Tryst with Destiny

Based in Jalandhar, Dhir & Co was founded in July 1949, but ventured into computers business in 1998. Currently, the company deals in distribution of the products in the field of information technologies. The activities of the company are especially oriented to the Punjab market.

Puneet Dhir, business head of Dhir & Co, joined the organization in the year 1997, and changed the nature of business from real estate agent onto IT business, which was established by Dhir's grandfather Ram Pratap Dhir. In the first year of IT business, the company registered a meager turnover of Rs 3.5 lakh.

According to Dhir, "I started with very little capital as our family business involved commission agents, and so trading and investing in stocks were not in our blood. Slowly, I learnt the games of the business, and later took loan of Rs 7,5000 to further strengthen the IT business."

The Beginning
For a soft-spoken Dhir, the IT field was new as he had a commerce background. So, technically he had no knowledge of the computer field. He had to manage the entire affairs, from deliveries to payments, on his own Dhir, entered into IT business more by chance then by choice.

He feels that his journey so far in the IT industry is like a tryst with destiny. "Coming from a non-IT background, and that too from a service-class family, starting an IT business was a gamble. But I was destined to be a part of the IT industry. After completing my post graduation in commerce and business administration there was a strong urge to start something afresh and all by myself so one of my friends who was in this field suggested me to start corporate supplies business."

He started working for Eureka Forbes for a short span of six months during his Post Graduation to learn the basics of direct marketing and later he started IT business straight out of college.

The company started with a vision of corporate supplies including stationary products and later its focus changed into distribution model because corporate demand personal attention and meetings and always loved to sit and manage affairs.

Current Business
Currently, the company has two retail stores which contribute 35% to its turnover and the rest comes from distribution business. Technology distribution is becoming more customer-focused to help resellers and manufacturers succeed. Last year, its turnover was `3 crore and has plans to achieve `4 crore of turnover this year with a growth of 33 % over the last year. It has already achieved `1.9 crore in the half year.

Dhir & Co is at the forefront of this evolution by continually implementing faster and more innovative ways to help resellers and manufacturers meet their customers' demands. It devotes itself mainly to the products, which are appropriate for using in small enterprises and in households (SOHO market).

Its inventory includes more than 1000 products from the leading vendors including computer peripherals, computer media and accessories, printer supplies and consumables, storage media, USB products and laptop accessories, and many others.

The company is currently distributing products of Tech-com, Edifier, Norton, Kaspersky,Tata Photon, V- Guard. In addition, it is also dealing in HP, Epson, Canon and Dell on regular basis and in good volumes.

It has planned a target turnover of Rs 4 crore in financial year 2012-2013, which will represent 40% growth over the last year itself. Additionally, online selling is another major focus area where it plans to grow phenomenally, it has set up an online store and getting very good response from the customers. In the next one year, online business will contribute at least 10% and over next 2 years 25 % of our turnover is expected to come from online business.

Due to current financial crunch and over supplied position in the market distribution is now becoming less lucrative, so its main focus will be on cash and online business. Henceforth, it will shuffle product range for better sales and profitability.

Key Milestone
The company is managed to keep its business free from liabilities even in times of recessions without any external financial help. Today, its business is not having any liability in shape of loans or bank limits. The company enjoys a good rapport amongst 200 channel partners to whom it provides products and services and share strong relations with the vendors, work with is a major achievement, which is rare to see these days.

The company is open to any kind of feedback from its customers and listens to their grievances patiently and never argument with them and for satisfying customers there is no set standards, it may go any far to keep customer satisfied.

In Personal...
"My wife Manika, who is also a post graduate in commerce, joined the business about 6 years back and handles finance, banking, taxation and vendor payments. This takes major burden off my mind and I am free to take other important decisions for my business and interact more with my customers and staff," says Dhir.

Other than business, Dhir, is actively involved in the working of local Jalandhar Computer Dealers Association for the last 10 years and has served as joint secretary, treasurer, executive member and general secretary in the association. Dhir loves to be part of the social and development projects and never shy away from an opportunity to help people and organizations.

Talking about his retirement plans, Dhir feels, "I would like to travel to every place worth it on this earth, work for a strong social cause and still manage business passively."

Sandhya Malhotra
(sandhyam@cybermedia.co.in)