Chat with Mr. Rakesh Bhatnagar - CEO, Net4Barter
December 4, 2001 - www.hometrade.com

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Sachin: What are the main hindrances you find in the barter type of businesses ? RakeshBhatnagar: Sachin, since barter is a new concept which has been introduced for the first time in India by us there is a certain level of time it takes in companies to fully understand the benefits and the concept Nevertheless we are very bullish on the overall acceptance and the fact that in another 2 years we would have a majority of large small and medium corporate regularly undertaking barter trading.

preeti: Sir, do you think Indian users have matured enough to buy/ transact on the net in India?
RakeshBhatnagar: preeti, Net4barter is primarily is an offline business model which means that 95% of our transactions are not through the internet. The internet platform provides strong support to our offline business and most of our members regularly use our online platform for up to dates on products and services available through our cash free barter system.

Rachna: how did you come upon the concept and idea of net4barter?
RakeshBhatnagar: rachna, Net4barter has been built around offering corporates very strong and fundamental benefits of enabling them to save cash and pay through their stocks and services. Our model with these benefits in mind accordingly focused on eliminating the one to one restrictions

Raman: PC penetration in India is as low as 1.2 per 1000 persons. Will this be any hindrance?
RakeshBhatnagar: raman, with our offline model and strong client base we are fine with waiting for the next 2-3 years for the online business to pick up

RaviBajaj: Hi! What do you think is the future of the B2C industry with credit card as the only payment option?
RakeshBhatnagar: Ravi, we are not dealing with the B2C segment and are focused only on the B2B segment.

MadanLal: What is your view on the US economic slow down and till when is it going to affect the IT related companies in India?
RakeshBhatnagar: Madan, as a part of the strong tech group in India i.e. Net4india we continue to remain bullish on the US and Europe market The US slowdown may carry on for the next 1- 1 1/2 years but it gives time to IT companies to get there focused right and client based broadened.

Meenka: Sir, how does one see the Internet marking and the B2B portals say around five years from now and also net4barter.com?
RakeshBhatnagar: Meenka, The internet helps bringing the huge level of scalability and cost economics which are critical for the success of any B2B business because any B2B business revolves around bringing cost down either in procurement , process flows or marketing and most importantly efficiencies. The internet with its reach and conveyances critical for a long term viability.

Kalps: Rakesh , how did you get an idea of Barter, I mean who inspired you
RakeshBhatnagar: Kalps, As I earlier said since the two fundamental drivers for any business are cash Optimization and a healthy stock situation My partner ( Manish Dutta) and I were looking at ways where in we could help companies trade what they have and get what they want. And hence upon extensive research and a couple of experiments with deals in our previous org. we found the concept and business model extremely relevant and viable and went all ahead and set up the barter

rits: rakesh,do you pay your salaries in cash or barter?
RakeshBhatnagar: rits, Good question, unfortunately we pay our salary in cash !! :)

Pooja: Do you think that the huge projections of e-commerce growth in India will it materializes?
RakeshBhatnagar: Pooja, Frankly can't accurately predict on the projections but if there is adequate support provided to the B2B and B2C segment by the Govt. and authorities and issues such as net penetration , payment options , there is an extremely good probability of the figures being achieved.

RajMalhotra: Is there any profitable e-commerce business in India - is net4barter profitable and will it be able to make profits in the next 12 months?
RakeshBhatnagar: Raj, we are started breaking even since April 2001. which is with in 8 months of inception. Also I learn that there are definitely no of other profitable e-commerce businesses in India.

Pawan: Technology enhances the business operations. If a new comer enters the market with better technology will it affect dotcoms like net4barter? Is it a big challenge?
RakeshBhatnagar: Pawan, In our business Tech. supports us as a back bone and that too primarily for our online business. Better tech. can definitely help companies bring in more efficiency. But since our business is 95% offline we are not too dependent upon technological changes.

rits1: it is an interesting concept, but how do you plan to tackle competition, if any.
RakeshBhatnagar: rits, In a growing industry such as barter trading there is bound to be a lot of competition in the coming yrs. We have pioneered this industry in India and have a huge lead in terms of our Industry penetrations, client relationships and Quality of personnel. These we feel would help us remain far ahead of competition if any.

