Monday, September 28, 2015

College Dunia – The next big startup?

Startups have become frenzy in India and innumerable startups have blossomed in various sectors in past 5 years. Every startup is built on a vision to become the easiest solution to a particular problem/requirement. Sahil Chalana, founder of College Dunia had a similar vision – to make College Dunia the one stop information portal for every student researching about colleges, competitive exams etc!

So, why a portal in education sector? Let’s review the challenges – As per UGC’s 2012-13 report; India is home to 44 Central Universities, 306 Public State Universities, 154 Private State Universities, 129 Deemed Universities, 700 Degree Granting Institutions and 35,000 Affiliated Public/Private Colleges!!! Just With such vast options of colleges in hand, lakhs of students are in a dilemma before taking the final decision.

Also by 2012 around 1,74,56,000 (near to 1.75 crore) students have enrolled for a graduate degree, 24,92,000 (~25 Lakh) students into post-graduation, 1,61,000 students into Doctorate & 2,18,000 for diploma courses! Lakhs of aspiring students take their life’s utmost critical decision without much knowledge of the future institution in hand. College Dunia promises to help these students to make an informed decision about choosing the right institution. The portal has detailed information about over 15,000 colleges and the plan is to reach 30,000 colleges by end of 2015! Look for yourself on the top MBA colleges in India and BBA colleges in India for reference. The portal also hold important info on exams such as CAT, MAT, GATE, GMAT etc and the portal boasts of having their unique set of differentiators:
     -- The only education portal that provides details about Faculty Members of the institution
     -- Much detailed information on the colleges, fees structure, curriculum etc. vis-à-vis other portals

The other competitors in the education portal category are shiksha.com, minglebox.com, careers360.com, pagalguy.com, jagranjosh.com etc. While the aforementioned competitors had created their own niche, College Dunia focuses on catering to the mass by enhancing the quality and quantity of content for every college. The portal is already experiencing acceptance amongst its users and the portal has near to one million visitors every month. The company has seen investment of Rs.1 crore from Gaadi.com’s CEO Umang Kumar in past and promises a rapid expansion in the education space.  We expect the portal to surely be a game changer and wish them the best!

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Indian Used Car Industry

Prelude: It is just 8 months that Rahul is graduated from his engineering college and is working as an IT executive in a major MNC. While he wants to upgrade from his Pulsar to a 4-wheeler; he has little options to spend > Rs. 6 Lakhs on a new Swift. Instead he chooses to buy a second hand Maruti Swift within 50% of the money that he would have spent on the new model otherwise. While Rahul would have been hesitated to make a similar decision 5 years back; today the marketplace is change quite dynamically. Let us look at what has changed and the reasons for the same.

Indian Used Car Market has seen a sudden surge in sales, customer acceptance and business interests in the past half-decade. While the New Car Industry is reeling to post single digit growth, Used Car Market is consistently delivering 20-25% YoY growth. As of date, the Used Car sales have overtaken the new car sales in the sub-continent. By 2020, for every new car sold, 2 used cars would be sold in India! The trend looks like this:
The Indian used car market is currently valued at $ 15 Bn (GMV) and is expected to triple ($45 Billion) by 2020. So what is changed in the past 5 years that has revolutionized the industry? The growth has made the OEM's look seriously in terms of evolving their business model as the used car market is also defining their performance of the new car sales. Wonder How, then look into:

New Car Sales Bifurcation - 2014-15
Out of the 25 Lakhs New Cars sold - 7.5 lakh cars (30%) were purchased by those customers who had exchanged their old cars and bought a new car! And a hefty 20% (5 Lakh) of the customers traded their old cars in the organized retail outlets (say Maruti True Value / CarTrade / Quickr / Carnation etc) before their new car purchase. So what exactly is Organized or Unorganized Sector -
Unorganized - is the traditional way of selling the used car where the customer sells the car himself/herself to their friends or colleague or through the local mechanic-wala bhaiyya! But the challenges in this model is plenty and were the primary reasons where the growth of the used car industry was stunted:
           a. Lack of Ownership / Accountability for sale or purchase of the used car by either parties
           b. No standard way to quote the used car. The buyer would want to extract lowest price whereas the seller would want the highest price for the car. Price Rationalization is a big challenge. (Scenario is similar where the supermarkets offer standard price v/s price negotiations at local mom-n-pop store)
           c. Transparency remains the biggest concern as many a times brokers/buyers are not genuine
           d. No defined margin on the used cars which means while buying you can shell out much higher than the actual value of the used car!
           e. For buyers from unorganized sector, the condition of the car remains doubtful - Which layman can assess the engine/parts life or performance of the car being purchased?
Organized - Has tried to resolve a lot of concerns raised in unorganized dealing and is defining the growth of the industry. The advantage clearly is:
            i. Transperancy in the entire deal
           ii. Professional approach in the entire transaction
          iii. Peace of mind for the buyers/sellers due to hassle free transfer of the RC and other paper works
          iv. Instant money reimbursement to the customers; unlike park and sell model of unorganized players.
           v. Detailed Inspection of the vehicle done to offer a fair value
          vi. Stringent Checklist for assessing the condition of the car and inspect technically
         vii. In some cases even offer warranties on the used car sold!
        viii. Even bankers have started easy-financing options for cars sold/purchased through organized players.
Many players have entered the organized sector and they can be categorized into:
           1. OEM's used car wing - Maruti True Value, Hyundai Promise, Honda Auto Terrace, Mahindra First Choice, Tata Motors Assured, Toyota U-trust are some examples. To highlight the way the business these wings are doing - Maruti True Value sells approximately 30,000 used cars every month! If the numbers were to considered equivalent to new car sales, True Value would emerge as the 3rd biggest car seller, overtaking Honda (which currently sells an average 18k new cars every month). Also True Value contributes significantly to the new car sales. (Astonishing fact - Maruti True Value has over 500 outlets in more than 300 Indian cities!)
          2. Organized Used Car Outlets - The best example would be Carnation which has evolved to be a pioneer in the trade. CarTrade has also ventured in physical stores to support their online business model. 
          3. Online Players: CarDekho, Gaadi, CarWale, CarTrade, etc are engaged in used car trade which enable their customers to easily buy/sell used cars using their website. Even major classified portals like Quickr & OLX have jumped in the bandwagon and are doing good business. Quickr has taken an innovative step and recently launched QuickrCars, the portals automobile vertical. The launch of QuickrCars was a high-pitch campaign and Quickr effectively roped in actors Ranveer Singh & South superstar Suriya for their TVC's. So, why such big ticket investment in this vertical by the classified portal?
Used Car Sales Bifurcation - Sourcewise
C2C, or Customer-to-Customer sales remains the highest contributor in used cars sales - Out of 32.5 used cars sold, 14 Lakh cars were sold directly between the parties. The opportunity was encashed by classified portals such as Quickr to enable both the parties meet and complete the transaction. What QuickrCars bought to the table is going to give it a strong competitive edge:
              * Maximum Sales Price: Arrive at a fair price for the listed car based on the inspection
              * No Fikar Car Inspection Reports: Is a detailed checklist in terms of technical inspection of the car (tie-up with Carnation for implementation). Users will be able to request for a thorough inspection of the vehicle's condition, including state of engine, overall performance of cars and other operations.  

