The ChannelTimes National Distributor Conference (NDC 2004), held at Hotel Orchid in Mumbai today, brought together under one roof national stalwarts of the distribution industry in India.

The dignitaries present at this exclusive event, which brought together the Who's Who of national distribution, were: J. Kulkarni, CEO, Redington India; Paras Shah, CEO, Neoteric; Suresh Pansari, MD, Rashi Peripherals; Aditya Bhuwania, director, Priya Ltd; Raj Rathi, director, Cyberstar; and B. K. Mitra, Ingram Micro representative.

There were six major issues put forward to the elite guests for discussion, which included a recap of business in 2004, along with a trend initiated by the company, perception of WTO 2005 and its outcome for the IT industry. Also discussed were the impact of mergers and acquisitions on the channel and on respective distributors, the value each distributor would look to provide its channel in terms of profitability and the number of players, and finally, the goal of Indian distribution.

Speaking about the important role a distributor plays, J. Kulkarni, CEO, Redington India, said, "I see distributors as hands and legs of manufacturers reaching out to the customers. A distributor's role is to create awareness and ensure IT penetration in all parts of the country. In addition, it's important to understand the channel too has to be profitable to us and vice versa. If any link in this whole chain is weak, it affects the entire system."

Paras Shah, CEO, Neoteric, said, "We have witnessed exponential growth in retail business. This is one area that we plan to focus on. Besides, digital imaging is another vertical where we have fared well, witnessing a 30 percent growth."

The distributors showed appreciation at this first-of-its-kind initiative taken by ChannelTimes. Raj Rathi, director, Cyberstar, said, "I want to thank ChannelTimes for holding such an event and giving us the opportunity to come and discuss the areas of concern and importance in the field of IT distribution."

When asked about the perception of WTO 2005 and its outcome for the industry, Suresh Pansari, MD, Rashi Peripherals, said, "The biggest advantage of the zero-duty regime will be that India will be able to compete at the global level and Indian manufacturers stand no threat with an increase in the manufacturing base. The Indian industry is growing at the rate of almost 40 percent, and with the implementation of VAT it is expected to grow at the rate of 100 percent."

When questioned about the possibility of an official consortium for distributors, Aditya Bhuwania, director, Priya Ltd, said, "In 2001 there was a distributor group, but that could not continue due to various reasons. At present, a similar forum can only be formed if distributors discuss unselfishly the issues and problems plaguing the IT community and openly share views and opinions on all matters."

NDC 2004 was sponsored by Samsung India.