F j connect - Feb '14

FROM THE VICE PRESIDENT’S DESK

Volume 4

Issue 4

Feb 2014

Season Greetings from mjunction!

2013 was for India was a year of highs and lows. On one hand we united as a nation to help those who suffered nature’s fury in Uttarakhand and J&K, on the other, as proud Indians we celebrated the successful launch of Mangalyaan, India’s mission to Mars. We also felt a great deal of achievement when India was declared a Polio free nation for the third consecutive year by WHO. The world also mourned the death of Nelson Mandela who spent 27 years in prison for fighting apartheid and became South Africa’s first black president, ushering in a more equal society.

I would also like to take this opportunity to let you know that mjunction was recently awarded the CMMI Level 5 certification. This will now enable us to extend and offer our technology services to other companies and organisations.

The Indian economy had a rather bumpy ride in 2013. The economy grew at its slowest pace in a decade, the current account deficit recorded an all-time high of 4.8%. The rising crude oil and gold prices further caused the Indian rupee to fall to an all-time low to around Rs 69. This led to the government to increase import taxes on gold and to decrease fuel subsidy which lead to an fall in the gold import and rise in fuel prices. This brought the fears of India entering a stage of stagflation, an economic rut characterised by slowing economic growth and rising inflation. This led the RBI to implement hawkish policies aimed to tame inflation.

This issue of financejunction Connect highlights the trends of the economy and talks about the outlook for 2014. It also features excerpts from an interview our team had with Mr R.N. Murthy, Chief of Marketing & Sales and Mr Sharad Sharma, Chief Sales Planning, both from Tata Steel - Flat Steel Division, on how they have leveraged the Channel Finance program to make their supply chain and sales channel robust in a volatile and lackluster economic scenario charaterised by liquidity crunch.

Vinaya Varma, Vice President, mjunction services limited

On behalf of my team at mjunction, I wish you and your families a happy, healthy and wealthy 2014.

Regards,

PART 1 ECONOMIC OUTLOOK

Vinaya Varma, Vice President, mjunction services limited

ECONOMIC OUTLOOK Global Economic Outlook: The road to recovery appears to be bumpy but steady

Forecast United States Eurozone

Despite the economic and geo-political challenges, the global economy grew between 2%-2.5% during 2013, equaling its performance in 2012, as economies worldwide struggled to break out of the recessionary and staglflationary cycle. PIMCO expects the global economy to grow between 2.5%-3% in 2014 as most of the challenges faced during 2013 are either being addressed or are progressing towards a point of self-exhaustion.

Headline Information

Real GDP Current*

Q4’ 13 - Q4’ 14

Current*

1.8%

2.25% to 2.75%

0.9%

1.5% to 2.0%

-0.4%

0.25% to 0.75%

0.9%

0.75% to 1.25%

Q4’ 13 - Q4’ 14

United Kingdom

1.5%

2% to 2.5%

2.2%

2.0% to 2.5%

Japan

2.4%

1.0% to 1.5%

0.9%

1.0% to 1.5%

China

7.8%

6.75% to 7.25%

3.2%

3.0% to 3.5%

BRIM**

2.3%

2.75% to 3.25%

5.9%

5.5% to 6.25%

World**

2.3%

2.5% to 3.0%

2.0%

2.0% to 2.25%

*Current data of real GDP and Inflation represent four quarters ending Q3 2013 Source: Bloomberg, PIMCO calculations

**BRIM is Brazil, Russia, India and Mexico

***World is weighted average sum of countries listed in table above

PART 1 ECONOMIC OUTLOOK

years, the threat of deflation will hang over much of Europe. The Eurozone will be highly stressed and the slight of a crisis may wreak havoc.

The key trends in the global economy in 2014 will be: 1. US will lead the world on the road to recovery despite having its own share of problems like government debt, unemployment, etc.

4. The commodity cycle may turn upwards marking the end of the Bear commodity cycle as institutional money starts flowing back into the market. The price of commodities is expected to rise in 2014

2. Growth will taper in emerging markets as they struggle with their current account deficits and stagflation which could lead to currency volatility and this speculation could lead to an economic crisis.

5. Africa will emerge as a front runner and many African countries will feature in the list of Top 10 fastest growing countries as trade with the rest of the world increases.

