The members of the Dhule IT community who took part in the recent Discover India Yatra meet took this opportunity to unanimously urge the principals to set up at least one service center in the district.
Now in its third phase, the Yatra was presided over by Seagate, Microtek and Sahara Computers, and was attended by 27 channel partners.
Manoj Wagh, proprietor, Accurate Computers, said, “There is not a single service setup in Dhule and one has to take the material to Nashik, which is time-consuming. The clear focus for us now is to have a post-sales service setup.”
Added Chandan Sonar of New Global Computer, “There is a strong need for a service center here for storage as we have to go to Mumbai, Pune or Nashik for spare parts. Also the channel spends a lot on octroi owing to the lack of service initiatives.” He further added, “The Yatra gave us an insight, but one-to-one interaction with rhe manufacturers did not materialize.”
The district has formed an association two months back called the Dhule District Computer Association. Prashant Devare, secretary, DDCA, said, “The association has approached Seagate, Epson and HP to set up post-sales support systems, Epson has shown keen interest and we are expecting a positive feedback from the principals.”
Sunil Agarwal, a local dealer who is also a member of DDCA, said, “While the event was great, Logitech was missed and we did not get information about peripherals products.”
The major demand for the Dhule IT market comes from the home and educational segments. While the dealers are enthusiastic about increasing their margins, lack of service support hampers them. There are about 60 dealers in Dhule.