IndiaMART

Times Now

India’s biggest online B2B marketplace, IndiaMART reported stellar earnings in the December quarter. The results beat street expectations as paid subscribers grew by nearly 7000 in the quarter.

Key Highlights

• Deferred revenues are likely to provide visibility for next 18-20 months.
• Employee cost and other expenses were down by 25% and 31% year on year, respectively, on the back of reduced headcount, lower variable salary, reduced travel cost and tight cost control measures.

With COVID-19 driving the shift to digitization, there lies a huge opportunity for IndiaMART which owns platforms for MSME engagement online.

Dinesh Agarwal, CEO of IndiaMART, describes the company as a primary marketplace for small, medium and large business. IndiaMART currently has 100,000 product categories and nearly 6 million plus suppliers from thousands of towns and cities.

“On the online platform, we have 120 million registered buyers displaying close to 70 million products spread across 50 different industry segments. Real utility of the internet for IndiaMART has been discovered during the lockdown,” says Agarwal.

In the absence of marketing and advertising expenses, the organic traffic flowing to the company’s platform is at a skyrocketing rate. Agarwal claims that out of 600-700 million overall internet population in India, IndiaMART receives about 50-60 million monthly visits.

“90% traffic on the platform is from the buyer’s side. All our 1.48 lakh customers come to the platform on a daily basis. This can be to check their inquiries, prices and updates on their orders and new products. Daily unique business inquiries are to the count of 25 million,” Agarwal points out.

IndiaMART’s key focus is taking small businesses online, collating hard to find products, democratizing prices of products which are available in the wholesale markets of the Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai and other metros. About 40% of the company’s online traffic comes from Tier-3 onwards towns, which is over thousands of pin codes across the nation. There’s a far deeper penetration in terms of industry, geography and buyer spread.

Talking about its competitor Just Dial in terms of style, vast difference in perception of value and service overlap, CEO Dinesh Agarwal points out certain differentials.

“To put in plain words, IndiaMART is a product catalogue. We work on hard-to-find products and our supplier directory is far more useful than any player and that is the most important differential. Ours is not a hyperlocal business,” he says.

Meanwhile, in order to increase profitability by means of increasing monetization across the platform, IndiaMART continues to focus on increasing the breadth and depth of products, suppliers and buyers across categories and geographies. Agarwal is of the view that advertising their products and services remains their core engine of optimum monetization and providing value.

Other monetization opportunities that IndiaMART is looking to expore is slowly building an ecosystem of products and services of which some are bundled together whereas some are charged separately. With increasing adoption of internet, the company is also mulling a foray into mobile-based accounting softwares for ease of doing business. No opportunity is currently being explored on the buyer side. Going forward, IndiaMART is exploring opportunities in receivables management, cloud communication, logistics, aggregation, tracking payment facilitation, credit facilitation as well as SaaS and Fintech.

In terms of outlook and valuation, IndiaMART has a dominant market share in the B2B online space, debt-free balance sheet and upfront collection of revenues from subscribers. A spike in online penetration from both buyers and sellers across different industries is bound to take place. The stock recently hit a new 52-week high and has delivered more than 350% from its 52-week low.  

MoneyControl

Agarwal added that with the emerging accelerated digitisation needs of businesses, the company is looking forward to kick-starting the new year on an optimistic note.

B2B e-commerce firm Indiamart Intermesh on Monday posted a 29 percent rise in its consolidated net profit to Rs 80 crore for the third quarter ended December 31, 2020. The company had reported a net profit of Rs 62 crore in the year-ago period, a regulatory filing said.

Its revenue from operations stood at Rs 174 crore in the third quarter of 2020-21, up 5 percent from Rs 165 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal, it added. It attributed this growth to “marginal improvement in realisation of existing customers and increase in number of paying subscription suppliers”.

Indiamart Intermesh Chief Executive Officer Dinesh Agarwal said, “We are pleased to report a resilient financial performance this quarter with steady recovery in the business parameters while maintaining healthy margins and cashflows.” He added that the firm sees improvement in overall demand environment and business activity. “Our strong value proposition, customer relationships and balance sheet make us confident of supporting businesses in their transformation to online.”

He added that with the emerging accelerated digitisation needs of businesses, the company is looking forward to kick-starting the new year on an optimistic note. The company said its consolidated deferred revenue declined from Rs 649 crore in the third quarter of FY20 to Rs 633 crore in the December quarter of FY21.On a sequential basis, the net profit was higher by 15 percent from Rs 70 crore, while revenue was higher by 6 percent from Rs 163 crore in the September 2020 quarter.

YourStory

The year 2020 was tough for Indian businesses and MSMEs. The COVID-19 pandemic changed the rules of the game, forcing entrepreneurs to find new ways to thrive and survive. As we step into 2021, SMBStory lists out some key learnings by entrepreneurs and their vision for 2021.

