Interview

Arun Singhal,

Ïounder – Source One

More Buying Power to Processors

As a net importer of polymers, Indian processors are no stranger to the vagaries of polymer supply. With long term demand with increasing industry applications remain robust, fast tracking capacity additions is the key to leap frog growth of the seg- ment. However, in the short term, creating steady and reliable polymer supply could go a long way in bridging the demand-supply gap and this is where Source.one has firmly embedded themselves.

Source.one is India’s first tech enabled, full stack

Founded by Arun Singhal, Source.one deploys a strong interplay of Technology, Operational Excel- lence and Data science. It is driven a strong team of Professionals who come from 17 difference In- dustries. It has a strong team of Engineers, Bank- ers and Data enthusiasts, and has created a highly intuitive Platform to serve Indian MSMEs

A modern-day evangelist and alumnus of Hindu College and MDI, Arun Singhal has a deep knack of solving Distribution Problems, through innova- tive usage of Technology and Processes. He has seen, and effected disruption from close doors, across Industries as varied as Derivatives and Road Transportation, to now Chemicals Distribu- tion. Arun is a well-published author in Distribution

petrochemical distribution company and have and commodities, across Print and Digital Media.  

grown to become one of the largest players in this domain in India clocking 1600+cr revenue the last FY 2022. With a strong interplay of distribu- tion network and an asset light model we transact with over 15,000+ plastic processors across India, deploying 500+ transporters to tap over 700+ dis- tricts across the nation.

Providing buyers and sellers of petrochemicals the right access to the right products at the right price and application of easy to use and prevalent tech- nology such as WhatsApp and Google API to con- nect 97% of the entire Indian market, Source.one fills the existing gaps in trade and provides a full end to end service aspect that handles its com- merce, logistics, and payments verticals. By cutting down the high turnaround time of the traditional method of procurement & excess stock liquidation from hours to just a few minutes, Source.one max- imizes efficiency and effectiveness of MSME plas- tic processors across India.

Arun is an alumnus of Hindu College, Delhi and

MDI, Gurgaon.

Plexconnect in interview with Arun Singhal

(excerpts)

Source One has seen spectacular success since staring operations in 2018 to touch Rs. 1600 crores in FY 21-22. To what do you attribute this success?

Intent. Our Intent was always to solve a problem; Rest everything will follow: volumes, profitability, growth.

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Interview

How does your business model differ from tradi- tional polymer buying practices?

We are very heavy on networking. We don’t try to create or own everything, but rather work with Partners to get the best out of everyone: Supply, Demand, Technology, Logistics, etc.

This allows us to focus on our core DNA: Create Value, Distribute Value, and Solve Problems.

What are the unique advantages that your plat- form brings to the polymer industry, especially MSME sector that is spread across the country?

It allows everyone to participate in the Eco-sys- tem: irrespective of your application, geography or Scale. We believe that Polymer Ecosystem still has a huge upside to achieve. And this will be achieved if the industry takes along everyone together.

How do you ensure the product quality and transparency in pricing of the polymers being traded on your platform?

We have a very robust process of Product selec- tion, filtering and on-boarding. We have a partner- ship approach towards our Suppliers, which in- clude some Highly respectable names.

On Transparency point, since we are a Tech-heavy

eco-system: Supply,  Demand, Logistics and Fi-

nance: 4 pillars of Polymer Ecosystem.

Source One website mentions that it has mapped 95% of all manufacturing hubs in India but the cus- tomer base is 2000 or 5% of the plastic processors count in India. Why is it so and how do you plan to expand the reach?

Let me clarify: The number 2000 is active buying Customers in any given quarter. These are man- ufacturers who procure their Polymers through Source.one, and include both big Manufacturing houses, and MSMEs. This number is growing very fast.

As far as touch point is concerned, Our Demand Network has already mapped 95% of all Manufac- turers, and interacts daily with them through our Tech.

Further, could you also help us understand the reasons for average order size being less than 8 MT per customer per month on your platform?

That’s not true. Our avg Order size has increased to 19 mt in FY2023.

We were always v strong in MSMEs, but FY2023 has seen a large no of Corporate Houses starting business with us, thereby increasing the avg order size.

What are the typical challenges faced by cus- tomers since the business is through WhatsApp?

Here is a quick Snapshot of our communication modes: WhatsApp + Email for Price Udates, Mo- bile App for more complex information, eg forward or scheduled dispatches, 1on1 Meetings & Calls for awareness campaigns, and 12*7 Order Man- agement Team for Issue resolutions.

While MSMEs largely prefer WhatsApp, we have  

different segments getting serviced by Relation-

Distributor, transparency comes naturally. Our ship Managers as well. Tech is designed to create synergies across the  

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Interview

On WhatsApp, there was initial a self-doubt as Transaction size is high. Overtime the Industry has adopted WhatsApp, along with other modes.

Our Mobile App was launched last year, and 50% of all orders happen on Mobile Now. Its an end- to-end ecosystem, and India’s only Mobile App to purchase Polymers, in a matter of few minutes.

The plastic processing industry is even present- ly credit driven in terms of their polymer pur- chasing (the norm being 15 to 30 days). How does your platform address this issue?

We have both channel partnerships, as well run our own book on Credit. Eventually we aim to institu- tionalise the Trade credit, thereby opening a whole new funnel for Industry to prosper.

What are the demand/ supply trends in polymer, both globally and in India?

Overtime, Indian Polymer Market is becoming more stable as we get connected with the Global Supply chain. The vagaries of demand are also lower, giv- en more applications.

Globally, the opposite is the case. Supply chain disruptions, and economic fluctuations are push- ing the world towards more volatility. This is nudg- ing the world to look at India, both for Demand and Supply.

Online vs. Offline – what are your views on the

future of polymer trading?

I think it will be “&” and not “vs”. Digitalization will grow, remove inefficiencies, ease communica- tion, and unlock more Opportunities. While Supply chains will continue to be Relationships-driven and driven by people. Overall, the employment in In- dustry should have a very healthy growth.

What can we expect in the future from Source One?

Source.one aims to contribute immensely towards up-skilling in Supply Chain Management. The sub- ject is still not mainstream and hasn’t evolved in content. We have created internal courses and frameworks, and plan to tie-up with relevant In- stitutions to contribute more towards this subject. We will continue to create an ecosystem, and for benefit of everyone. Source.one will be the Tech partner for the Polymer Industry.

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