3. While Eurozone will be slowly recovery from the recession of the last few

INDIA: 2014 OUTLOOK To correct this, the government had 2 options-

The domestic economic situation is not too optimistic as there is no growth recovery in sight even as consumer price inflation continues to hover around double digits.The Citigroup said that the global real GDP growth measured at market exchange rates is expected to rise to 3.1% in 2014 from 2.4% in 2013. It maintained its estimate of a modest upturn in India's GDP growth from 4.8% in FY14 to 5.6% FY15.

I) Aggressive privatization drive to lift government revenues ii) Curbing expenditure and spending but this could further decline GDP growth rate 4. Will investment activity pick up?

The impetus to drive growth and investment lies with the government. While rural demand will add to the growth, the government must strike a right balance increasing capital spending without fueling inflationary tendencies.

It must rebuild business confidence by ensuring political and economic stability, reforms with an aim to woo investors and to increase FIIs, FDI and capital sending.

There will be 5 questions which will haunt the economy.

1. Will inflation drop?

India has been suffering from high inflation since 5 years. This, coupled with the decline of the growth rate has pushed India into stagflation. The inflation in industrial goods has fallen while consumer price inflation continues to rise. Inflation did show signs of a decline in the middle of 2013 but it accelerated after that. We will have to wait and watch how the RBI addresses and controls inflation

5. Will the effect of quantitative easing be benign?

The news that the US Federal Government will begin to cut back its monthly bond purchases that are funded with the creation of new money sent shock waves in the emerging markets. The Indian rupee tumbled to historic lows.

However, the effects of the actual reduction in quantitative easing from January are expected to be more benign currently there is uncertainty about the US monetary policy

2. Will the current account deficit (CAD) remain under control?

India faced the woes of a high CAD along with countries like Brazil, Indonesia and Turkey. However, we have been successful in bringing down the CAD because of the administrative measures which aimed to curb the import of gold and a weak rupee which pushed up exports. A swap subsidy for banks bringing in dollar deposits also helped restock the foreign exchange which depleted defending the weakening rupee.

However, there is a glimmer of hope even though India will still be dependent on strong inflows of portfolio capital to fund its current account gap; the current account deficit has shrunk because of administrative measures to reduce gold imports and an increase in exports following the depreciation of the rupee. Four domestic factors to "look out" for in 2014 will be politics, inflation, the external sector rebalancing and investments.

3. Will the government meet its fiscal deficit target?

Finance minister P. Chidambaram had budgeted for Rs. 5.42 trillion fiscal deficit for the financial year ending in March. However, data suggests that this number was reached in the first 8 months itself. GDP is also expected to be lower than predicted hence it will be difficult to meet the deficit target in terms of a headline number (fiscal deficit as a percentage of GDP).

INDIA UNLIKELY TO RECOVER FAST ENOUGH against 4.9% this fiscal). Warning of some fiscal slippage despite continuing reforms, the agency said the current account deficit is likely to remain low at 2.2% of GDP this fiscal and next.

Given the sluggish domestic and external environment, the India Ratings Agency said that unlike the recovery witnessed during the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis, the recovery path in FY15 would be gradual. It estimated that the GDP growth would inch up to 5.6% in 2014-15 (as

Economic Outlook GDP (in %)

2011-12

2012-13

2013-14*

2014-15*

6.2

5

4.9

5.6

- Agriculture

3.6

1.8

4.7

3

- Industry

3.5

3.1

1.7

4.1

- Services

8.2

6.6

6.3

6.9

Average WPI in Inflation (in %)

8.9

7.4

5.9

5.5

Exchange Rate (Rs/$)

51.16

54.39

59-61

56-57

Fiscal deficit (in % of GDP)

5.7

4.9

4.9

4.5

CAD (in $ bn)

78.2

88.2

41

46.2

*Projection Source: India Ratings

2

INFLATION DIPS TO 5MONTH LOW India’s wholesale inflation rate slipped to a fivemonth low in December to 6.16% as food prices cool. This is the slowest pace of price rise since July 2013, when inflation was 5.8%. In November WPI increased at the fastest pace in 14 months at 7.52%. However, the WPI inflation rate is still above the Reserve Bank of India’s comfort zone of 5% or less.

