The Magnificent 10

Once again DQ Channels is sticking its head out by compiling a list of
India's most powerful channel partners. Power here doesn't mean the amount of
business they generate, rather it denotes their indispensability for vendors as
well as distis. Without these 10 partners, country's IT industry will be much
poorer.

When we thought about this initiative, the first idea was to conduct a formal
survey. However, this idea was junked as the feeling came that it would give too
much weightage to the topline. Instead, the senior editorial team of the
magazine informally spoke with more than 25 people, vendors as well as large
distis, to get a feel of what their thoughts were.

Asim Raina Editor

And these 10 magnificent men figured in almost everybody's list. Besides the
fact that these worthy men have been clocking pretty good revenues, even more
important is the fact that they have built up an unenviable brand equity within
their respective business spheres. All of them are extremely well respected,
have very good relationships with customers, have a pretty good understanding of
brands they sell, a good reach, and are not short of funds.

Take for instance VK Bhandari of Supertron who is, to our reckoning the most
powerful partner in the country. Whenever any vendor goes visiting Kolkata, his
first port of call is Supertron House, 2, Cooper Lane. Forget the vendors, as
and when I go to Kolkata, I never leave the city without meeting him. And to his
credit, Bhandari is always available to meet anybody unlike some other people
who always claim to be busy.

Almost a similar status is enjoyed by Anil Mhaske of Data Care. His office in
Pune's Deccan area is like a landmark for the IT industry. The way he has
organized his business should be made a sort of case study for other channel
partners in the country.

One interesting aspect of this list is that there is equal representation of
solution providers as well as distributors. While Supertron, Sogo, Data Care,
Supreme and Micromax are engaged in distribution, the balance five-Team,
Precision, Frontier, SK International and Allied-are pure play solution
providers. That itself proves that no one segment dominates the channel
community.

Finally, we have done our job by compiling this list, which we intend to make
an annual feature. There are bound to be people who may not agree with some of
the names listed. But then that's true of any compilation as it all depends on
individual thinking. However, we do hope that our efforts will be appreciated by
one and all. In the meantime, let's raise a toast for the magnificent 10.
Cheers.