Exclusive Interview with Devesh Rastogi, Sr. Vice President FAIITA
Devesh Rastogi, Sr. Vice President, FAIITA is the candidate for the post of President in the upcoming FAIITA elections to be held on 2nd July 2022 at Chandigarh. Having a wide experience of 42 years to run various businesses, including the IT vertical as of now.
Tell us something about your business
On my business front, I have been actively associated through my business entities DEVLOK DISTRIBUTORS, DIGIZONE, TREND MARKETING etc with all avenues of Channel business whether it is retail or distribution.
I have experience working with brands like HP, DELL, CANON, ACER, ASUS, LENOVO, AVITA, INTEL, MICROSOFT and so many others in all products such as LAPTOPS and other computing devices, Printers in A3 & A4 segment, Consumables & other Media, Memory, UPS, Accessories etc and understand their working methodology in dealing with Brands and Product understanding.
Today my companies have the privilege of serving a network of 1600 channel partners in the state of UP. In the last 4 years, I had launched my own brand ACXXEL which is in the production of Computer Desktops, AIO, Mini PC, Print Toners, CCTV, SSD and many others. It is the first and only Indian brand being recognized as OEM by Intel on its portal.
Please share your experience on IT Community Front
I started to work with FAIITA in the last 6 years and before my present responsibility as Sr.VP of FAIITA, I worked on OLS issues facing challenges with the Brands and within FAIITA as well.
In my home state of UP, I have been chairman of the brands committee for 7 years handling OLS issues and brand relationships, and now I have been given the responsibility to Mentor the largest single Association in the country UPCDA which covers the entire state through direct membership across the 72 districts. In a short span of 3 months, UPCDA has reached all 72 districts of the state and expects membership of over 3000 members.
During my tenure as Sr. VP of FAIITA, I had an opportunity to work on different challenges faced by the IT Channel Community, the current team collectively worked on them and despite covid threat throughout its tenure has given a reasonably good result and laid a strong foundation for future growth. Being a member of the B2C committee I had played an important role in the creation of IndiaITMall.com and its alliance with ONDC.
My idea of FAIITA for the betterment of the channel community is to reach out to the last mile i.e T3 & T4 dealers through the member associations of FAIITA, help member associations to expand, and provide business opportunities to their members.
How do you see second generation entrepreneurs?
I see a major problem in the industry that second-generation entrepreneurs are not joining the business as they don’t see value in the same. Therefore it is important to create a value in business which interests them and helps them fulfill their ambition. The next 10 years belong to Electronic manufacturing in India. With PLI, MSME schemes and semi-conductor manufacturing coming to India, huge opportunities wait for the young generation and I believe FAIITA has an important role in it by providing guidance and knowledge bank.
Tell us the objectives and developments in FAIITA, Also the achievements
FAIITA was formed with the basic object of fighting OLS, with the hard work done by the present OLS team which I have been a member most of the object has been achieved and with the rollout of IndiaITMall rest of it will also be covered. Now it is time to engage with brands on business agreements, promotions, ND arrangements etc and for that purpose, I intend to enhance the scope of the OLS committee as a BRAND COORDINATION COMMITTEE, one of the main tasks of this committee will be to create an inclusive business atmosphere wherein T3 & T4 partners come in focus. India IT-Mall provides equal opportunity to all dealers and the work of the BRAND COORDINATION COMMITTEE will complement it making the DREAM OF EACHING LAST MILE A SUCCESS. GeM is another opportunity, FAIITA team which FAIITA and its member association focus on reaching out. INDIA It MALL provides an excellent opportunity for that, with little effort all member associations will be able to expand their membership base multiple times. The role of the National Coordinator and state coordinators will be to work in close coordination with all member associations to extend the coverage.
Doing trade and technology expo on an international level is another aspect where I shall be working upon. I have experience of several expositions in Taiwan, Hongkong and China. I firmly believe that the same can be executed under the umbrella of FAIITA.