The consumer prices index (CPI) growth slid to a three-month low of 9.87% from an all-time high of 11.16% in November.

PURCHASING MANAGER INDEX (PMI)

11.66%

10.53%

November

November

10.49%

9.11%

Inflation rate for the Rural Areas

Inflation rate for the Urban Areas

12.16%

6.98%

9.25%

Food and Beverages Prices

Fuel and Electricity Prices

Clothing, Bedding and Footwear

KEY POINTS Service activity contracts while manufacturing production increases Moderate reduction of new orders across private sector Renewed growth of Private sector employment

Business conditions in the private sector continued to deteriorate over the Oct-Dec quarter.

The HSBC India Composite Output stood below GDP 4.4% insixth Q2, FY-14 HISTORICAL OVERVIEW the 50.0 at threshold for the consecutive India's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) slowed by a month at 48.1 as compared to 48.5 in November.

HSBC India Composite Output decline in mining and manufacturing stood The HSBC Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' staggering at 4.4% in the second quarter of 2013.

50 = no change on previous month. S.Adj Indexis(PMI) was down to 50.7 in December This the lowest quarterly growth rate sinceas2002. against 51.3 in November due to slower growth 65 in output (51.3 vs. 51.5 in November) and new orders (51.3 vs. 51.9 in November). However, the 60 quarterly (October-December) index rose to 50.5 55 from 49.4 during corresponding period of 2012.

The HSBC Services PMI fell to 46.7, the lowest in three months, in December from 47.2 in November as new orders index fell to 47.3 from 48.2 in November. Activity in India’s services sector shrank at a faster pace last month as new orders fell, but firms hired at their fastest in five months. The December employment sub-index rose to its highest since July, after four months of showing a stagnant labour market.

SLOWDOWN IN INDIAN ECONOMY MAY HAVE BOTTOMED OUT

Source: Markit, HSBC

PMI

Increasing rate of growth

50 45 Increasing rate of concentration

40 2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

Further information on service sub-sectors is available in the main report at www.hsbc.com

BUSINESS CONFIDENCE INDEX 66.2 66.7

62.5

Indicating signs of economic revival, the CII Business Confidence Index (BCI) rose sharply to 54.9 during the October-December from 45.7 in the previous quarter. Positive signals from the global economy like improved export performance, declining current account deficit (CAD) raise hopes that the economic slowdown may have started to bottom out.

52.9 55.0

53.6 48.6

54.9

51.3 49.9 51.3 51.2 45.7

The pick-up in BCI for the current quarter comes as a relief for the economy which has been battling the slowdown for the last several quarters but it also strikes a note of caution as the downside risks to growth have still not abated and supply-side bottlenecks continue to pose problems.

Domestic economic/political instability, slackening consumer demand, high level of corruption, persistent high inflation and risk from exchange rate volatility emerged as the top five current concerns in order of severity to most firms.

Q3*

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

Q4

Q1

Q2

Q3

FY11 FY11 FY12 FY12 FY12 FY12 FY13 FY13 FY13 FY13 FY14 FY14 FY14 Source: CII Business Confidence Index

3

PART 2 RBI UPDATES

THIRD QUARTER REVIEW OF MONETARY POLICY 2013-14 situation, in the Third Quarter Review of Monetary Policy 2013-14, the RBI has decided to: • Increase the policy Repo Rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) by 25 basis points from 7.75% to 8.0% • The Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) of scheduled banks remained unchanged at 4.0% of net demand and time liability (NDTL) • The Reverse Repo Rate under the LAF stands adjusted at 7.0% • The Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate and the Bank Rate at 9.0%

To balance large capital outflows and consequent exchange rate pressures since May, Dr. Raghuram G. Rajan, Governor, Reserve Bank of India (RBI), changed the course of monetary policy. He raised short-term interest rates and liquidity conditions were tightened considerably through exceptional measures till such time as the exchange rate stabilised. Since then the exceptional measures have been normalised, though resurgence in inflation prompted policy rate increases.

