1. 2 • Electronics Bazaar • November 2016 • www.electronicsb2b.com
About me
Year of birth: 1971
Hobbies: Reading, travelling, food, golf
Favourite music: Though not too much of a music buff, I like
to listen to music depending on my mood. I have a wide range
of preferences, starting from Bryan Adams and Def Leppard at
one end to Guru Dutt and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan at the other.
Favourite food: To me, good food means eating authentic local
cuisine; so I love to try out different kinds.
Favourite movies: Jindagi Na Milegi Dobara
Favourite books: ‘The Magic’ by Ronda Byrne
Favourite actress: Madhuri Dixit
Education: B.Tech in electronics
and communications
“We plan to invest and earn returns in
the area of design by keeping a strong
connect with futuristic technologies”
“To become a dependable supplier to our customers and a reliable partner to our principals”
is the notion that has brought Deepak Methi, president, Pankaj Electronics, a long way and
helped his firm gain a strong foothold in the electronics industry. In a candid conversation
with Sudeshna Das, senior executive editor and Baishakhi Dutta, business journalist of
Electronics Bazaar, Methi shared his exciting journey in the electronics industry.
My Story

2. 3 • Electronics Bazaar • November 2016 • www.electronicsb2b.com
My Story
My passion
My passion is to connect with dif-
ferent kinds of people. I like to
travel and meet people from different
nooks and corners of the world. I
love to explore diverse cultures, re-
ligions and beliefs, since I think this
acts as the best teacher in a person’s
life. I have travelled to almost 40
countries. I will admit that this par-
ticular passion of mine has helped
me grow my business manifold and
also nurtured me as a human being.
I yearn to travel further to every
country on this planet in my lifetime,
to get inspired by the never-ending
discoveries of this universe and the
indomitable human spirit.
How the company
began its journey
The company was started in 1974
by my father, S.N. Methi, in a
spare room at a relative’s house in
a residential colony in Delhi. Back
then, he sold semiconductors from
Khandelwal Hermann Electronics,
Bombay (as it was called back in
those days). Within a year, he set
up his own office in Chawri Bazaar,
which is Old Delhi’s hardware and
metals business district.
Since he was born and brought
up in Mumbai, his working style was
quite different from that of Delhi and
the turning point was his decision
not to open a shop-cum-office in
Bhagirath Palace or Lajpat Rai Mar-
ket, which were the business hubs
for electronic components in those
days. He did not want customers to
come and buy products at his coun-
ter; rather, he wanted to go and sell
the products to the customers. That
was the differentiation he wanted
to bring about in his business, way
back then.
From a short-term, business
point of view, I believe he could have
done much, much better by having
his shop at Bhagirath Palace; but we
are reaping the fruits of his long-term
vision today. The approach of being
close to the customer increased our
focus on customer service continu-
ously, and created this structured
and professional organisation.
How my own journey
started
I joined the company in 1992. At
that time, we were representing the
local semiconductor manufacturers
—Usha Rectifiers in Faridabad and
Hind Rectifiers in Mumbai. Our sales
were concentrated in and around the
Delhi region.
There were limited applications
such as DC drives, welding, battery
chargers and rectifiers, along with
the requirement for spares from
the steel, sugar, cement and other
heavy industries. In those days, it
was worth our while to visit remote
factories just to sell a few spares of
thyristors and diodes, which I did.
I enjoyed seeing different plants in
some interior parts of the country.
The turning point in
my life
In 1994 I started travelling overseas
and my first trip was to PCIM (a
well-known trade fair) in Germany.
We signed our first distribution
contract with an Israeli company
called Payton Planar Magnetics at
PCIM. At that time, I did not know
anything about high frequency
transformers. I was just impressed
by the technology, and the Israeli
company was surprised that this
young man who had come all the
way from India was ready to work
with it for the Indian market. It was
that spirit that made Payton appoint
us as its Indian representative-cum-
distributor. I was super thrilled and
remember calling my father from
Germany to share the news.
Those were the landmark years
of my life, when I wanted to break
out from the standard products that
we were selling. So I travelled all
across the country, exploring all
possible applications. I met different
customers in all segments including
R&D labs, educational institutes,
space and defence organisations,
as I introduced Payton Planar’s
transformers. I finally realised that
we were 10 years ahead of the In-
dian market and there were just no
buyers.
Those years changed my life.
Though we did not sell too many
planar transformers, the experience
gave me a complete insight of the
Indian market, which was invalu-
able. The Israeli company taught
me a lot about customer service,
professionalism, communication
skills, international trade, etc. I am
forever grateful to all the people who
stood by me and had faith in me.
In the meantime, without get-
ting deterred, I continued travelling
overseas and signed distribution
contracts with Behlke Power Elec-
tronics, Germany; EBG, Austria; and
also Advanced Power Technologies
(APT), USA, right up to 2009.
My idol
I would say that my idol is my
father. He gave me ample cour-
age and freedom to explore,
discover and construct the business
in the way I wanted to. The only
thing that was available to me was
his wisdom and his decision-making
capabilities. He never blamed me for
any action of mine.
A satisfying journey
The big boost came in1999, when I
met people from IXYS Semiconduc-
tors in Lampertheim, Germany. I still
remember that meeting very viv-
idly—it was with Andreas Sperner,
the VP, sales and marketing. The
meeting continued for two to three
hours, covering topics like the Indian

