CarDekho To Double Employee Headcount In 1 year: Amit Jain

The story of GirnarSoft, the parent of CarDekho.com has been the talk of the town after it raised multiple rounds of funding and acquired Gaadi.com. Amit and Anurag, the brothers who left behind lucrative jobs to start the company in 2007, proved that even though they operated from a small city like Jaipur, their business idea found resonance with global investors. In an interview, Amit Jain tells that the aim is to keep bringing out products that make customers’ lives easier and improves car dealers’ and OEMs’ businesses.

CarDekho.com story has gone places. Did you foresee this kind of growth when you started the portal in 2008?

When we started GirnarSoft definitely we dreamt big. Our motto was ‘Eyes in the sky, feet on the ground’, and we worked hard with innovative practices to grow rapidly once we saw traction for CarDekho.com.

You have recently bought Gaadi.com. What kind of synergy you expect from both the verticals?

The Indian used car industry is witnessing significant year-on-year growth and Gaadi.com has a strong foothold in the used car space.CarDekho on the other hand is leading in new cars segment with great online and mobile products and industry tie-ups. That’s where we see a synergy in our businesses. We want to do everything possible to organise the used car market, get dealers online, create consumer and dealer products, and make safer purchase options available to our buyers.

You have already said that GirnarSoft will be a

multi-billion dollar company in about 5 years. Where do you expect such exponential growth would come?

Our existing business is growing at an unbelievable rate, plus we are making newer acquisitions, launching new business verticals. Our aim is to keep bringing out products that make customers’ lives easier and improves car dealers’ and OEM’s businesses. Growth will follow.

What about the software business of the group? What is

current status and do you have any plans to build this vertical?

We have a set of steady and loyal client base for our software business, and that will

continue to be built organically.

You have also said that you would enter the education business. What is the business proposition and road map?

At this point it is too early to talk details of this business

as the product is still under development. What is your hiring requirement for the

current financial year?

We are almost 1000 strong company at the moment and the plan is to double the workforce within this year.

There is a lot of talk about consumer

internet ventures are overvalued.

What’s your view?

Before investing, investors are doing their research and due diligence based on current and future revenues and return on investment. We don’t think it is fair to make a broad-brush comment on any sector.

Any plans to replicate CarDekho.com story in offshore destinations?

We are already in the middle of rolling out in a number of other countries across Asia, Middle East and Latin America. We shall reveal more details as these develop into full-fledged businesses.

You have been a profit making company since the beginning unlike several others. Does it give your company the valuation it deserves? Or you think that your business should command a premium valuation?

We wouldn’t like to comment on this.Looking back, do you think you should have marketed CarDekho in any different way or you are satisfied with the performance?

We have always done what was necessary for the business at the given point in time. So, in the initial years SEO led the way for making us the leading portal, and as the competition intensified we decided to spend much more on marketing. We have already seen very good results in the last 6 months from our marketing efforts. So, yes we’re happy with our performance. But, we’re never satisfied because we know there is a lot of head room for growth in the coming 1-2 years.