MUMBAI: The lure of making quick money through direct selling companies has crossed one’s mind at least once in a person’s life. And there are many people successfully earning money through this business model. However, cases of fraud has been denting the confidence of new entrants in this space.
According to Rahul Saxena, a market analyst based in Andheri, there are about 450-500 direct selling agencies in Andheri alone. However, the industry is marred by many dubious and fraudulent money circulation schemes that are coming up disguised as direct selling or network marketing agencies.
The direct selling industry of India is making incredible progress over the years and has been contributing to the economy of the country. As per the survey reports of Indian Direct Selling Association (IDSA), the direct selling industry has grown 27 percent during 2010-2011, with its sales revenue expanding from Rs 4,120 crore in 2009-2010 to Rs 5,229 crore in 2010-2011.
ANDHERI INFESTED
Amway India has a brand centre in Andheri East and many distributers in the locality. “The general trend for Amway is that the area of Andheri has been growing at a fair clip and currently we have a base of 1,000 active distributors,” says Achinta Banerjie, vice president, Amway India West.
On being asked about why this Andheri was chosen, Banerjie says, “Amway set up its Andheri East office seven years ago. At that point in time, the suburb business district was in still in the process of development and several corporates were shifting here. Our distributors are spread across the city and Andheri is among the more-centrally located for those distributors staying in the western suburbs.”
For instance, “It is more convenient and less time consuming for people staying in western suburbs to travel to Andheri when compared with commuting to south Mumbai. From our experience, we have seen a fairly substantial number of people evincing interest in joining our business since the time that we came here. Amway also has two more offices – Thane and CBD Belapur. As such all our three offices are strategically located. Additionally, we also service our distributors by organising events and training programs at locations (suburbs) other than these three,” he said.
MEMBERS ONLY
IDSA’s member list includes 18 global and Indian direct selling and network marketing companies like Amway, Avon, HUL, Jafra Ruchi Cosmetics, Oriflame, Tupperware etc. According to IDSA report, the total distributor base in India during 2010-2011 stood at 3,962,522, marking a growth of around 24 percent.