By Ramdas S, CRN, August 23, 2010, 1330 hrs
Intel has discontinued its distribution arrangements with SES India and Esys. According to an understanding with the chip major, both the distributors have been given time till October 2010 to liquidate stock and plan their transition.
While officials from Intel and Esys ignored CRN's requests for clarification, Naresh Khosla, Executive Director, SES India, confirmed the news.
“We have mutually decided to call off the relationship. As a part of its global restructuring, Intel is reducing the number of distributors to align with the shrinking components market. The company has decided to work with only two larger distributors in India,” said Khosla.
SES was known to be contributing maximum to Intel sales in the country, so the choice of dropping it from the list has come as a surprise to many in the industry.
“SES has been the leading Intel distributor in India for six out of the last eight quarters. We have been the number one on all parameters including channel breadth, no of cities billed, product spread, etc. We have achieved the feat of being the only distributor around the globe to achieve the feat of selling one lakh Intel motherboards in a quarter. However, we respect Intel's policy and have decided to call the relationship off amicably,” added Khosla.
Earlier in an interview with CRN, Ashok Nair, who heads channels at Intel, had mentioned that the chip vendor’s focus will be to continue building depth and breadth of channels, despite the shrinking assembler market. Hence, there is an intense speculation that Intel would appoint at least one more distributor to replace the two outgoing distributors.
Names of Taiwan-based WPI, which presently distributes Intel’s electronic components in the country; Tech Data, which is expected to launch its India operations soon; and Rashi Peripherals, which is known for its reach in upcountry, are doing the rounds. However Suresh Pansari, MD of Rashi clarified that Intel hasn’t approached Rashi yet, nor has Rashi approached Intel on this count. |