For generations, most Indian businesses stuck to a straight, simple, and convenient way of running their operations.

Though the startup ecosystem emerged in the early 2000s and is much younger than the traditional, family-run business setups, according to the global innovation mapping and research company StartupBlink, Indian startups globally ranked 23rd among 202 countries, based on their strength. 

But what has made the startup culture more favoured over decades-old established companies?

The answers can be found in faster digital adoption, easy access to funding, better infrastructure, larger spending potential, and so on. But the crux lies in innovation. 

Indian MSMEs and other larger businesses have traditionally operated against the flow of the changing times, which led to many of them operating out of the comfort zones, but the coronavirus pandemic has forced them to shift gears. 

The worst-ever global health emergency in recent times, COVID-19 has proven to be highly unpredictable. From the start, no business was either prepared for such a scenario or was aware of measures that needed to be undertaken to sustain themselves.

When the virus reached India’s shores in January 2020, businesses started to suffer, and post the announcement of the lockdown in late March, when all human activity came to a standstill, businesses also had to face a hard shutdown. 

Shops closed, factories shut, imports halted, and exports banned; no entrepreneur would have been prepared for such a disruptive scenario. 

The time was tough, and immediate measures were required to survive the lockdown. Indian MSMEs and small businesses stepped up their game by pivoting, innovating, and moving their operations online.

The pandemic taught major business lessons throughout the year. Even though entrepreneurs changed their conventional ways and adapted, some gaps and challenges still need to be addressed.

Greeting 2021 with open arms, SMBStory has listed out some of the key learnings from 2020 and how Indian MSMEs and entrepreneurs are looking at the way ahead in 2021. 

Government schemes helped Indian MSMEs survive

In May 2020, during the announcement of a COVID-19 related economic package, Prime Minister Narendra Modi first mentioned his vision of an Aatmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India). Sparking enthusiasm among entrepreneurs, he said in his speech,

“COVID-19 phase has taught the nation that we must make ‘local’ the mantra of our lives. Global brands that are there present today were once local; they became global when people started supporting them. Hence, starting today, every Indian must become vocal for local.”

This came as a much-needed push for the Indian MSMEs and large businesses.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman rolled out a slew of initiatives under the Rs 20 lakh-crore Aatmanirbhar Bharat stimulus package. Of the 15 schemes announced by the FM, six were for MSMEs. Three policies that stood out were the Rs 3 lakh crore collateral-free loan scheme, the Rs 20,000 crore subordinated debt for MSMEs, and the Rs 50,000 crore equity infusion through the Funds of Funds (FoF). The government also tweaked the definition of MSMEs to include a larger pool of companies to benefit from the sector. 

Ashok Rajpal, Founder of electronics brand Ambrane, says that the government initiatives have lent a helping hand to MSMEs by bringing various schemes to the fore. He says, “The national Ease of Doing Business Policy has put the onus on bureaucrats and has asked for justifications on compliance requirements that have been placed on the businesses for a quite long time. The finance minister also said that the ‘Aatmanirbhar Bharat package shall not be just a financial package, but a reform stimulus, a mindset overhaul, and a thrust in governance.’”

Apart from offering monetary relief, the government also encouraged Indian entrepreneurs to grow technologically.

According to an IBEF report, in September 2020, India moved four places up to reach the 48th rank, breaking into the list of top 50 countries in the Global Innovation Index (GII) for the first time. This shows that the Indian businesses and MSMEs, which strived to adapt to technological advancements, have moved upwards despite facing disruptive times. 

Key 2020 takeaways for Indian businesses/MSMEs

The year 2020 has proven to be a learning curve for everyone. For entrepreneurs, getting back to normalcy was a hard nut to crack, and the two major learnings that they aim to implement in 2021 are: managing cash better and digital innovation. 

Umar Akhar, Founder of Bengaluru-based Koskii, says every entrepreneur must increase efficiency and manage cash better. “As entrepreneurs, we are always very optimistic and leverage business as much as we can for growth. Due to the pandemic, we will be cautiously optimistic and ensure that we have enough resources to sustain in an event like this,” he adds.

Koskii, which was predominantly present in the offline space for women’s apparel and occasion wear, took the opportunity presented by the pandemic to implement automation and artificial intelligence in the procurement processes to get the right product to the right place at the right time.

The entire software development was done during the pandemic and has resulted in significant improvement in efficiency and reduced the company’s inventory holding by 40 percent. The company is now able to execute the same tasks that it did pre-pandemic, with 40 percent of the team size. 

Koskii focused on selling online during the pandemic and its online gross revenue — which was not very significant earlier — has grown 5x in the last few months. 

