18. NEBULA TECHNOLOGIES: in troubled waters

START-UP YEAR: 1997

AGENCY OPERATIONS: Intel, Cabletron, Krone, Samsung and Qmax

ADDRESS: SIDCO Electronic Complex, Block II 24 & 25, Thiru-vi-ka Industrial Estate, Guindy, Chennai - 600 032.

TEL: 044-22324522/43/3716 FAX: 044-22323715

WEB SITE: www.nebulatech.com 

Chennai-based Nebula Technologies, which had registered good growth in the first few years found itself at crossroads facing a financial crisis. This also got reflected in its poor performance during the last fiscal. 

The company registered revenues of Rs 105 crore (DQCI estimates), which was a fall of 34% compared to FY 2001-02. Nevertheless, Nebula still managed to make a mark in the Silver Club at #18.

According to market sources, by Q2 of FY 2002-03 Nebula started to focus only on its Intel sales. This many believe was the main reason for the downfall, as survival on just one vendor pushed them out of business. A leading Chennai-based reseller confirms that Nebula also sold its Intel inventories to a Bangalore-based genuine Intel dealer (GID) to clear its debts.

Now, it is understood that Nebula is no longer going to distribute Intel products.

Nebula is also said to be in talks with eSys to sell off its Qmax brand.

Nebula also had payment problems and a huge amount got stuck up in the market. According to the latest media report, the company has lost a great amount of money with a couple of channel partners in the north and west, while in south, although the amount were in smaller units, the outstanding piled up over time.

During last fiscal, Nebula was appointed as a national distributor for Wipro Infotech, which was a move by the company to get aggressive in the SME market. Nebula was also seen betting on its own Qmax brand, which included both corporate and home PCs under the portfolio.  But the company’s efforts resulted in poor yield. The company, which was once a key account for Intel, has lost its sheen over a period of time.