MatexNet adds two verticals, plans overseas expansion

Chennai: Online business-to-business (B2B) portal company MatexNet Pvt Ltd has entered used vehicles and surplus retail goods verticals. In the used vehicles segment the company is targeting fleet operators-four wheelers and commercial vehicles, apart from two- and three-wheelers.

According to managing director, Jaganni Vasan, the business process outsourcing (BPO) industry in India is over five years old. There are many operators who ply hundreds of cars to transport the BPO employees from home to office and vice versa. "All these vehicles will come up for replacement soon and our portal will enable to find a buyer for such vehicles."

MatexNet will also hold negotiations with used vehicle dealers to refurbish the auctioned vehicles. The company will target institutions that are willing to purchase used vehicles. The company hopes to offer this service in 400 towns by next year.

On the other hand the surplus retail goods vertical will be the auctioning platform for unsold consumer durables. With new models hitting the markets at frequent intervals manufacturers and dealers are laden with old models. MatexNet hopes to find buyers for such inventory through online auctioning.

According to Vasan, MatexNet got the unique mandate of e-auctioning of the human hair offered to Lord Venkatachalapathy at Tirumala. The Tirumala Tirupati Devastonam (TTD) as a pilot project decided to call e-bids along with the traditional physical bids. "The value of online bids exceeded the value of physical bids. The online bid totaled Rs36 crore," he said.

The company plans to foray into neighboring markets such as Nepal, Bangladesh, Srilanka and Singapore. In the domestic market MatexNet has expanded its presence to 28 locations and new industrial towns including places such as Nashik, Rajkot, Baroda and Chandigarh.