In chemicals, which contributes approximately 18 per cent of OfBusiness' Rs 19,174-crore commerce business at around Rs 3,500 crore, the company operates its own ethyl acetate production unit in Maharashtra and plans to start production of herbicides and pesticides.
In apparel, the fastest-scaling of OfBusiness' four verticals, the company has combined sourcing with owned manufacturing capacity. This is anchored by capacity build-out for garments, accessories and footwear. It is concentrated across Delhi-NCR, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Bangladesh. This has helped push the company's employee count past 35,000.
For a commerce platform, owned manufacturing capacity strengthens the platform with more direct control over production, quality and supply. This also bolsters the margin profile typically associated with the pure sourcing model.
"The common thread is the SME: helping businesses procure more efficiently on one side, while enabling manufacturers and suppliers to access demand on the other,” said Asish Mohapatra, co-founder of OfBusiness. “As these ecosystems deepen, we are building manufacturing capabilities selectively in categories where we see an opportunity to add value to the supply chain. "
Metals remains OfBusiness' largest vertical by revenue, encompassing construction steel, flat steel, structural steel, aluminium, zinc and copper, with construction steel alone accounting for around a fifth of overall revenue.
The company says its next phase of growth focuses less on adding new verticals and more on deepening capability across sourcing, manufacturing and market access within the ecosystems it already operates in. This includes further investment in chemicals manufacturing and new export geographies like the EU and the UK.
