Finally, the Indian internet companies have got a dozen reasons to smile, but free cash flow is the one which makes them grin. Indian population seems to be a blessing in disguise for these companies as more people log on to the internet everyday.
We are all aware of the success of internet stock and commodities trading in India. Its time for other companies to cash in on the Indian internet boom. BS reports that, BharatMatrimony is growing at the rate of 100% YoY. Murugavel Janakiraman, CEO, BharatMatrimony said
We will be a Rs 100-crore company this financial year (FY). Our marketing plan has a capital outlay of Rs 40 crore. Of this, Rs 25 crore is for the offline marketing campaign, which includes television and print massmedia campaigns and setting up of 100 Bharat Matrimony Centres by March 2007, while Rs 15 crore will be for online promotions.
BharatMatrimony’s competitor, Shaadi.Com CMD, Anupam Mittal is equally optimistic about the fortunes of his company and said,
We will spend Rs 50 crore over the next three years to cover most towns with a population of over 2.5 lakh people with Shaadi Points. Besides, we have a capital outlay of Rs 25 crore for a mass media campaign that involves television, radio and print.
Can you see the huge cash flow these companies are having ? The young and tech savvy workforce with disposable income fuelled the initial growth of ecommerce. Indian Banks have helped too, by issuing more credit cards than ever to let people spend online.
eBay India, which currently sells,
- 1 Jewellery every 7 minutes
- 1 Mobile handset every 9 minutes
- Appareals every 12 minutes
- MP3 player every 18 minutes
is expecting more than 50% of its business to come from smaller towns and cities in the next 5 years. For this to happen, the company is aggressively training through eBay Academy programme, a platform for potential new users and sellers to learn how to sell successfully on the web.
The National Telecom Policy makers should wake up from their slumber as they have missed broadband penetration target twice and should chart an aggressive growth strategy like they did for cell phone services in India.