Seven-decade-old brand Cycle Pure Agarbathies also leveraged its online business model to provide products at consumers’ doorstep through its own portal. It also launched a mobile-based application “Pure Prayer” to connect devotees to the divine.

Dinesh Agarwal, Founder and CEO of IndiaMart, says India received a boost in manufacturing capabilities during the pandemic. This rise of internet adoption and the strong focus on making India Aatmanirbhar seems to be a promising long-term trend that will help in boosting the overall economy.  

Ecommerce: an upward trend for businesses

The coronavirus pandemic made the SMEs realise that they needed to adopt technology and constantly power themselves with digital tools to survive and thrive.

Rajneesh Kumar, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer of Flipkart Group, says the pandemic has helped MSMEs understand the potential of technology and ecommerce. He says, “The aftermath of the pandemic has had a multi-sector impact. MSMEs, the backbone of India’s economy, faced severe disruptions, and the pandemic became a call to accelerate reform and growth for them. MSMEs need to use digital tools and technology, they have to modernise, and update themselves with digital processes.” 

Ashwini Malhotra, Managing Director of one of India’s leading custard brands Weikfield, also says 2020 saw a huge spike in online demand, especially through ecommerce platforms. 

Jagjeet Harode, Head of Marketplace, Flipkart says that in 2020, ecommerce played an even more essential role as businesses re-evaluated their operations, emerging as a preferred channel to connect with consumers nationwide. 

Since the nationwide COVID-19 induced lockdown, Flipkart has seen an increased interest from MSMEs and sellers to onboard the platform. He says there was close to a 90 percent jump in sellers joining Flipkart, especially in the second half of 2020 (July- Dec), once the market opened up, as compared to the same period last year.

These sellers came from Tier II and III regions such as Tirupur, Howrah, Zirakpur, Hisar, Saharanpur, Panipat, and Rajkot. They primarily catered to categories such as household needs, women’s ethnic wear, grooming, home decor, toys, and school supplies. 

Another strong trend that has emerged out of the pandemic is that an increasing number of businesses are adopting the direct-to-consumer (D2C) business model. 

The D2C business model helps in creating stickiness and establishes customer-centricity, according to Ashutosh Singh, Co-founder of D2C FMCG band, Yayy! Naturals. He says, “Millennials don’t stick with brands, they stick with a cause, which in our case is to make products in a sustainable manner.”   

Ashutosh believes that interacting with customers through the brand’s social media platform helps in creating an indelible connection with the consumers.  

Digital adoption paves the way

Cloud adoption has been one of the biggest enablers for SMBs. Harish Vellat, Country Head – Small, Medium and Corporate Business, Microsoft India says that the technologically advanced SMBs showed more business resilience since remote working allowed them to continue being productive in a secure environment.

Recovering from the crisis, tech-enabled SMBs can now focus on optimising their operations, reimagining their businesses, and transforming products or services with the power of advanced technologies.

“There is enormous opportunity for SMBs to grow and scale in 2021 with the power of technology, and Microsoft is committed to support them in achieving more,” he adds. 

Tejas Goenka, Managing Director of Tally Solutions, believes there is a lot of potential for investments in basic infrastructure and communication. He says even though India has seen rapid digital solutions adoption among MSMEs in recent years, there is scope for a lot more.   

He says, “Businesses will need to look at digitising several processes, allowing them to have better control over their business in a largely uncertain future. Investments, especially in core business systems like accounting and inventory management systems, will bring greater visibility and control.”

He concludes that investments in running 24×7 businesses through ecommerce, and in systems that enhance coordination, will increase.

The long road ahead

The last year has been undeniably tough for Indian SMBs, which had to prove their resilience and their willingness to adapt to change. However, there’s still a long road to traverse.

Vineet Agarwal, President of ASSOCHAM, says while organised and large businesses have shown a smart recovery in the midst of COVID-19, the bounce-back among MSMEs has not been commensurate. He says,  “With more and more people learning to manage their affairs safely, recovery would go deep down the value chain.”  He also believes that while sectors like transportation, hospitality etc, will see recovery in 2021. MSMEs would need continued hand-holding by banks, their large customers including PSUs, and forbearance by regulators to smoothen the creases.  

Nipun Gupta, of Springfit Mattresses, says one of the ways the government can bolster MSMEs is by calculating the creditworthiness of small businesses using software, rather than having the staff make these decisions. MSMEs can attract large-scale foreign investment, which is needed under present circumstances to boost the economy.

Economic Times

Diagnostic companies, drug makers and information technology companies have seen the biggest increases in stock target prices by analysts after their September quarter results. Banks and public sector companies have seen the biggest target price cuts, according to an analysis of BSE500 companies tracked by at least five analysts. Majority of the target price increases have come on the back of strong earnings growth in the quarter. For instance, the consensus target price for Laurus Labs has increased by 99.8 per cent to Rs 361.86 after the company registered a four-fold jump in consolidated net profit to Rs 242.3 crore in the September quarter.

