Banking On SEZ and BPOs

Jaipur, the pink city, is traditionally known as a tourist destination for
its forts, palaces and enriched history.

Breaking the shell of its traditional image, the city is now growing as an IT
market and possess the capability of drawing the attention of principal
companies. According to channel estimates, the market is growing at a rate of 15
to 20 percent YoY. Jaipur has the potential to churn out business of Rs 50 crore
per month from IT market, among which 40 percent is contributed by SOHO segment
and rest is drawn from government and corporate partners.

Institutional development is one of the factors that are contributing to
growth of Jaipur market. Besides, the city is endowed with multiple engineering
colleges that is giving rise to consistent demand for IT products.

“Earlier, computer literacy was very low in Jaipur. Now, with the opening of
government institutes and colleges there has been an increase in the demand for
IT products. Today, Jaipur is a growing market and is positioned to grow at 20
percent in the next few years,” commented Arinjay Jain, CEO, Kanchan Computech.

Also, the city is soon going to have an alternation in shifts of engineering
colleges and will be running in two shifts. Currently, there are 55 engineering
colleges that accommodate 12,000 students. Channel partners in Jaipur are
optimistic that as the shifts doubles, automatically, the number of students
will also increase considerably and this will lead to growth in the demand for
IT products.

Jaipur

FACT FILE Channel biz growing at 15-20% YoY Potential to earn revenue worth Rs 50 crore per month

Rajasthan has also been identified as a special economic zone and the state
is experiencing a growth of 28 to 30 percent every year. This is giving space
for verticals like software development firms, financial institutes and
outsourcing companies to establish their units in the region. For example,
companies like Tech Mahindra and Vyasa Bank have already started their operation
from Rajasthan and Infosys is reported to enter soon in the region. Jaipur,
being the capital city, consequently earns the maximum benefits for IT business
to grow.

“Because of all the developments, multiple corporate offices will make their
presence in Jaipur and this will give business to solution providers for network
implementations and after-sales support,” informed Rajan Vashishth, Branch
Manager, Redington, while sharing his thoughts on Jaipur as an emerging
upcountry market in IT space.

Besides educational institutions and SEZs, BPO also offers immense
opportunity for channel partners and solution providers to sell IT products and
deploy new projects.

Changing buying trends indicate the growth and evolvement of a market. Over
the last two to three years, there has been a shift in the buying trends in
Jaipur as the awareness level of the customers has risen. Earlier, customer
demands were limited to PCs but now they are specific while buying any product
in terms of brand, technology, features and after-sale support.

Hemant, Branch Manager-Jaipur, Ingram Micro highlighted some non-IT trends
that are also contributing to the growth of the region as a potential space.
“Comparatively, Jaipur is a peaceful area. We don't face any issue with
electricity and it is a major attraction for real estate investments. The place
is also cost effective in terms of infrastructure development. Also, Jaipur is
the closest developing city to New Delhi. All these factors combined give enough
space for IT segment to grow and churn out profitable business. Nowadays,
vendors are focusing on Jaipur and are coming up with innovative market
strategies to tap the market,” shared Hemant.

Channel partners in Jaipur are already observing a transition in the market
trends and customers now prefer technically advanced products. Despite the
economic slowdown, distributors and channel partners in Jaipur are optimistic
that the market will continue to grow at the rate of 20 percent in coming years.

Amrita Tejasvi

amritat@cybermedia.co.in