The Man Who Found Compatibility in IT

Read the growth story of Pramod Rajpal, CEO, ProDot Group in his own words

To some players, compatibles gave them a point to enter the IT peripherals industry, the industry which requires huge setup costs, without any investment. One such player is ProDot which started its business from scratch, and now it is not only the market leader in compatibles, but also the only player to set up a plant to manufacture keyboards, mouse and Laser jet cartridges. Pramod Rajpal, CEO, ProDot group has narrated his story and experience as a successful entrepreneur in the industry-

How did it all start?

We started this business way back in 1987 where we simply used to refill the already installed DMP cartridges in various big companies. Only few companies were following the practice of refilling at that point of time, while most of them bought new cartridges every time. We could sense that IT industry will grow in geometric progression in the coming years and so will compatibles. We stuck around and, consequently, without any significant initial investment, we are the biggest and the fastest growing company in compatibles industry in India.

Strongest distribution network

We have a PAN India distribution network with an almost 40% growth in sales every year. This is all because of our distributors, who are the backbone of ProDot. We and our distributors share a wonderful relationship. Without having spent any significant amount on advertising, people recognize as a brand.The credit goes to our distributors who have always created a positive sentiment for us in the market and we have also delivered accordingly.

Managing  counter attacks

Big players, having observed the declining profitability due to compatibles industry, lately came up with a new clause that the warranty of their printers will be void if users have used any compatibles. Users are unaware of the fact that the price differences in Original and Compatibles are such that they just have to use the compatible cartridge twice and cost of their printer stands covered.The good thing remains the consumers have started realizing that use of compatibles hardly has any effect on the life of the printers and even if it does, it is still a profitable for them making it a win-win situation for them.

Backward  integration

One of the important things we did was backward integration. There is no doubt that China is world’s no. 1 manufacturer. While launching any product, first thing we do is to import the product from China. Most importantly, we do not just stop at getting our product manufactured from China and selling it at in our name, which is an easier thing to do. We follow a backward integration process by learning the manufacturing process, setting up the machinery at our premises, innovate and bring economies of scale to provide better quality at most reasonable prices. That provides us with the “only manufacturer” tag in many of our products like keyboards, mouse, Laser Toner cartridges etc.

Diversification

Traditionally we were a DMP cartridge manufacturing company and we have successfully diversified to Laser toner Cartridges, Keyboards, Mouse, Inkjet Inks, Laser Toner Powder etc. We have also launched our Antivirus in which we have tied up with one of the world’s finest Lab and we are getting a phenomenal response from the customers. It is our constant endeavor is to keep adding something new to the range of products we offer.

Achievements

Upcoming Entrepreneur Award

Pramod Rajpal, Founder & CEO of Prodot Group was awarded “The Upcoming Entrepreneur Award” for three successive year 2008-2010 by Dataquest Magazine

2010 Editor Choice Award: Best Ribbon Manufacturer

Awarded with ‘Editor Choice Award’ by NCN magazine for being the  Best Ribbon Manufacturer on 17th Dec 2012, New Delhi at Crown Plaza

2011 Reader Choice Award

Awarded with a title as ‘Reader choice award-2011’ by Recharge India Magzine

Award for best Brand Visibility

ProDot was chosen and conferred the “Best Brand Visibility Award” by Recharge India Magazine

Best Indian Brand

ProDot won the Best Indian Brand at 2nd NCN Imaging Solution Award function held on the 9th Dec 2011 at Hotel Surya, Delhi

Best Cartridge Re- Manufacturing Company in India

Awarded the Best Cartridge Re- Manufacturing Company In India by the NCN – in the summit 3rd Imaging Solution Award held on the 14th Dec 2012 at Hotel Surya Delhi.

Best Indian Brand

Was bestowed with the prestigious Best Indian Brand Awards – 2011 and then in 2012 for the two year in continuation by NCN magazine

Fastest growing Indian Imaging Company Achiever Award

Fastest growing Indian imaging company achiever award for the year 2013 by the NCN on 19th December at Hotel Kohinoor Andheri Mumbai.

The  success Mantra

After having operated in the Indian market for about 30 years, we conclude that this market is very price sensitive.The only way to grow multifold here is to provide high quality products at lowest possible prices. Understand your customer. People buying compatibles are the people who are seeking cost cuts. Don’t think about making too much premium as they will never be able to pay.

Future plans

As of now we have been popular within IT industry. We are planning to bring in a new angle to our products now – connectivity with youth. Soon we will come up with a flashy and trendy product range that will attract the youth. We have conducted a pre-launch analysis of these products and have got a great response. We are excited to launch these products.

Further we are moving ahead to set up a plant which manufactures latest technology USB Flash drives. We are very aggressively identifying new products that can be manufactured in India and will also be making strategic alliances with various manufacturers to speed up the process.

Make In India and Go Green Campaign

We have already joined “Make in India” campaign as all keyboards and mouse available with us are manufactured at our production house in Dehradun.

Our mantra will always remain the same – highest quality lowest price.