The consensus target price for IndiaMART NSE -0.24 % InterMESH, Somany Ceramics, Thyrocare Technologies and Wipro has increased by 31-96 per cent. Cyient, Persistent Systems, Coforge, KPIT Technologies, Infosys and TCS increased by 22-28 per cent. “IT companies reported record margins and growth outlookalso improved… Diagnostic companies gained because of Covid-19 testing and their operations were not impacted by the pandemic,” said Abhimanyu Sofat, head of research at IIFL Securities.

“The September quarter earnings season was good as the economy was rebounding and there was stocking ahead of the festive season. The true story of recovery will be known by January,” said Sofat. PSU banks and other public sector units are among those with biggest target price cuts. Indian Bank, Edelweiss Financial Services, Union Bank, Punjab National Bank, NMDC, and BHEL saw their consensus target prices being trimmed by 5-24 per cent.

inshorts

Online B2B marketplace IndiaMART in November sued Justdial in the Delhi High Court alleging that it copied the website compilations for its online marketplace, Jd Mart. Justdial called IndiaMART’s allegations “baseless” and even accused them of illegal activities. The court granted interim relief to IndiaMART by staying the launch of Jd Mart and ordered searches on Justdial’s premises.

Economic Times

The bitter competition between India’s two oldest online platforms – IndiaMART NSE -0.24 % and Just Dial NSE 5.32 % – has now reached the court.

Delhi High Court has ordered an investigation into an alleged data theft by the classified search company Just Dial. Based on a case filed by India’s oldest e-commerce platform IndiaMART, the court last week appointed three local commissioners to reportedly survey the Just Dial premises along with local police and IndiaMART representatives and submit a detailed report to the court.

The court has also restrained Just Dial from using the word JDMART.

Shares of Just Dial have rallied nearly 60% since October 16 after it showcased its business-to-business (B2B) specific offering called the JD Mart. With JD Mart, the company will look to enter B2B classified space and compete with IndiaMART.

India Mart has alleged that Just Dial has indulged in slavish imitation of its content which runs into several thousands of pages and even copied the design and presentations of its customers.

According to sources aware of the development, the Delhi High Court has ordered that the local commissioners make an inventory of all the copies of the database comprising the Just Dial website, its mobile site and mobile application. The court also has asked the commissioners to take the mirror images of the entire database of the CPUs, hard disks, laptops and storage media of the Just Dial in respect of its launch of its proposed B2B project JD Mart.

Confirming the developments, Dinesh Agarwal, CEO of IndiaMart said it brought this matter to the notice of the court, which directed an on-ground investigation.

“We observed mass slavish copying of our data and copyrightable work like entire taxonomy category trees along with the bulk of supplier profiles, product names, photos, prices, description and specifications,” he said.

Abhishek Bansal, chief financial officer, Just Dial, said the company is pursuing all legal remedies in the Delhi High Court to counter Indiamart’s “absolutely baseless and frivolous allegations.”

“We respect the order; however it is pertinent to clarify that the order was passed ex parte and to date, we have not been served with a complete set of paperwork. We will present our position before the High Court shortly.”

He further clarified that the JD Mart platform’s development is running as per planned schedule and the product shall be launched in due course of time after seeking recourse from the Delhi High Court.

Just Dial has also alleged that IndiaMART are themselves indulging in illegal activities in all possible manner. “They have not only committed this crime of data theft but have also flouted the government’s SOP (guidelines) during their recent visit to our premises under the garb of an ex-parte order thereby jeopardising the health, life & limb of our employees” said Abhishek Bansal of Just Dial.

Economic Times

Motilal Oswal has given a buy rating to IndiaMART InterMESH with a target price of Rs 5830. The share price moved up by 0.70 per cent from its previous close of Rs 4964.90. The stock’s last traded price is Rs 4999.45.

IndiaMART InterMESH Ltd., incorporated in the year 1999, is a Mid Cap company (having a market cap of Rs 14554.08 Crore) operating in Services sector.

Financials

For the quarter ended 30-09-2020, the company reported a Consolidated sales of Rs 163.20 Crore, up 6.60 % from last quarter Sales of Rs 153.10 Crore and up 4.21 % from last year same quarter Sales of Rs 156.60 Crore Company reported net profit after tax of Rs 70.00 Crore in latest quarter.

Investment Rationale

The brokerage values IndiaMART on a DCF basis at INR5,830 per share (+17% upside), on an assumption of 11% WACC and 5% terminal growth rate, implying a oneyear forward multiple of 55x.

Promoter/FII Holdings

Promoters held 52 per cent stake in the company as of Sept 30, 2020, while FIIs held 22.3 per cent, DIIs 5.7 per cent and public and others 20 per cent.