Explaining the reason why Belkin chose to launch with laptop accessories and routers first in India, Mohit Anand, MD, Belkin India said, “We started our India operations with laptop accessories, switches and wireless routers because those were the needs of the market at that time. Structured cabling was at its initial stage. Now with the growing demand, the market in India is pegged to touch Rs. 1,600 crore, we thought it is the right time to get active into the segment.”

In the last one year, Belkin has already appointed scores of partners across India for its accessories and routers. Will the same channel be now used for taking the structured cabling products to the market? “The partners that we have initially appointed will stay with the company, working for the product line for which they have been appointed. However, we have no plans to use the same channel to take our structured cabling offerings to the market,” Anand explained.

In order to gain a sizable marketshare in the structured cabling segment, Belkin has not only appointed Iris Computers and Neoteric Informatique as its national distributors for the segment, but is also looking to appoint 500 channel partners in the next three months. “India is a growing economy and thus a significant market. As far as business with China is concerned, India is the #2 market for Belkin. Thus, it was only a matter of time before we entered into the structured cabling business here. We had to enter this segment sooner rather than later since our worldwide principle product is cabling. So, I hope with the partners that we plan to include in this business contribute to our growth in this sector. We have already appointed 30 channel sales managers across the country to do this task,” Anand added.

Elaborating about the criteria that Belkin would implement while selecting its partners, Manish Malhotra, Channel Marketing Manager, Belkin pointed out, “We will make sure the partner we choose is already into the networking business, as he is likely to understand our requirement faster than a normal dealer. The partner should also have good knowledge of the product. If our partners do well for us, we will give them rebates in form of incentives as it is always a give and take policy in the business.”

In addition to this, the top management within Belkin will be visiting top 12 cities in the country with the specific motive of educating all system integrators in the region about structured cabling and promoting brand Belkin.

To enhance their standing further after the first round of appointments, the company plans to expand its channel base further in the next six months. As far as marketshare in the structured cabling segment is concerned, the company is looking at an overall marketshare of up to five percent comprising of both copper and fiber cables.

“By the end of March 2011, we expect to have a marketshare of around seven percent in the segment, from the current time where we have zero marketshare. In the next 12 months, we are also looking at revenues exceeding five million dollars and 8 to 12 million dollars in the subsequent year,” Anand added.

He also revealed that Belkin is not particularly focusing on any specific sector and is very much capable of catering to any company size. Besides this, Belkin is also looking to set up a manufacturing unit in India in the near future. At present, their only manufacturing unit is located in China.