logo
close icon

70 investors rejected an idea. It has become a unicorn and helped create another

It is no secret that in the last couple of years, it has become easier to do transactions and the supply chain ow has become smoother in the B2B marketplace. Dinesh Agarwal, the founder, and CEO of IndiaMART, says this is because of an increase in the internet footprint.

Agarwal started Indiamart, a B2B platform for SMEs, way back in 1996. “There was very low penetration of computers and the internet in India. Information ow was not that easy. If you’re sitting in the US or Australia and trying to nd something, some products or services from India or China, the most information you’d get was in the print directories or at the export promotion councils. Information exchange and trade would happen through embassies and trade fairs, which was expensive, and not many people used to do that,” he says.

Then in 2002, the BPO industry boomed in India. Slowly internet usage spread, computers became cheaper and information ow over email and other digital modes became common. Then came the widespread adoption of smartphones and cheaper internet services. “Once 3G and smartphones were launched, internet penetration grew tenfold. Smaller businesses from the hinterlands could nd out prices or suppliers in Delhi, Mumbai, and other places. The entire ecosystem changed dramatically,” he says.

This change got a further push with demonetization, GST adoption, and other things like the use of the Unified Payments Interface.

Economic Times

Latest Posts

IndiaMART Affiliate Programme: The side hustle you need

Posted on February 6, 2025

The rise of India’s content creator economy has been nothing less than revolutionary. From just 962,000 influencers in 2020, the creator economy has expanded to...

Read More

Budget 2025: What it Means for Your Small Business

Posted on February 3, 2025

Are you a small business, who switched on the TV this Saturday but ended up getting lost in all the long budget announcements? The only...

Read More

GST Registration Process: A complete step by step guide...

Posted on February 3, 2025

If you are running a business in India, GST registration is not an alien word anymore. Any business that supplies services with an annual turnover...

Read More