On the basis of an assessment of the current and evolving macroeconomic

Major monetary policy rates and reserve requirements - Bank Rate, LAF (Repo, Reverse Repo & MSF) rates, CRR & SLR (Percent per annum)

Fix Range LAF Rates

25 20 15 10 5

Bank Rate

Repo

Reverse

MIBOR TRENDS Mumbai Interbank Offered Rate (MIBOR) is the interest rate at which banks can borrow funds, in marketable size, from other banks in the Indian interbank market. It is calculated on a daily basis by the National Stock Exchange of India (NSEIL) as a weighted average of lending rates offered a major banks, on funds lent to first-class borrowers.

PART 3 SUPPLY CHAIN FINANCE

MIBOR rates have decreased by almost 11% (1250 bps) from the levels of 9.85 (on 1st October) to 8.78 (on 27th January) for the 1-month MIBOR rate.

Cash Reserve Ratio

Marginal Standing Facility

28-01-2012

13-02-2012

10-03-2012

17-04-2012

11-08-2012

22-09-2012

03-11-2012

29-01-2013

09-02-2013

19-03-2013

03-05-2013

15-07-2013

20-09-2013

07-10-2013

29-10-2013

28-01-2014

Effective Date

0

Marginal Standing Facility

Mibor - 1 Month

Mibor - 3 Month

10.50 10.00 9.50 9.00 8.50 8.00 7.50 1-Oct-13

1-Nov-13

1-Dec-13

1-Jan-14

SUPPLY CHAIN FINANCE The crisis in the global financial markets and lacklustre economic growth followed by a corporate liquidity crunch has caused the management to focus on working capital optimisation. The need for improved liquidity management and diversification of funding sources has highlighted the importance of supply chain finance (SCF) programmes.

invoices (increasing days payable outstanding), while shortening the payment collection period for suppliers (reducing days sales outstanding). Suppliers and buyers can take advantage of the superior credit ratings to secure funding from the programme financier at a highly favourable rate, obtaining early payment at an affordable cost.

SCF is a combination of financial services and technology solutions that links suppliers, buyers and financial institutions via service providers who optimize transparency, financing costs, availability and delivery of cash through several supply chain events.

Demica’s survey reported that an organisation’s channel partners are typically saving between 1% -4% points on their cost of borrowing by participating in SCF programmes which makes it the next wave of cost optimisation tool for organizations. More than two-thirds of companies are investigating or putting in place Supply Chain Finance programmes to improve financial metrics and lower end-to-end costs.

SCF programmes allow buyers to extend their payment periods for supplier

With inputs Aberdeen, Demica

SUPPLY CHAIN FINANCE: GROWTH, TRENDS & MARKETS There is a common consensus that growth over the next few years will primarily be driven by developed markets such as Europe and the US, and by larger emerging markets such as China, India and Brazil.

SCF growth rates in Europe and the US is expected to be between 10% and 30% as large corporates are now much more aware of the need to protect smaller channel partners to avoid disruption and supply chain failures. The growth rate in emerging markets, especially India and China, is expected be

4

PART 3 SUPPLY CHAIN FINANCE

slightly higher around 20% - 25%, as SCF is a relatively new product in the region and the need for financing is particularly pressing within supply chains that are themselves experiencing rapid growth.

year-on-year over the last four years while a major European bank that their bank witnessed a 20% year-on-year growth over the previous five years. They touted the global SCF market to grow at around 30% per year.

While the need for more efficient working capital management is important for buyers and suppliers both in mature and emerging economies, the drivers of growth for SCF differs.

To give an idea of the current scale of SCF penetration and its future growth potential, one respondent who took the Demica survey stated that in comparison to his bank’s entire trade finance and foreign trade business, SCF accounts for 5% to 10% of its overall revenues.

Companies in mature economies want to: 1) Optimise working capital

The channel finance facility is particularly favourable for industries in which there is a long supply chain and a strategic relationship between buyers and suppliers. SCF is also attractive if there is a requirement to hold inventory, to offer extended payment terms for seasonal products or to extract efficiencies from the operational process.

2) Minimise supply chain risk In emerging economies, companies’ key drivers are: 1) Access to liquidity

Currently retail, consumer goods, manufacturing and the automotive industry are regarded as the heaviest users of SCF. SCF programmes are also common in the engineering and machinery industry. Chemical, pharmaceutical and telecom industry are believed to benefit from implementing SCF schemes in their supply chains.

