Vedanta Aluminium, India’s largest producer of aluminium, announces that its e-commerce platform, Metal Bazaar, is making significant strides in transforming the buying behavior of small and medium enterprises (SMEs). In just six months since its launch, SME users have increased by 35%, and active users have surged by 240%.

With no purchase limits or caps, Metal Bazaar provides businesses with direct access to aluminium in the quantities they need, eliminating third-party intermediaries, which is particularly helpful for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This streamlined, one-stop solution is enabling smaller businesses to focus on growth rather than procurement complexities. This impressive growth underscores a broader trend among Indian businesses towards adopting efficient, transparent, and digital procurement solutions.

Recently, the platform successfully launched a WhatsApp chatbot for customers. This user-friendly chatbot lets customers quickly and easily access essential information such as free balance, dispatch details, etc.

The platform aligns with the evolving needs of Digital India by providing seamless access to high-quality aluminium products. Its intuitive interface and innovative features have particularly addressed the procurement challenges faced by SMEs. By streamlining processes such as instant orders, price locking, and real-time shipment tracking, Vedanta Metal Bazaar is transforming traditional sourcing methods and enabling businesses to focus on growth.

The platform’s success is evidenced by the 100% adoption of key features like price booking (LME hedging), ledger (financial reports), and dispatch visibility (live shipment tracking and documentation). This widespread uptake demonstrates the strong demand among Indian aluminium consumers for digital solutions that simplify complex, traditional processes. Since January 2024, Vedanta Metal Bazaar has generated more than 150 leads, including 45 for exports.

Speaking about the remarkable performance of the platform, Sunil Gupta, Chief Operating Officer (COO), Vedanta Aluminium, said, “Vedanta Metal Bazaar is not just a platform; it’s a revolution in how aluminium procurement is approached. Our solution simplifies the procurement journey and adds significant value to our customers. The strong adoption we’re seeing is a testament to the platform’s alignment with the evolving needs of businesses of all sizes in India, and we remain committed to enhancing it to serve our customers even better.”

Vedanta Metal Bazaar has achieved unmatched customer satisfaction, with ratings reaching more than 4.3 on a scale of 1-5. This success is driven by the platform’s unique AI-enabled features which offer real-time monitoring, full transparency and control. The platform also boasts near-100% adoption of key modules like price booking for market protection, ledger for real-time financial access, and dispatch visibility for live order tracking. These enhancements are not only elevating customer experience but also improving operational efficiencies, reducing the sales team’s daily working hours to less than half, and allowing them to focus on other strategic priorities.

Vedanta Metal Bazaar offers a host of advanced features, including:

• Mobile access with a user-friendly interface, pioneering in the non-ferrous metals sector.
• An innovative ‘agreement tool’ that simplifies complex negotiations.
• AI-powered spot ordering and live shipment tracking, a first in the metal industry.
• No restrictions on material purchase quantities.
• QR-based product authenticity checks and integrated feedback systems.
• A trusted panel of finance and logistics partners for smooth procurement processes.
• Streamlined workflows for all customers, from large enterprises to MSMEs.
• Easy access to Restora, India’s first low-carbon ‘green’ aluminium range.
• A single-window interface to engage with Vedanta’s quality, technical support, product application, engineering, and innovation teams.
• Opportunities for technical upskilling through the centre of excellence, featuring collaborations with research institutes, industry associations, and global experts.

Vedanta Aluminium, a business of Vedanta Limited, is India’s largest producer of aluminium, manufacturing more than half of India’s aluminium i.e., 2.37 million tonnes in FY2024. It is a leader in value-added aluminium products that find critical applications in core industries. Vedanta Aluminium ranks 1st in the S&P Global Corporate Sustainability Assessment 2023 world rankings for the aluminium industry, a reflection of its leading sustainable development practices. With its world-class aluminium smelters, alumina refinery and power plants in India, the company fulfils its mission of spurring emerging applications of aluminium as the ‘Metal of the Future’ for a greener tomorrow.

Vedanta Aluminium plans to have more app-based features on its online platform Metal Bazaar so that most of the transactions can be done on mobile phones, while it is looking to offer price risk management, its Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Alok Ranjan has said.

“Currently, we have initiated hedging which is one of the few electronic platforms doing this. Going forward, we can extend these services to give a complete 360-degree solution bundled with financing or logistics companies,” he told businessline in an online interaction.

Vedanta Metal Bazaar (VMB) is mulling to leverage its house expertise. Vedanta also works with a lot of start-ups under ‘Vedanta Spark’ where the productivity of new-age companies is improved.

Transforming buying behaviour

“So how to extend that functionality to all our customers through this platform will be something which we still need to work,” said Ranjan.

VMB has no purchase limits or caps and provides businesses with direct access to aluminium in the quantities they need. It eliminates third-party intermediaries, which is particularly helpful for SMEs.

Changing traditional sourcing

“This streamlined, one-stop solution is enabling smaller businesses to focus on growth rather than procurement complexities,” he said. Earlier, SMEs had a time-consuming procurement process, and they used to rely upon third party intermediaries. For them, VMB really saves a lot of time.

According to Vedanta, the online platform aligns with the evolving needs of Digital India by providing seamless access to quality aluminium products. It offers facilities for instant orders, price locking and real-time shipment tracking.

“Vedanta Metal Bazaar is transforming traditional sourcing methods and enabling businesses to focus on growth,” the CMO said.

Key features

The platform has key features such as price booking (LME hedging), ledger (financial reports), and dispatch visibility (live shipment tracking and documentation).

“Since January 2024, Vedanta Metal Bazaar has generated more than 150 leads, including 45 for exports,” a company statement said.

Ranjan said there has been a big shift from traditional aluminium sourcing which involves managing multiple tasks to something which is very simple. “At the click of a button with complete transparency, the entire transaction can be done,” he said.

One of the features of VMB is artificial intelligence-based price discovery integrated into the platform. “It digs into a lot of data. Depending upon the price conditions of the market and buyers’ purchase history, it develops a replicable pattern. It empowers customers to make an informed decision based on stock requirements, suitability based on current market trends and the inventory throughout the chain. It is disrupting the way aluminium was being purchased earlier,” said the Vedanta CMO.

Improving productivity, market share

Largely, the customers on VMB are Indians. However, Vedanta will look to roll out the platform on a global scale. The response so far has been “overwhelming”. “We didn’t expect the user adoption to increase so fast. At least 35-40 per cent are SMEs and they have found VMB user-friendly,” said Ranjan, adding that 97-98 per cent of Indian business is now routed through the online platform.

VMB is getting at least 500 unique users daily and at least 50 per cent of the customers return looking for new products. “We offer billets, wire rods, ingots and all kinds of alloys. VMB has helped to improve Vedanta’s overall productivity besides increasing its market share,” he said.

Though aluminium usage in India is only one-eight of global standards, its utility is increasing with the government’s push for infrastructure construction. “The need for aluminium in various forms is increasing because aluminium is a diverse metal and it is infinitely recyclable,” said the Vedanta CMO.

Metal’s 14% CAGR growth

Power transmission and distribution in there is maximum usage of the metal. “Its light weight is helping its use in electric vehicles. In electric vehicles one of the most important criteria is the range. The lighter the vehicle the more the range will be. As a rule of thumb, aluminium usage is increasing by a factor of five to six times,” he said.

The transition towards clean energy is witnessing more aluminium panels go into making solar panels, frames and modules.  It is also finding its use in metro rail coaches, said Ranjan, adding that over the past 3-4 years aluminium demand has been increasing at a CAGR of 14 per cent.