Kalps: Whom do you dedicate your success to? Your Employees or Yourself?
RakeshBhatnagar: kalps, Employees very much.

Radha: Bringing Shoppers Stop ambience onto the net implies interactivity. What are net4barter plans in this area?
RakeshBhatnagar: Radha, we are constantly innovating and improving on our online platform and reach and we presently offer a highly interactive platform on the net for our members. Incidentally Shopperstop.com has shut down.

PawanChowdhary: Can you talk about the challenges before net4barter today and what are you steps are you taking into consideration for that in this recession period?
RakeshBhatnagar: The challenge before us is to aggressively reach companies and educate them on the benefits that we can provide to them as a majority of co's in today's difficult times are saddled with problems of declining sales and markets resulting in cash flow and unsold stock problems. the barter industry is more than a trillion dollars internationally and has more than 70% of the fortune 500 companies regularly in barter transactions. We find the Indian market appropriate for the barter system.

Rani: What in your idea can Indian IT companies should do to regain their powers again and wish that if they are not dependent on the foreign revenues?
RakeshBhatnagar: Rani, I would say the realignment of business model which implies broad basing of products and services offered offer inconjuction with competencies and demand. We would continue to look at foreign markets as our chief revenue earners and I don't think that we could be independent of foreign revenues although IT co's are looking at countries other than the US for the revenues in the coming years.

its1: don't you think you are overconfidant? I mean I wish you best of luck but don't you think there are co.'s coming in barter trade in a big way?
RakeshBhatnagar: its1, as I earlier mentioned we expect the whole lot of competition to be coming in in this industry Both internationally and domestically. But we are confident about our resources in terms of our personnel and industry understanding and ability to aggressively close deals for our clients.

Kalps1: How Strong is your company to face competition with the like of Zee's Intrex?
RakeshBhatnagar: Kalps, Having pioneered and estb. net4barter way before intrex ( which incidentally has nothing to do with Zee) And with a client base and figures which give us a industry leadership position we feel we would well continue to lead.

Summit: What are the main disadvantages you see in the system of barter deals online and have you not tried to do something like baazee.com?
RakeshBhatnagar: Summit, we are not focusing on line barter deals, though we offer strong support through our web sites to our members for purposes of up to date info on various offers. Almost 80% of our members regularly use our web sites and its interactive platform Our business model is extremely different from baazee which is a pure B2C auction model

Tapori: Being a famous group as an ISP, what makes the idea of starting a bartering shop online like net4barter.com?
RakeshBhatnagar: Tapori, Net4barter was our B2B foray, net4india is a focused B2B company as most of our services are targeted at corporates and SME's Accordingly net4barter is a perfect fit.

TarunSharma: Why you haven't advertised your product as much as like the other ones, don't you think that will it affect the consumer viewer ship and the popularity?
RakeshBhatnagar: tarun. we have focused more on direct marketing and direct sales presentations since we are a B2B co. Also since the concept is unique we found direct marketing and presentations are far more effective medium to promote. Having achieved a critical mass we would soon be launching a targeted media campaign.

It was a pleasure having you here! Will you like to leave a message for the readers who joined us today for the chat?
RakeshBhatnagar: NET4BARTER IS AN EXCELLENT PLATFORM FOR ALL CORPORATE WHO WISH TO SEEK OPTIONS TO OPTIMIZE / SAVE CASH IN THERE ESSENTIALS BUSINESS PURCHASES. NET4BARTER CAN HELP ANY BUSINESS BUY PRODUCTS AND SERVICES CASH FREE AND SIMPLY PAY IN KIND THROUGH THERE EXCESS STOCKS, CAPACITIES OR SERVICES