2) Enabling channel partners to keep pace with their growth Around 75% of the bankers estimated the current growth of SCF to be ‘strong’ to ‘very strong’. A banker claimed that the SCF growth at his bank had doubled

BENEFITS OF SUPPLY CHAIN FINANCE A report from the Aberdeen Group said that the key benefits SCF is the reduction of the cost of capital and more flexible cash flow for sellers, and easier access to credit and the ability to make more proactive use of accounts payable balances for buyers. SCF also enables cash and credit flexibility by allowing better visibility and control over supply chain transactions. It also helps unlock the trapped value of goods throughout their lifecycle by allowing for financing/factoring to be done at many more points in the supply chain- raw material, intermedia production, point of shipment, point of customs clearance, arrival at vendor-managed inventory hub, etc.

However, the credit arbitrage between buyers and suppliers is not the only factor that makes SCF attractive. The removal of the channel partner’s exposure from the organisation’s balance sheet, especially if they concentration of business with that channel partner, as well as the fact that channel partners can get finance without having to tap their own funding sources and credit lines, are reasons that attract organisations having large supply chains to participate in SCF programmes .

Buyers benefit: 2 A reduced working capital requirement resulting from extended payment terms

1 The potential for extended payment terms without burdening suppliers with high financing costs

3 The buyer’s relationships with their suppliers are enhanced

4 Added liquidity to fund bigger buys

Suppliers benefit: 2 A reduced working

1 Opportunity to receive

capital requirement resulting from reduced payables outstanding

early payment of invoices

3 The ability to better predict payment flows

4 An enhanced buyer relationship and any future growth with the buyer will require less capital

Lenders benefit: 1 Increased buyer

2 Automatic processing

financing with enhanced returns

with efficient transparency and visibility of underlying payables

3 The financier’s relationship with their client is enhanced

4 Cross selling opportunities

CHALLENGES FACED BY SCF AND HOW FINANCEJUNCTION OVERCOMES THEM financejunction meets the technological problems by offering an innovative, single window online portal for all parties. This portal is securely interlinked with financial partner's back-end server to enable the online transaction and is also integrated with organisation’s ERP system so that sales orders can flow into the portal. Auto money receipt is made in SAP for every successful transaction in the portal. The channel partners can log into the system and select sales orders to initiate finance request. The system then creates an auto MR is made in the organisation’s SAP system.

Whilst in mature economies the main driver of SCF is the continued credit squeeze for supplier firms, in rapidly developing markets, SCF is seen as enabling channel partners to keep up with the rapid growth of their major organisations.

Despite the positive growth outlook of SCF in both mature and emerging markets, corporates as well as the banking community still have to address a number of challenges in order to aid the adoption of SCF programmes.

The biggest challenges faced by the SCF industry are:

Around 20% of the respondents cited limited credit capacity from the banks as a possible obstacle for the growth of SCF in both mature and emerging markets.

Though the financial crisis has expedited SCF growth, it has caused the banks to become more risk-averse and less willing to fund the gap. financejunction addresses this concern by carry out the due diligence and negotiating with banks to offer the channel partners unsecured finance at competitive rates.

1) Legal and jurisdictional issues 2) Technology 3) The actual implementation of the programme Often legal framework can lead to a lot of paperwork which is very time-taking. financejunction acts like an intermediary between the banks, organization and the channel partners. financejunction is a single point of contact for all parties which assists by handing the documentation and . negotiation and coordinates with all parties ensuring seamless transaction

financejunction’s experience and expertise in implementing and successfully running the SCF programme ensures a smooth transition from credit sales to cash sales. financejunction follows three phases for implementing the SCF solution:

5

Feasibility

Phase 1: 1. Understand the requirements and the organization and the pain-points in the supply chain

2. Analyse the payables history and trading terms of the channel partners

Implementation

Phase 2: 1. Design the optimum structure for the supply chain financing programme

2. Work with channel partners to offer advice and training

3. Test all aspects of the portal’s performance thoroughly prior to launch

Processing

Phase 3: 1. Launch the programme

3. Deliver an indication of the potential improvements and efficiencies in costs, payment terms and cash flow

2. Support the channel partners (customers) and the organization (client)

financejunction believes that the success of a SCF programme is not governed by margins and financing matrix at the buyer’s end but by building a strong buyer-supplier relationship as trust is the most fundamental element. The team is continuously striving to improve their services and

