Sandeep Todi is CEO of Allindia.com, one of India’s internet pioneers. Allindia.com Ltd designs strategic web solutions for leading companies including Tata Steel, Modi Telstra, Jenson & Nicholson, Allahabad Bank, Bengal Ambuja, ESAB India, and Baidyanath.

Beginning with the live audio netcast of the Union Budget in 1996, Allindia.com has many other firsts to its credit. For three years in succession, budget.allindia.com with realtime coverage has been a success.

Allindia.com recently launched Batchmates.com, a community site to build inter-networking among people who were together in school and college. The site already has over 2 lakh members. Askallindia.com is the only web-based help desk that features prominent experts fielding visitor queries on telecom, infotech, web, immigration, foreign trade, economy and more.

It@tt: Why did you choose Calcutta to begin operations in 1996, especially when internet awareness in India as nascent?

Todi: Calcutta was a logical choice for us. Our group has been in the software and IT business for more than 12 years now. Vedika Software, our group company, was one of the first of its kind in the market. And we started as an offshoot. Both companies are owned by a Singapore-based NRI. We found that through the concept was new, Calcutta was a huge market for Internet. Of course, the market isn’t as big as Delhi, Mumbai or even Hyderabad. But Calcutta has been a good market for us, and Internet is a good opportunity.

It@tt: Where are your servers hosted?

Todi: Our servers are hosted in the US. We have our platform in Silicon Valley.

It@tt: Why did you decide to host the site from the US?

Todi: As of now, India is still way behind in terms of professional capability and expertise. The kind of service we receive from our US partner is simply not available here.

It@tt: Do you think the situation in India will improve?

Todi: Definitely. No doubt about that. Within six months to a year we expect a basic level of efficiency to come in. The key reason behind this lack is that in India ISPs provide all kinds of services including web hosting and e-commerce solutions which do not constitute their core competence. They have their fingers in too many pies and fell like creaming the market when they’re at it. Whereas, if you look at the US model, most of the companies providing the infrastructure or server hosting facilities are focused on this specific area. So their service is more specialised.

It@tt: What kind of internet solutions do you offer?

Todi: We provide internet commerce solutions in both B2B and B2C areas. We recently concluded one very exciting project for ESAB India. They are part of a multinational group with offices and factories in several regions. They wanted a business platform where all their partners could come on the Net and transact with them. So something that earlier took five to ten days now takes less that a day to be completed. This also removes the physical barrier between the dealer and the factory where the stock actually lies. We rolled out a solutions for them last month. We are also launching portals in the area of B2C as well as looking at Information commerce. Our expertise lies in the area of providing solutions for these niche segments.

It@tt: Do you have any plans of expansion and upgradation of services in the next three months? If yes, what concrete steps are you taking to realise your dreams?

Todi: Allindia.com is a strong player in the web solutions market in Calcutta. Our plans for not only three months but also for the coming year including geographical expansion and diversification in the field of specific application to include more value-added ECRM solution on the supply chain side. Geographically, we are looking at Delhi, Mumbai and Singapore within this year. We’ve already started identifying how we’ll go about it and completed a project in Singapore.

It@tt: Apart from community and help desk portals, what other kind of industry specific portals do you have in mind for B2B and B2C segments?

Todi: Our model is that the client brings in the domain expertise which we provide the technical knowhow. Against this background we’re looking at a wide range of portals including ayurveda and taxation.

It@tt: What was the idea behind starting ABET and how did it come about?

Todi: We developed Batchmates.com, which over time has grown to 3,00,000 members in India. It’s the largest community site in India and the second largest alumni site in the world. Batchmates.com is a community-driven service that has grown organically and imparted a sense of fulfilment to its members through constant interaction between old friends. This online community is unique because, unlike chat groups, all the members of Batchmates.com have known each other in flesh and blood at some point of time. This loyalty factor closely knits the group. Over time many members expressed a desire to help their alma mater in some way. That is how ABET (Aid Batchmates Educational Trust) came about.

It@tt: How do you generate revenue and organise the donation mechanism to keep ABET running?

Todi: Batchmates.com is a separate entity that is able to generate revenue through the products and services that it offers. ABET, on the other hand, is a non-profit organisation that relies completely on donations. There are many educational trusts that are closed door organisations and money often doesn’t reach the right end. But our trust being hosted over the Net is especially open and transparent.

We try and ensure that the contributed money is put to right use and let you know about the exact outcome of your donation by coordinating between you and your school or college. We give you the assurance but not the guarantee of the actual action that has to be performed by respective educational institutions. We felt that Batchmates community has grown to such a size where it can provide the necessary backup support to make ABET meaningful.

It@tt: Are you planning to limit Askallindia.com help desk services to Batchmates.com members?

Todi: As of now anybody can avail the service. But as part of strategic move we’ll limit some of the services only to Batchmates.com members. Though you think it’s unfair, there’s also no downside to it.

It@tt: Where do you see Allindia.com in a few years from now?

Todi: We are well settled in providing solutions to B2B and B2C segments, community building and web hosting. We hope to become the largest online community in the world. As of now, we are the market leaders in Calcutta. In the next few years, we plan to become the largest web solutions company in India.

It@tt: Can you share with our readers some of your favourite websites?

Todi: Actually I don’t surf too much. That’s surprising for someone with my job profile. Of my favourite sites, Batchmates.com comes first. You’ll be amused to know that off late I’ve started accessing the site more as a user than as a promoter.

Another contemporary site with relevant discussions on Internet space is upsidetoday.com. I find xdrive.com a nifty site that allows you to use Internet as a hard drive. It’s a very good utility site that I constantly use. Another relatively new, but good site is outlooktraveller.com. It is one of the best sites. Due to lack of time, I have to content myself with virtual travelling.

Of the horizontal sites, rediff.com and yahoo.com are good search-engines. Itworld.com is another of my favourite sites. So is firstandsecond.com. I love reading and recently bought some books from this site. Lastly, if hotmail.com qualifies, then I like it for checking mails.