners situated in and around Jamshedpur." Rejecting his statement the
partners said that this was an unjustified policy and required immediate
rectification. In the ensuing argument, it was decided that the matter be
brought under the supervision of higher authorities of the distributors so that
certain modifications could be introduced.

While the same grievance was raised against Caltron, Inderjeet Singh - Branch
Manager, Caltron Info Trade told the partners that he would arrange for a
door-to-door delivery in case of orders with a minimum value of Rs 10000 and
above. "But I would require a minimum of four hours time to make the
delivery," he added. While the partners agreed to his clause they also
demanded a similar kind of solution from Jalan. Raghavendra assured the partners
that he would take up this matter with the higher authorities and some remedial
steps would be taken.

The next big issue discussed was the absence of proper inventory with the
distributors. "While the stocks for the entry level products are generally
available with the local distributors when it comes to the exclusive products
inventory is a big issue," said Gupta. Partners who charged the distributor
of not maintaining regular stocks supported him. "This issue is encouraging
infiltration from bigger markets like Kolkata and Ranchi where ready stocks are
generally available," added Gupta.

Like in most places Dead-on-Arrival (DoA) was another issue bothering the
Jamshedpur partners. However, partners had a mixed reaction to the issue. While
some blamed the distributors for the pending DoA cases some opined that this
responsibility mainly lies with the principal companies. However, it was later
jointly agreed by the partners that whoever is responsible for the DoA cases, be
it the distributors or the principal companies, it is the partners who have to
pay.

Amidst this debate some partners with support from The DQ Week intervened and
pointed out that with the presence of a strong and active association these
issues could be handled in a better way and some solution could be agreed upon.

The evening ended with a lucky draw conducted by Amconics and was followed by
cocktail and dinner.