AT AN AGE WHEN MOST EXECUTIVES WOULD BE happy to mothball their briefcase and savour the spoils of a retired life, Shamsunder Aggarwal, Chairman of the DBS Group, continues to lead his company with the same fire and energy that drove him to launch it 22 years ago. It was a time when liberalization of the Indian economy was a good decade away and the concept of business centers practically alien to corporate India. “In the eighties, my business centers ran practically empty,” recounts Mr. Aggarwal matter-of-factly. Adds he : “It has taken me 20 years just to sell this concept. For the first ten years, I was posting heavy losses. Luckily in 1991, when the country opened up, the MNCs came in and my centers began running to full capacity.”

Sitting in his well-appointed Nariman Point cabin behind the vast expanse of his desk, partially hidden behind a wall of paper, files and hi-tech gizmos, Mr. Aggarwal is obviously well-pleased by the progress made by his company since the difficult times of the early 1980s. Says he, “We continue to be the leaders in this industry, primarily because we are not a single standalone center in this business; we have the advantage of multiple locations. We currently operate our centers in Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Bangalore. I do not know of any other operator that has this advantage. I would guess that this fact makes us the leader. A majority of the Fortune 500 companies that have entered India have passed through our doors.”

Now recognized as one of the most prestigious chain of office business centers in the country, DBS offers its clientele the perfect venue to test new sales ideas or expand and develop a sideline to an existing business from the comfort of an office, without the hassles of incurring additional overheads of expensive premises and staff. Notes Mr. Aggarwal : “If I wanted 100 s. ft., of working space, I would probably have to rent or buy the space with access to a small bathroom, pantry and administration space and hire people to look after these functions. DBS does away with all these hassles from a client and lets him get on with his business while we take care of the office. I think this is a very big advantage to a person coming into any of our centers that they can get to work right away without any of the attendant hassles.”

Some of the high-profile companies that have used the services of DBS Business Centers to advantage include majors like Singapore Telecom, the Singapore High Commission, Hyatt Hotels, Templeton Asset Management, Informix, Indo Suez Bank and Star Television. So what is it about DBS that sets it apart from this competitors?

Says Mr. Aggarwal : “Well, I haven’t really looked at our closest rivals. I would say our ambience, availability of multiple locations and access to upgraded technology on a regular basis are our biggest plus points. Barring a few, most of the other companies in this business are transient. They come and go. Many of them operate under the garb of funning a business center to override legal problems posed by the Rent Act, for example. You might see a multiplicity of business centers in the country today, but how many of them are genuine is anybody’s guess. A fully furnished office with a 24-hour access, Internet connectivity, telephone, secretarial service and reception service are some of the facilities we offer. Many other so-called business centers just give the client a key to a cabin where he is free to come and go as he likes. We are a lot different. We even go to the extent of handling a client’s mail and courier requirements.

Further, the company’s affiliation to the US-based Alliance Business Center Network (ABCN) has provided it with direct access to 400 similar centers in over 22 countries. According to Mr. Aggarwal, who incidentally is also the regional director (Southeast Asia) for ABCN, this arrangement makes perfect business sense in more ways than one. Says he: “The main objective of joining a network is the potential it offers for referral business. For example, if Alliance signs a worldwide contract with Compaq, we stand to benefit directly. Or if somebody wanting an office in India contacts the Network office in the US, they will refer them to us.