Expansion Across East

CALTRON

It has been all about Orissa and the story of 'exclusive distribution rights' for Caltron last FY. Focusing on expanding across East, Caltron registered a 14 percent growth in the last fiscal out beating several key competitors for the slot. Although the overall revenue figure increased by Rs 26 crore owing primarily to its dealing with HP printers and Dell; Belkin contributed significantly to the overall topline, besides strengthening its bottomline.

Last FY, one of Caltron's primary focus was on expansion across East, specifically in Orissa and enhancing its brand, Poweron. Out of the Rs 26 crore revenue growth, Poweron has contributed close to Rs 6.3 crore, increasing by about 40 percent compared to FY 08-09.

With the slowdown taking its toll across the nation, the company had maintained a decent balance sheet owing to the steadfast move it took in its branch expansions. Keeping its loyalty towards HP printers, the company is now keen on consolidating its channel base in Orissa, Bihar and Jharkhand.

For quite sometime, the company, as a part of its expansion strategy has been focusing on building a concrete channel strategy and consolidate its existing bases with branch expansions; this explains its decision to spread its presence in as many cities in the East as possible. Besides, North remained a lesser priority for Caltron with the entire North region contributing to only 13 percent of its total revenue.

Compared to the FY 08-09, the last fiscal was important and lucrative for the company with about 35 percent of its consolidated revenue coming from the last quarter.

Last FY, the company came up with operations in Guwahati which helped in grabbing a substantial marketshare in the Northeast. The company has already started its operations in Siliguri catering to the market in north Bengal. In the last FY however, Caltron expanded its reach to the Orissa market, completing its distribution triangle-Orissa, Northeast and Bihar-Jharkhand.

However, the company is keen in consolidating its distribution business besides taking up exclusive rights and establish itself as a regional distributor, rather than just a sub-distributor. To strengthen its position as a leading regional distributor, Caltron tied up with Belkin as its eastern distributor and signed an exclusive deal with Dell for its range of Vostro in Orissa.

Highlights

• Started regional distribution of Belkin products across East
• Started exclusive distribution of Dell Vostro products in Orissa
• Started regional distribution for Samsung products in Orissa