IndiaMart, a name heard by many, not only in India but all over the world. IndiaMART is an Indian online marketplace, serving since 1998 and based in Noida. The company have around 1.5 million suppliers listed on its website, with around 10 million buyers visiting the online platform every month. We recently met with the founder of Indiamart, Mr. Dinesh Agarwal at IIT-D where he motivated several students and yet-to-be entrepreneurs.
Mr. Dinesh Agarwal is a very down to earth man, who knows how to do business. It is not just by his luck or ideas that helped him creating such a giant IndiaMart, but his will and passion for the same. We got the opportunity to ask him few questions about Indiamart and the current startup scenario in India.
Thank you so much Mr. Dinesh for this Interview, Could you introduce yourself to our readers?
Yeah Sure. I’m the founder of IndiaMart. I came from a family of businessmen, who personally never wanted to be a businessman in his early days. I completed my B-Tech degree from HBTI Kanpur, where I took up a job as a System Analyst at HCL Technologies and later moved to the US to work with CDOT. Not satisfied with the work, there I felt like starting my own venture.
After moving back to India, I with my team built a platform for business to display products via dedicated web pages. The idea was to help the small and medium enterprises in the country market their products and services. Investing his savings of Rs. 40,000, he started the company which now valued at Rs. 225 crores.
About Indiamart and it’s operation?
IndiaMart is a Business platform connecting buyers with sellers. The online channel focuses on providing a platform for buyers, who can be SMEs, large enterprises as well as individuals. The company has around more 1.5 million suppliers listed on its website, with around 10 million buyers visiting the online platform every month. Buyers typically gain access to a wider marketplace; diverse portfolios of quality products to choose from and tap a one-stop-shop which caters to all their specific requirements, thereby aiding the discerning buyer to make well-informed choices!
What are the main points to run a successful business in India and why startup companies are not able to disrupt the market so fast?
The importance of bringing values to the customers, the human capital resources, and the Transactional Stage. These are 3 main points if you want to improve your business or say make it large.
The new online startups may or may not cause disruption to the older ones. Smaller startups have a certain agility and the older and big startups undergo a certain amount of disruptions like how Amazon is disrupting product delivery market through Amazon Prime.
After every 10-15 years, a new type of companies born. Like in 1993 Infosys, Wipro started the IT revolution and now Flipkart and other online companies are doing the online revolution. Very few will establish their self as a big giant like Infosys and Wipro. Just wait and See.
We also heard that you invested in Little Eye Labs?
Yes, I was one of the investors in Little Eye Labs acquired by Facebook but invested very little amount. I got to know about them little late but I invested from my personal capacity. I would love to investing in small startups and making it succeed. is quite beneficial rather than only working out on a single 2-billion-dollar company!.
Last Question, Your views About StartupIndia?
Great and Helpful Initiative for Startups. “Though earlier governments have taken steps, but it is the only First High-Level event at the national level”. I’m pretty much convinced about the fact that how promising the growth and innovation will be.