It is a High-stakes, High-risk Gamble

For someone who joined Procter & Gamble as a management trainee 16 years

ago, and graduated to be the FMCG giant’s marketing director, Vivek Bali has

had things going his way. His sudden move from the steady P&G to a dot-com

took everyone by surprise. For these were times when the dot-com dream had gone

bust, the industry was in doldrums and the general situation was in a snafu. So

what cards does this IIM graduate have up his sleeve today, which make him smile

about the future? In an interview to DQ, Bali charts out his roadmap for the

division

Why did you move to a dot-com, where uncertainty is the

only constant today?

When I joined, we had seen visions of a dot-com boom. Sure,

today, the pendulum has swung completely. But if this industry was overestimated

and hyped way too much earlier, it is now being unfairly undervalued. Anything

that has a dot in it is viewed with extreme skepticism now. Surprisingly though,

dot-coms today are doing what they couldn’t during the boom–they are making

money. India is a growing economy. And as more users get connected, things will

change. I am confident about it–the Internet is here to stay.

As far as comparisons with my previous job goes, there’s no

question that the FMCG industry is more established, with more money ad clearly

defined categories. The dot-com business, on the other hand, is relatively

unexplored. Here, nobody knows what will suceed, so innovation is appreciated.

It is a high-stakes, high-risk gamble. And now we are moving towards a more

realistic phase, devoid of all the ho-hum...

Audiences have said that most portals look the same. How

does Sify approach the task of standing out?

Yes, there is a problem here and we realize the import of it.

We have attempted to develop distinct individual sub-brands, with these either

been created by us or acquired over a period of time. For instance, we have

WalletWatch, which is a home-grown site on finance–many people who maintain

their own personal portfolio of shares on the site. Khel is a cricket-specific

site, which is popular among cricket fans. Sify Mall is a B2C e-commerce site,

while IndiaPlaza specialises in entertainment products. Our news site,

Samachar.com, has a strong base among NRIs, who’ve made it their default home

page. There is an individual strategy in place for each of the sites.

What makes a perfect portal? And how many players do you

think will be around five years down the line?

That’s a tough one! But if you want specific numbers,

probably only three or four. It’s going to take a strong brand presence.

Offline presence helps. Indiatimes.com, for instance, is going fine because it

has the advantage of being part of The Times of India group. Take regional

portals–they are difficult and expensive to maintain. Portals like Chennai

Online and Café Mumbai came in with a bang and soon went down without a

whimper. The appeal in these cases is restricted only to local regions. Others

are trying to tap the NRI audience. If they manage to do that successfully, then

they just might click.

How has your revenue model evolved?

At a time when others were busy spending money, we decided to

bring costs under control. As a result, from April-June, we grew 22% in a

declining market. We have generated revenues through on-line advertising and

e-commerce. We also have sponsorship deals with companies for our various

channels.

What are the trends that you foresee in the future,

especially as many dot-coms have started charging users?

People have started getting a lot of free stuff on the Net.

And this should change over a period of time. There is so much of content, apart

form e-mails, which can be charged for. But as long as there are large providers

who are giving away freebies, it is going to be difficult to make users pay up.

Among the online activities that seem promising, advertising, e-commerce, travel

and leisure activities will see growth. This, of course, will depend on the

overall context of how the economy will be doing. Today, people are more worried

about the US attack on Afghanistan and what course it will take.

Shweta Verma in New Delhi–Dataquest