3. 4 • Electronics Bazaar • November 2016 • www.electronicsb2b.com
My Story
Deepak Methi with his father S.N. Methi
market, customer applications, the
potential of certain products, etc. In
the end, he said, “Deepak, I like you
very much as a person and we would
love to have you as our distributor
in India. We get so many enquiries
from India but no business. So how
much of business, in numbers, do
you promise to create for us?” I
looked deep into his eyes and my
reply was, “Zero!”
There was a short pause and I
could sense his confusion. Here was
someone who had flown in from In-
dia to be his company’s distributor,
yet was promising zero business! It
was then that I added, “How about
I promise you 100 per cent of the
market—then what we pick from the
market could be a decision that we
both can take based on strengths and
clear information, and those would
be the real revenue numbers.” That’s
when we signed the deal and made
another big move forward.
Something similar happened
with ABB Semiconductors in Swit-
zerland two years later and, this
time, it was in front of the whole ABB
top brass—from the MD, to various
VPs. After making a detailed pres-
entation on markets and figures, I
clearly told them that these were my
own estimates, for we did not have
any official market data, supported
by real numbers, in India back then.
Honestly and simplicity paid off, and
I came home with a contract.
From then on, it’s this approach
that I have used for the last 16
years, and it has earned us all the
distributorships and other contracts
that we have now. We do not prom-
ise to deliver any business based
on unverified data to our overseas
principals. This has enabled us to
build rock solid relationships, run-
ning across decades. This, I would
say, is the major differentiation that
we created in the market.
Eventually, when our principals
realised that we were the people who
would promote them well, the bond
between us started becoming strong-
er and customers started ordering
small quantities. The customers
realised that they could order small
quantities without over-committing
any future numbers, for which they
got the same attention and service
that is normally associated with
large orders.
Pleased with our style of work-
ing, our suppliers and customers
started referring us to other compa-
nies. We started adding new product
lines from different parts of the world
and expanded our offerings to the
Indian market. Whenever we added
a new product to our portfolio, we
had to go out into the market and
introduce it to our customers. This
involved extensive interaction with
R&D engineers, and that’s how our
knowledge kept growing.
In the early 2000s, the Indian
electronics industry was experienc-
ing a boom. The telecom market
was booming, new applications were
emerging, overseas companies were
setting up subsidiaries and R&D
centres in India – in short, India was
on the growth path. There wasn’t
enough organised local distribution
in the market and Pankaj Electronics
filled that gap, to everyone’s delight.
We had the ability to service
various electronics applications,
but we remained focused on power
electronics and some high volt-
age applications. Most of what we
represent are, or were, considered
boutique product lines and, hence,
expensive. To this, I always say,
there is a market for everything—one
needs to find the right customer for
the right product. This certainly is
not easy in industrial environments,
but this is our game. We do not sell
commodity products and, hence,
Team Pankaj knows that we need
to be continuously sharing all the
new technologies, special features
Every product has a
market. Target the
market with the right
products, and sales will
definitely follow

4. 5 • Electronics Bazaar • November 2016 • www.electronicsb2b.com
My Story
and benefits of our products to the
design engineers, in order to make
a sale. Product lines are added, not
because there is a demand in the
market and they would be easy to
sell, but based on whether they fea-
ture a niche technology with future
business possibilities. This strategy
drives us as a unit to move beyond
what we already know and do.
The achievements
I consider representing more than 15
product lines and servicing almost
all possible applications in power
electronics as our achievement. The
faith and trust of all our business
partners, over the decades, is both
our wealth and achievement. This
commitment to look ahead to the
future, has led us to move to SAP
as our ERP system. This was a phe-
nomenal exercise and experience, for
a small company like ours, and is a
huge achievement for us.
What’s new in the line
Besides components, we are working
on the opportunities in selling sys-
tems. We already represent Selfrag
AG and Astrol AG from Switzerland.
In the coming years, this business
will expand, and we will add a
variety of niche systems in the area
of high voltage, power quality and
other applications, to our portfolio.
The setting up of our design lab
is very recent. This was my dream
project, so that we could work on
specific high-tech programmes
alongside the international com-
munity.
Five years down the line
The developments in the electron-
ics world are never ending, and I
see Pankaj Electronics becoming an
organisation that will keep pace with
the new opportunities and transform
itself in pace with the changing times.
Our constant endeavour will be
to use the strength of new technolo-
gies to improve the competitive edge
of our customers. We have and will
continue to expand our product
lines, focusing on the latest develop-
ments in the electronics world.
The expansions will come in
the components business, systems
business and in design sales. And
there will be investments and im-
provements in backend operational
systems and resources as well.