Intrex India, India's first-ever cashless trade exchange, aims to induct more members on its clientele across the country by focusing on five key sectors.
Intrex, a wholly owned subsidiary of Essel Group, has 175 members at present and it wants to scale it up to 500 by the end of this financial year. "We have companies such as power major BSES, white goods major Videocon, Godrej and Sahara Airlines as our clients. Intrex believes that only companies with good reputation and financial background can join this exchange," Patrick Machado, chief marketing officer, Intrex India, said.
"The exchange works on the concept of barter trade where no cash transaction takes place. Intrex gives trade credits (TCs) that takes care of the cash. We also provide credit limit (CL) depending on financial credentials. The biggest advantage we have that there is no threat to security of cash," Machado added.
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Currently, most of the companies are from western India. The company is at present in the process of expanding operations to Delhi and Bangalore. For Kolkata, Intrex would appoint one channel partner. The company has 13 channel partners and it plans to add seven more this fiscal.
Intrex is focusing on few core sectors to boost business. "We are concentrating on hospitality, travel, white goods, media, real estate sectors. Further, we would look at the manufacturing sector," Machado said.
So far, 95 per cent of the business done on the exchange are offline. Experts feel that corporate still prefer physical transaction than going online.
Intrex feel the kind of trade it is in would boom in the next 10 years. According to a study by Intrex, the volume would touch Rs 27,000 crore in ten years.
"It is already popular in the US and Europe. There is body of such exchanges called IRTA (International Reciprocal Trade Association) in US which certify all such exchanges in the world. Intrex is the only IRTA certified exchange in India," Machado said.
To register in the exchange, a company needs to produce balance sheet of last three years. Further, it has to pay a joining fee of Rs 15,000 and renewal fee of Rs 3000 every year. Intrex takes 4 per cent commission on every transaction.