IndiaMart beats recession; registers 40% growth in revenues in 2008-09

by Satrajit Sen

IndiaMart.com, an online B2B marketplace, has reported a growth of 40 per cent in its revenues for the fiscal year ended 31st March 2009. The company has further said that the growth in revenues has been backed by a 52 per cent growth in supplier registrations.

Currently, IndiaMart is believed to have about 12 lakh registered suppliers. In January 2009, Dinesh Agarwal, founder and CEO, IndiaMart, had told AlooTechie in an interview that in the previous fiscal year the company’s revenues was around Rs 38 crore and that they were looking to cross Rs 50 crore in the 2008-09 fiscal year. The latest announcement would peg the IndiaMart revenues for the 2008-09 year at around Rs 53 crore.

“While the whole world is busy hiding behind words like recession and economic downturn to conceal their poor performance, our teams have strived hard to keep the winning streak going,” Dinesh Agarwal has said. According to Agarwal, the steep rise in registrations is indicative of recessionary pressure on entrepreneurs to make do with shoestring marketing budgets, which naturally pushes them to seek online marketing as the most credible and effective option.

In another development, IndiaMart has roped in Deep Kalra, founder and CEO, MakeMyTrip.com and Nachiket Mor, president, ICICI Foundation for Inclusive Growth, as independent members of its board of directors. The appointments were made after IndiaMart received its first round of funding from Intel Capital in January 2009.

According to sources, Intel Capital had asked IndiaMart to bring two independent directors along with another person from Intel on the board of IndiaMart. The company has now six board members, including Sudheer Kuppam, Intel Capital managing director for India, Japan, Australasia and South-East Asia.