3. Enroll new channel partners into the programme and ensure their smooth integration

introduce new services to serve their clients better. These services reduce the cost of financing the supply chain and also make the supply chain robust by improving its ability to mitigate risk and supply disruptions by achieving operational efficiency

FINANCEJUNCTION SUCCESS FACTOR: HEAR FROM OUR CLIENT - TATA STEEL. financejunction has been Tata Steel’s financial partners since 2002. Over the years, financejunction has succeeded in turning their credit sales cycle to a cash sale cycle which boasts of an improved balance sheet and a zero delinquency record. Since inception, finance worth Rs 11193 crores has been disbursed via financejunction for the TSL Flat Steel Division channel partners. With an average utilization of 70%, Rs 1222 crore has been disbursed between April ’14- December ’14 in FY 14.

A few excerpts from the interview the financejunction team had with Mr RN Murthy, Chief of Marketing & Sales, Tata Steel - Flat Steel Division and Mr Sharad Sharma, Chief Sales Planning, Tata Steel - Flat Steel Division in September, to understand their view on the Flat Steel industry, the market outlook and to receive feedback on financejunction’s Channel Finance service, is shared.

Mr RN Murthy, Chief of Marketing & Sales, Tata Steel - Flat Steel Division

Mr Sharad Sharma, Chief Sales Planning, Tata Steel - Flat Steel Division from our retail outlets through our exclusive set of distributors and dealers.

Q) If you could give us a perspective of flat products in the context of Tata Steel? What is the revenue that the flat products business generates? What percentage it is to Tata Steel’s overall Indian revenue?

A) R.N. Murthy: Tata Steel sells about 10 million tons of steel every year of which flat products is over 6 million tons. So, in terms of revenue it is over 60%.

Q) These would largely be your branded products which are going through your distribution channels?

A) R.N. Murthy: Yes. That’s over a million tonne today.

Q) Where does channel finance play a role?

A) R.N. Murthy: A lot of our distributors serve the SME segments. These customers are often selling the material to either projects or OEMs. Therefore, they need credit requirements. Channel finance plays a big part is first reducing the cost of credit to our distributors as well as providing them possibilities to serve their enterprise accounts better.

Q) What is the break-up in terms of the industry segments the flat products is consumed by?

A) R.N. Murthy: 30% of our production goes to the automobile segment, a focus area for us. We also sell about 30% as branded products (Tata Shakti, Durashine by Tata Bluescope, Steelium etc) which used small and medium enterprises (SME) segment. The balance goes into construction, which is primarily roofing products.

Q) Tell us about your 10 year long experience with the Channel FinanceDistributor Finance programme.

A) S.K. Sharma: We are happy with the Channel Finance programme. It gives the required liquidity to our distributors because they operate in a very credit intensive environment and for them to survive in the environment cash is an important issue. Availability of cash has been made easier by the channel finance

Q) Do you service these segments exclusively directly or you are using the distribution channel?

A) R.N. Murthy: The automotive segment and the large commercial segments are served directly by our own sales team. We service the SME segment and consumers who buy our products for their daily requirements

.

6

almost a 400-500 crore business and this should encourage various banks to join the programme and offer competitive rates.

The other area we should focus is on analytics and business data. Over the years financejunction has been able to build up a database. We should now look at mining and analysing this data to understand trends like channel finance usage patterns- money lifting patterns vs. sales volume, penetration, buying behaviour. This will help us identify and tap opportunities to push sales and grow.

Currently the channel finance utilisation is around 65-70%. We should now aim to take it to 90%. To do this we should analyse the data with available with us and also collaborate with the channel partners and banks to understand how tis goal can be achieved.

Also, the channel finance is providing the facility for them of getting very competitive rates, which has reduced their cost of finance.

Q) Have your channel partners (distributors) told you how much cheaper it is vis-à-vis the market rates?

A) S.K. Sharma: The distributors have not shared this but we do compare it with our treasury and from the other banking routes. We know it is almost 100-150 basis points cheaper than what they normally would have got from the legal channels and from the local markets where the percentage rates are very high.

