29. EASTERN COMNET: rejuvenating growth

START-UP YEAR: 1993; 

NO OF PARTNERS: 100

BRANCHES: 3; 

AGENCY OPERATIONS: D-Link, Gigabyte, Cisco, Liteon and Valrack.

ADDRESS: 16, Ganesh Chandra Avenue, Kolkata - 700 013. 

TEL: 033-22256162

FAX: 033-22373033

WEB SITE:

www.easternitgroup.com 

Another debutant in the Next 25 group from the East, Eastern Comnet makes its presence at slot #29 by virtue of its Rs 67 crore revenue for the last fiscal. The company recorded a phenomenal 131% growth in 2002-03 over 2001-02, when its revenue was a mere Rs 29 crore. This incidentally is the second highest growth figure among the top 50 companies. A large chunk of this turnover came from D-Link's products, for which the company is the distributor in Eastern India. 

The company also deals in products/solutions from Cisco, Gigabyte and Liteon brands. It has three business divisions looking after network integration, distribution business and retail sales. For Eastern Comnet, in networking oil, defence and educational sector brought in good money. Its retail business also flourished given a strong home/SOHO buying in
Kolkata.

The company did well in service business too, with nearly 10% revenue contribution coming from there.

Eastern Comnet has been selective about its dealer network and so has maintained its partner base at around 100. However, it put a strong thrust on post-sales service. In view of this, the company even opened a branch in Guwahati to service customers in the North-Eastern region.

For the current fiscal, the company is eyeing a turnover of over Rs 100 crore. “D-Link would be the major contributor towards our growth. We expect its business to grow by 100%,” says JK Baid, MD, Eastern Comnet. Baid also intends aggressively pushing Gigabyte's range of products and believes that with the motherboard market consolidating, Gigabyte will take a lead in the East Indian market.