Beetel targets smaller cities to boost IT peripherals biz

The maker and distributor of landline phones and mobile handsets is looking to be among the top three players next year in the IT peripherals market  that includes headphones, speakers, woofers and webcams.

Beetel, part of Sunil Mittal promoted Bharti Enterprises, entered this space last September. It sells a wide range of data cards, among other things, and distributes memory products of Transcend.

With the rapid spread of mobile phones and IT gadgets across the country, the nearly Rs 5,000 crore peripherals market is expected to grow at a CAGR (Compounded Annual Growth Rate) of 10 per cent.

"We are focusing on Tier II and Tier III cities of the country in order to expand our IT peripheral business and in the next two years we want to be among the top three players in the this segment," Beetel ED and CEO Vinod Sawhny told PTI.

"We will take full advantage of the Bharti brand behind us as we are the only organised brand in the Indian IT peripherals market," he added.

The company will tap into its service centres in 130 cities and 1,500 channel partners to push the new business.

"The company expects to be among top two players in next two year. By the end of next fiscal, FY'11-12, the company expects to be among the top three," Sawhny added.
Other players who operate in this arena include Intex, i-ball, SanDisk and Moser Baer.