Will Autodesk Kill its Channel Ecosystem in India?

IT Channel ecosystem has always been the backbone to build the IT infrastructure, and Vendor and channel relationship have been the major factor to grow IT businesses in India. As e-commerce and online businesses have grown in recent years, it has been noticed that some vendors have shifted their business module from channel to online. Channel Associations and partners have constantly been raising their voice against unfair business practices to save the partner ecosystem in India.

Along the same lines, a new incident has come to light. Autodesk, an American multinational software corporation that makes software services for various industries, is apparently compelling the software channel to revert its policy of offering 20% lower prices online and higher prices to its channel.

As per the sources, the RTP cost for AutoCad LT software is Rs 17464 but Autodesk is offering at Rs 14318 all-inclusive on online.

“Autodesk is asking the channel to bear with a price reduction for 7 days every month to help them scale up their online sales to 50% of total sales which is currently at 5%”, an Autodesk partner who does not wish to be named said.

Channel Association has raised this point as well that Autodesk is doing “unfair business practice as they will kill the partner ecosystem in the future”.

In a conversation with DQ Channels, Champak Raj Gujjar, President, Federation of All India Information Technology Associations (FAIITA) said, “FAIITA will look into this again and we are keen to help our members to help against any unethical business practice. We will also stand and back our members to boycott Autodesk from the market. We have noticed this issue last year from Autodesk's partners. We have raised this issue, asked Autodesk to look into it and they resolved this matter at their end. This time again, we will stand and fight against such Vendors to save our channel ecosystem”.

When approached on the issue, an Autodesk official said, “Our products can be purchased both directly via the Autodesk store and through authorized Autodesk resellers. Resellers are free to set their own prices. As such, reseller prices may vary. The retail price of the product purchased from a reseller is determined by the customer’s selected reseller.”