Business Today Net Special

e-Missionaries Of Calcutta

BY Rakhi Mazumdar

Four fairly-established Calcutta-based players of the old economy---S.P. Goenka of Kitply Industries, J.P. Chowdhury of Titagarh Industries, S.K. Khaitan of Khaitan (Fans) Group of Companies, and R.S. Agarwal of the Emami Group---have got together to launch MatManage.com, a B2B venture that aims to alter buying and selling patterns across the country.

MatManage.com is perhaps the first comprehensive e-procurement venture to be launched in India. It has been created to serve as a customised automatic search machine that will track a company's total procurement requirements, and find instant solutions. So, whether a company wants to buy or sell, auction or float a tender, source opportunities or services, MatManage.com plans to offer e-procurement at 'lighting speed', saving resources---in terms of time, money, reach, and convenience.
In scope, it aims to go beyond indiamarkets.com or trade2gain.com, in the sense that it is not just a B2B marketplace for excess inventory. "It takes into account every aspect of a company's procurement requirements, and serves as a virtual digital marketplace covering various product classifications, currently amounting to 422 broad product categories," says Vivek Jhamb, CEO, Matmanage.com.

For instance, how does a buyer of aluminium strips in Calcutta find out about a small, but highly-regarded supplier based in Coimbatore? MatManage seeks to accomplish such across-the-table business transactions.

But isn't that what B2B is all about? So, what's the difference? Simple. MatManage will not only bring the two together, but also help transact the deal in the shortest possible time. And this is what sets it apart from its B2B clones.

Once you have logged on to the site, here's what you have to do. Identify whether you are a buyer or seller, or as in this writer's case, just a visitor. You could then choose the products you are interested in. Products can be traced in two ways: either through the International Standard Classification of 422 broad product categories, or through the search-engine provided.

A member of the MatManage Community enjoys e-procurement, tender-related information specific to your industry, business information (latest news and opportunities in your area of business), auction, and product information. As a buyer on MatManage.com you can buy on-line by raising a Request For Quote (RFQ) for your desired product categories. You can choose to send the RFQ to your list of registered suppliers, the complete database of suppliers, or the bulletin board through the system.

MatManage will forward all competitive quotations within the time-frame specified by you, arranged in ascending order. You can also give details of the suppliers and negotiate the deal off-line. All comparative quotations will be revealed only on the date and the time stipulated by the buyer, to maintain confidentiality of the quotations. For the buyer, the benefits come in the form of a single network access point for e-procurement; vast supplier-base, both current and potential future partners; and technical and product information.

For suppliers, it provides access to a captive on-line audience of potential customers in a fraction of the usual lead-time and minimum financial outlay. A supplier has to get registered in the specific product categories of his choice. As soon as MatManage receives an RFQ from a buyer, the supplier gets an e-mail containing the details of the enquiry. The supplier can, thus, leverage a single registration to conduct business with any business worldwide. He can also get product-page advertising---that is, advertising his product to just the target audience.

The new venture plans to earn revenues primarily through three sources: subscription charges from a registered base of users, a commission on the volume of transactions done through the site, and on-site advertisements.

MatManage will initially offer its services to businesses throughout India. It has plans of widening its reach to cover global markets. It will face formidable rivals in globalsources.com, i2i.com, and Asian e-procurement leader alibaba.com. Just to give you an idea, last time this writer checked up alibaba.com, it had 94,785 sell and 35,725 buy offers from 202 countries, while globalsources.com threw up seven search results for aluminium extrusions from India alone.

Net-Savvy NGOs

By Aparna Ramalingam

The gold rush called dot.com is not leaving any stone unturned. Even prominent non-government organisations (NGOs) have joined the craze. Most NGO sites are information-driven, with some offering on-line payment facilities as well. Leading the pack is icicicommunities.org. Launched by ICICI, it is an attempt to bring its domain expertise in finance and e-Commerce to the world of charity. The portal, a non-commercial venture started by ICICI, will create a platform for those who have always wanted to contribute to social causes, but have been restricted by lack of opportunities.

This portal is going to be managed by the newly set up Social Initiatives Group in ICICI. Says Nachiket Mor, Senior General Manager, ICICI: "ICICI has emerged as the leading Indian player in e-Commerce and Net-based technology. icicicommunities.org allows it to leverage that expertise for the benefit of the social development sector. The site allows worthy organisations in the development sector to benefit from that brand equity and marketing acumen." To begin with, ICICI intends to absorb all the expenses associated with the site." "Once the site is well-established, alternate revenue-models may be explored," says Mor.

The portal provides detailed information about projects being undertaken by selected NGOs, which include Jaipur Foot, Seva Mandir, Pratham, Pradhan, and the National Association for the Blind. The focus areas are going to be infant-mortality prevention, universalisation of primary education, and micro-finance (to be started shortly). "The site is a part of the work of our Social Initiatives Group and, therefore, has no explicit or implicit commercial objectives," adds Mor. The thrust is to identify and supply projects and programmes that have a large-scale impact, are measurable, replicable, and are time-bound.

On the anvil are plans to add craft-shopping, news, and information centers. It, thus, aims to leverage its infotech prowess for meeting its social mission.

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