Rank 12: INGRAM MICRO: Leader of the Pack

Defying the IT meltdown, distribution major Ingram Micro grew by a
heady 31% in fiscal 2001-02. In the process, it crossed the magical Rs
1,000-crore mark to clock revenues of Rs 1,220 crore (DQ estimates), compared to
Rs 930 crore in the previous year. The enormity of this achievement can be
gauged from the fact that in the same period, the other two distribution majors–Tech
Pacific and Redington India–showed negative and flat growth rates,
respectively.

Performance Highlights Topline grows 31% despite all-round recession Adds 2,000 new channel partners Own brand Vesta brings in Rs 100 crore Strengths Direct presence in 33 locations across the country 6,000-strong channel network Appointment of seven new agents will increase reach in ‘D’ class cities Weaknesses Hardware contributes a high 80% to topline Focus on marketing needs to be strengthened Ingram Micro India Pvt. Ltd. l Startup: 1996 l Products & services: Distributor for HP, IBM, Compaq, APC, Intel, Iomega, Cisco, Samsung, Microsoft, Nortel, Lexmark, PTC, Trend Mircro, Seagate, Borland, NAI, Sun, Avaya and other vendors l Branches:33 lDealers: 6,000 l Address: MF7, Cipet Hostel Road, Thiru-vi-ka Industrial Estate, Ekkatuthangal, Chennai 600097 l Tel: 2333071/73/75 l Fax: 2331751 l Website: ingrammicro.com

The mantra at Ingram last fiscal was growth with consolidation. Growth it
achieved in extremely good numbers. The consolidation happened with the addition
of Lexmark’s printer business, Ascom’s networking products and Compaq’s
storage line. Also introduced were UPS systems under the Vesta brand of
components, which already comprised motherboards, keyboards, speakers, cabinets,
mouse and CD-ROM drives. Introduced in 2000, the Vesta range finally took off in
the last fiscal, contributing almost Rs 100 crore to Ingram’s topline in
India. Mobile phones were another area where Ingram had a major focus–the
company became an exclusive distributor for Samsung, and this reaped rich
dividends, with Rs 70 crore worth of sales happening within the first year
itself.

With the addition of three new offices in Madurai, Patna and Raipur, Ingram’s
direct presence in the country went up to 33 locations.

In addition, it also appointed seven C&F agents–in Dehradun for
Uttaranchal, Gurgaon for Haryana, Jammu for Jammu & Kashmir, Patna for
Bihar, Raipur (2) for Chattisgarh and Ranchi for Jharkhand. It also scaled its
reach of resellers to 6,000, with 2,000 additions in the year.

As for the contribution of vendors, HP products gave Ingram the maximum
amount of business, contributing Rs 157 crore, followed by Compaq and Microsoft
with Rs 150 crore and Rs 148 crore, respectively.

Other major contributors were Intel and IBM. Financial 2002-03 could see more
high growth from Ingram–it has projected over 25%. To achieve this, the
company is adding more product lines and vendors to its already bulging
portfolio. Already on board are HP consumables and PTC’s low-end software
range.