New Delhi: mjunction, the e-commerce joint venture between Tata Steel and SAIL, clocked transactions of over Rs 1 lakh crore in FY2018, cementing its place as the country’s largest online marketplace.
“The transactions have grown from Rs 94 crore in the 2002 financial year, when mjunction was set up, to Rs Rs 1,01,250 crore in the last financial year,” Chief Executive Officer Vinaya Varma told Moneycontrol.
Since its inception in 2001, the company has made cumulative transactions of over Rs 6.5 lakh crore.
The performance sits pretty when compared with the likes of Flipkart, which according to reports had a gross merchandise value of $6.2 billion — or about Rs 42,000 crore — in the 2018 financial year.
“The first quarter of the present financial year has seen significant growth. We expect the topline to grow by 40 percent and the bottomline will also grow significantly,” added Varma, a former Tata Steel veteran who joined mjunction in 2001 as part of the founding team.
Auction strategy
mjunction, which is now the world’s largest e-marketplace for steel, had earlier this year conducted an e-auction for media rights for non-IPL cricket matches in India.
“We hope that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will also consider the auction route when IPL rights come up for renewal in 2022,” said Varma. The rights were auctioned last year for a five-year term.
The company now plans to add more categories to its auction vertical. “We had started the business to give solutions to companies with best possible returns for goods and services. We create the methodology depending on the demand-supply dynamics, structure of demand and the players involved,” said Varma.
The e-company had also developed a bidding portal to enable e-bidding and e-allocation of oil and gas fields.
In May, mjunction auctioned steel for Tata Steel’s UAE arm, resulting in 36 percent higher realization than an offline sale. “We had done the auction to demonstrate that mjunction can provide auction service with good results sitting from Kolkata. The client can be abroad but services will be provided,” said Varma.
Apart from the Middle East, the company has presence in Singapore and Australia. “We plan to expand to the UK and mainland Europe,” added the CEO.
Overall, mjunction is present in 40 locations in India and abroad.
Procurement business
Over the past few years, mjunction has been working to become the preferred platform for manufacturing companies to buy industrial goods.
“It saves them from negotiating with suppliers and following up on deliveries,” says Varma.
mjunction provides transportation of the goods, and has also tied up with six banks to provide financing options to its clients. The goods sold by mjunction include anything from CFL lights to welding electrodes. “The products span more than 30 categories,” said Varma.
