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Kamath
says the pressure on profits has caused the company
to embark on a cost-cutting drive |
Ingram
Micro, the $32 billion IT products distribution company, has
taken various cost cutting measures to maintain the bottomline
growth for its Indian operation, Ingram Micro India. In the
January-December (calendar 2001) fiscal, while the company
expects to maintain the industry growth, P G Kamath, vice
president-marketing said profit was under pressure.
Last year, Ingram Micro’s international operation went
through various cost curtailment measures like merging of
operations and reduction of manpower. According to Kamath,
to tide over the current slump, the company is resorting to
various cost cutting measures like lower hikes, less spending
on infrastructure, cut down in investment on new product lines
and restructuring of workforce through redeployment and lower
numbers of recruitment. At present, Ingram has 400 personnel
on its payroll. In India, Ingram has product lines of all
the major IT companies which include both MNCs and local brands.
Kamath says, “Our top line growth will be at par with
the industry average but our bottomline growth will be affected
by the current slowdown. This year, we will have a flat growth.
We don’t see any improvement in our bottomline growth
in the next two quarters.”
According to the industry estimates, last year Ingram Micro
India had a turnover of Rs 930 crore with a whopping growth
rate of 91 percent compared to 1999. In the current financial
year, the growth will come down to around 30 percent. Although
industry sources pointed out that one of the areas of cost
reduction will be voluntary pay cuts for senior officials,
Kamath denied it saying that at present the company was not
considering that option.
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