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Nov, 03 2012

TRANSPARENCY & ETHICS, KEY TO BIZ SUCCESS

To be a successful franchise professional, one needs to focus on formulating a transparent and profitable business model, believes Subhasish Chakraborty, Chairman and Manager of DTDC, as uniform policies all over India ensure franchisees’ faith in the bra

To be a successful franchise professional, one needs to focus on formulating a transparent and profitable business model, believes Subhasish Chakraborty, Chairman and Manager of DTDC, as uniform policies all over India ensure franchisees’ faith in the brand and in return they earn good profits, he clarifies in an interview with Swati Mahajan.

Share with us your journey as a franchise professional?

After completing my graduation with honours in Chemistry and gold medal from the Calcutta University, I started my career with Peerless General Insurance Company. I always had a dream to start my own business that justifies my education; in short I had inquisitiveness to start business in the chemicals industry. I started a small chemical trading company called Maxi Bond, dealing in industrial adhesives. I also started my own manufacturing unit with the same name, which is running successfully. During this time, I strongly felt that there was a need of good messenger services for the speedy delivery of important documents and parcels. This idea struck my mind and I ventured into courier business. The shortage of infrastructure and finance on one side and the large number of unemployed youth, their ability to work hard and invest time influenced me to start the franchise-based organisation for express distribution. Today, DTDC is the largest franchise-based organisation in the country with 5,780 franchisees all over the country covering more than 8,000 pin codes, next only to the Indian postal services.

What according to you are the three skills needed to be a successful franchise professional?

  • Transparent and ethical business practices
  • Ability to dream big, long term vision and ability to work hard, taking decisions to translate your dream into reality and to remain focused on your vision
  • Emotional quotient

According to you, how has franchising brought about a change in the Indian consumption scenario?

In a large country like India, distribution of products and services has been always challenging. The franchise system has helped companies to appoint local partners and made the products and services easily available to the consumer. Through effective franchising Indian and even multinational companies have now reached the door steps of the consumers and they have now choice over their local products and services.

Are you bullish about the growth of the franchising industry in India? If yes, why?

Yes, we are absolutely confident of the growth of the franchising industry in India. It's mainly because of economic development in India and the government policies to promote business in rural India. Also, what we have achieved may be 25 per cent of the market and a larger market is still untapped. This provides a huge scope for franchising in India.

What major hurdles have you faced while building a franchise network?

As far as courier and logistic business is concerned, the major hurdle faced by us is due to the prevalence of multistate policies in the country. Unlike the Western world, in India, each state government has its own tax and road permit policies.

Your leadership mantra

Keep it simple. Give more than you receive. The most beautiful thing is to see a person smiling. And even more beautiful, is to know that you are the reason behind it!

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