With the growth of Used car industry being double then the New car industry, we still believe that it is ignored and yet lacks innovation. With more organized players foraying the segment, we expect investments to happen significantly in infrastructure and customer interaction platforms. These organized players need to lead with innovation and enhance customer trust!

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Indian Car Sales Figures - August 2015

Management Punditz apologize for the delay in publishing the August 2015 sales figures. We would want to compensate the delay by publishing the Premium Brand Sales Data along with the general passenger cars sales figures! We strive to bring the most comprehensive sales numbers to the readers and Aug'15 figures would be an effort in the direction. Look forward for the support from our readers as always.

See how the OEM's fared in Aug'15:
Source: AutocarPro
Indian Auto Industry experienced a single digit growth in Aug'15. The industry has been in turmoil since a long time and Aug'15 was not encouraging as usual. Once again, the new launches came to the rescue and helped the so called 'performing OEM's' to gain/sustain volumes. Indian Consumers yet again proved their fascination towards new entrants and the volumes of Creta, Jazz, Aspire, S-cross delighted their respective manufacturers.
The effect of decrease in fuel prices was not to be seen and overall consumer sentiments were neutral. Though Kerala proved to be the biggest market for all OEMs (due to Onam); other markets had a dull momentum.

Brand-wise Sales Data:
August 2015 Sales Figures - Pan India

  • - Alto regains the numero uno slot and posts a sales of 23,017 units. Dzire hits the sweet second spot with 18,718 numbers. Swift and Wagon R occupy the third and fourth spot religiously!
  • - Bolero is now far off the number 5 slot and poses serious questions on its years long dominance in the ranking. Surprisingly its not even in the Top 10 (ranked 13th to be precise). Hyundai's i20 (Elite+Active) makes into the Top 5 and occupies a well deserving 5th place! While its cousin Grand i10 comes 6th. And Creta evolves as the highest selling SUV of the month with 7437 units. With all cylinders firing, Hyundai makes grows a stellar 20% over last year!
  • - Jazz's comeback was the most crucial element for Honda's success this year. And the Japanese carmaker seems to hit the right nodes with the re-born hatchback. While Honda struggles with its usual production woes from its Tapukara facility, it was successful in dispatching 5404 Jazz & 5405 City in Aug'15. Both City and Jazz make into the Top 10 cars with the said numbers! However Brio, Amaze & Mobilio see tremendous decline and account to degrowth for overall Honda's volumes. 
  • - Mahindra has put all its energy now on TUV 300 and the effect was evident in Aug'15 data. Bolero could manage a petty 4804 units and Scorpio a dismal 3455 nos. It is also struggling to keep afloat the non-performers (say Quanto, Rexton, Verito, Vibe & Xylo). All eyes now on TUV 300 - will the new baby help India's biggest SUV maker regain the 3rd position?  
  • - Duster is unable to breathe! Scores below 1200 units consecutively for the second month and raises serious doubt on its ability to sustain volumes in coming months. Renault now wants to move towards Kwid for gaining back the numbers. Has dependency on one-product costed the French Automaker dearly? 
  • - Happy to see the Nano sales pepping up - The AMT effect! However, Zest struggling at 2000 units is not fair to the brand considering its potential. We eagerly wait for the Hexa to be launched as well. 
  • - VW manages to post growth again in Aug'15. Renewed focus on its existing portfolio has worked well with the OEM and again a refreshed Polo is launched to maintain buzz for the brand. 
Premium Car Sales Data:
Luxury Car Sales Data
Top Luxury OEMs:
 
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