March 22: Do you have excess inventory on your premises for which you find you have little use? Do you feel that by disposing it off as scrap you would lose money? Material managers have now found a solution to this excess inventory problem which can be disposed of in a manner that fetches far better prices than if it were auctioned or sold as scrap.By becoming a registered member of the material stock exchange run by JNN Matex and submitting a list of the inventory that requires to be disposed of, they can rest a little easy. A buyer would be found soon.
The concept of a material stock exchange is very similar to our regular stock exchange, only that materials ranging from nuts and bolts to relays, chemicals and sometimes even factories get listed for sale. All the registered members of JNN have online systems which can be accessed regularly to find out if materials have been sold or if they need to be bought.
According to JNN managing director Jagan Vasan, usually the materials are in good conditionand the physical stocks are verified by JNN when the material comes up for listing -- to ensure authenticity.
Interested enquiries come from registered members or from small scale units, who are always looking out for quality material at cheaper prices. Sometimes an indicative price is given during listing, but usually sellers do not know how much they can charge for the items. However, sellers invariably get a fair deal for the goods listed, Vasan said.
The list of items are coded under various categories for easy access and the name of the city where the items are available is mentioned in the list. However, the name of the seller is kept confidential until a buyer is found. All along JNN has done the brokerage work itself -- identifying buyers, putting them on to sellers and collecting a commission on the items sold.
But, with the size of the operations increasing, JNN is planning to restrict its role to that of a listing agency. It is planning to authorise brokers in every industry who are involvedwith that particular industry. Enquiries from buyers would get routed to the brokers concerned whose job it would be to inspect the material beforehand and conclude a deal. The brokers could also charge their own commission, Jagan said.
However taking positions would not be encouraged in the early stages of establishing the exchange, he said.JNN has offices in Chennai, Trichy, Coimbatore, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune and is planning to open one in Mumbai in another four months. It is also in the process of selecting brokers. JNN claims it has more than 300 registered members -- the registration fee is Rs 14,000, although for small scale units there is a lower slab. It has got more than 300,000 items listed and has in the last two years perfected the processes and systems.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