The other important role that channel finance plays is in controlling their speculative behaviour when they are under pressure- cash stripped and hold a large inventory. Tata Steel does not encourage speculation. Channel finance has helped a great deal by ensuring the distributors do not face a liquidity crunch. As a result, they don’t speculate in the market. The distributors are the face of Tata Steel in the market and represent the same values and commitment as us. By not speculating they not only protect themselves but also our reputation in the market.

Q) Will it help looking at distributor sales data along with credit data?

A) S.K. Sharma: We have envisaged that in the 8-9 years, each of our distributors is going to grow more than 4 times. Looking at our own expansion plans and the kind of share of business we are looking through that channel, each of them will need to grow fast enough to keep pace with us. There are two challenges here. The first is to know who has the financial wherewithal to grow to that level or who will fall short and the earlier we are able to assess this, the sooner will we be able to offer any support they might need. financejunction could bridge this knowledge gap by providing us data insights. This will enable us to corrective action if any distributor is faltering or if we need to create another distributor in that channel. So we first need to evaluate the ability of our own distributors to ensure they are at pace or giving them an early warning signal in case they are falling short.

A) R.N. Murthy: Yes. The Channel Finance programme makes sure that the channel is healthy in terms of outstanding, stocks and profitability. In the 2008 slowdown, customers and channels across industries were been impacted when they didn’t take care of either stocks or outstanding. Channel Finance helps us ensure that the channel remains robust.

Q) Channel Finance must also be preventing cases of delinquency in the channel. What would be the no. of delinquencies of your channel so far?

A) S.K. Sharma: It’s hardly any. I have not heard any delinquency.

Q) The zero delinquency record would highlight the success of the Channel Finance programme in making your supply chain so robust?

A) S.K. Sharma: Yes

Q) Last Question. Is that is there any other areas of improvement that you would like the team at financejunction to look into?

A) S.K. Sharma: I would like to see financejunction to interact and collaborate with the channel partners regularly, especially now as we are expanding. We would like financejunction to provide us insights and help us make informed decisions and make our channel robust by meeting the requirements of the distributors and their customers through new services.

PART 4 FINANCE JUNCTION DIARY

Q) The Channel Finance programme in flat products division is matured.

What are your suggestions to financejunction on further improving this programme so that it is utilised better by the distributors thus propelling your sales?

A) S.K. Sharma: Yes. The programme has greatly benefited us and we would like to see this go to the next level where financejunction provides them a market place through their portal where the open interest rates are open and the distributors are free to choose from the multiple banks available under the programme. The channel finance programme with us is

Q) Great. In think that’s all that I have to ask I think that’s a fabulous single take interview.

A) It’s a pleasure working with financejunction and we wish them all the best.

FINANCEJUNCTION DIARY • coaljunction and financejunction jointly held the Coaljunction Bidder Meet at

• mjunction was awarded the CMMI Level 5 certification in November,

our Kolkata Head Office on 23rd November, 2013. The meet was attended by several well-known coal bidders from the eastern region. Mr. M.S. Mukherjee (GM – Sales & Marketing, CIL) was invited as a Guest Speaker.

2013. This certification now enables mjunction to offer their technology services to other companies and organisations.

• The Eastern Region Distributor Meet was organized by financejunction at

• mjunction held their annual picnic on 28th December, 2013. The

our Kolkata office on 7th October, 2013, which was attended by Tata Steel’s distributors from the eastern region, representatives from Tata

employees got together with their families to a fun-filled day out to celebrate their accomplishments in 2013.

7

mjunction is the largest ecommerce company in India.

It is a 50:50 venture promoted by the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) and TATA Steel.

Editor: Shruti Sanskriti For feedback regarding newsletter, write to: shruti.sanskriti@mjunction.in

shamim.ahmed@mjunction.in subarna.gupta@mjunction.in

www.mjunction.in www.financejunction.in

corporate office

Registered office

mjunction Services Limited Godrej Waterside Tower – I, 3rd Floor, Plot No. 5, Block – DP Sector – V,Salt Lake City, Kolkata – 700091, WB, India Tel: +91 33 6610 6100 Fax: +91 33 6610 6187/ 6179 +91 33 6601 1719 / 1720

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