How Just Dial's VSS Mani Pre-Empted Competition
VSS Mani and his Just Dial adapted to changing market conditions and, most importantly, made smart profits in the process
By
Prefer us on GoogleLast Updated: Sep 05, 2014, 07:38 IST2 min
Advertisement
While hunting for potential success stories for making investments, smart investors have some basic thumb rules to go by. The business idea should be disruptive and scalable, it should address a major market need and the entrepreneur at the centre of the business must be someone with an instinctive drive for success. Map these qualities with some of the biggest names in the entrepreneurial world across the globe and you will find that if most or all of these boxes are ticked, chances are you will not go terribly wrong with your investment.
Advertisement
Today, Mani’s Just Dial, which he set up in a garage in 1996, is a listed company with investors vying for a slice of the pie. The company clocked a 76 percent growth in net profits at Rs 120.62 crore in FY14, with a market capitalisation of around Rs 12,000 crore and 14.5 million users. Not bad going when most internet businesses, including heavyweights like Flipkart and Snapdeal, are still grappling with losses despite having grown smartly.
But like every successful business, now that scale has been achieved, the next frontier for Just Dial has to be about how it can remain relevant and keep the consumer engaged, not just by way of the core business of hyper-local search options but also by other value added services. And it is here that Mani is likely to meet his biggest challenge. His next big bet—that of moving into the online transactions space and making the jump from leads to deals—will be a deciding factor for Just Dial’s future growth. The markets realise this, and will undoubtedly be keeping a close watch on how Just Dial treads in this highly competitive, crowded space and how it differentiates itself from the rest of the pack.
While the company has established leadership in its core business, ecommerce will be a very different ball game and one that will test Mani’s business acumen to the hilt. The game just got a whole lot tougher.
Advertisement
Best,Sourav MajumdarEditor, Forbes IndiaEmail:sourav.majumdar@network18publishing.comTwitter id:@TheSouravM
First Published: Sep 05, 2014, 07:38
Subscribe NowAdvertisement