OfBusiness, an upcoming IPO B2B e-commerce platform, is increasing its manufacturing and processing capabilities across various segments, including metals, chemicals, and apparel. The goal of this move is to leverage value addition opportunities, which helps strengthen the company's margins and competitive advantages beyond simple buying and selling of over 100 product lines.
Currently, OfBusiness has integrated manufacturing capabilities for more than 40 products, with this expansion occurring in specific product categories that the platform has supplied for many years.
In the chemical sector, which accounts for about 18 percent of OfBusiness's commercial business worth 19,174 crore rupees (approximately 3,500 crore rupees), the company owns its own ethyl acetate production unit in Maharashtra and plans to start producing herbicides and pesticides.
In the apparel sector, which is the fastest-growing segment among OfBusiness's four verticals, the company has combined supplier sourcing with its own manufacturing capabilities. This includes scaling up capacity for the production of clothing, accessories, and footwear. This activity is concentrated in the Delhi-NCR, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Bangladesh regions. As a result, the company's staff has grown to over 35,000 employees.
For the e-commerce platform, having its own manufacturing potential ensures greater control over quality, production, and the supply chain. Furthermore, it improves the margin profile typically associated with a pure supplier sourcing model.
Ashish Mohapatra, co-founder of OfBusiness, noted: 'The common thread is MSMEs: helping businesses find goods more efficiently on one hand and providing producers and suppliers access to demand on the other.' He added that as these ecosystems deepen, the company selectively builds manufacturing capabilities in categories where it sees an opportunity to add value to the supply chain.
Metallurgy remains OfBusiness's largest vertical by revenue, covering construction steel, sheet steel, structural steel, aluminum, zinc, and copper. However, only construction steel contributes about one-fifth of the total revenue.
The company stated that the next phase of its development will focus less on adding new verticals and more on deepening competencies in sourcing, manufacturing, and market access within existing ecosystems. This includes further investment in chemical production and entry into new export markets such as the EU and the UK.