INDIAN TECH, MOBILE SERVICES COS SEE GROWTH IN EMERGING MARKETS

Namitha Jagadeesh, Mumbai
Mint

When mobile software maker Myzus Infotech Pvt. Ltd set up shop in 2000, it found selling to phone firms in India a challenge. Mumbai-based Myzus’ core product—a mobile portal that telecom operators used to offer third-party applications to users (such as the Apple iPhone store)—was hard to sell in a market with not many mobile Internet users.

Working with phone firms in India meant “longer purchase cycles and a lot of chaos”, recalled Myzus founder Roshan D’Silva. So, after testing its product with a few initial deployments in India, the company looked overseas for business. Instead of heading to developed markets such as the US and the UK, it chose to focus on West Asia, where phone firms were more receptive to data service solutions than peers in India.

The bet paid off for Myzus. Today more than 80% of the firm’s revenue (which it won’t disclose) comes from markets outside India, primarily in West Asia, Maldives, Mauritius and Sri Lanka. It is now exploring the African market.

Like Myzus, several small- and medium-sized Indian companies are looking to tap into such emerging markets that may have smaller customer bases, but are untapped by the big players and offer sizeable potential.

Firms making software and solutions for use by the mobile phone services industry such as IMImobile Pvt. Ltd, Jump Games Pvt. Ltd, Bay Talkitec Pvt. Ltd and Bharti Telesoft Ltd, as also tech and back-office service firms Mann India Technologies Pvt. Ltd and NettPositive Business Analytics Pvt. Ltd generate significant revenue from such markets.