When it comes to business, timing is more valuable than anything.

No one would know it better than

VSS Mani. After the failure of his first venture, Ask Me, VSS Mani founded Just Dial in 1996. Just Dial
focused on voice enabled local search until 2007. Post 2007, Just Dial has been offering information on
local businesses through a combination of web and voice based platform. As of March 2013 Just Dial had
7,400+ employees, 9.1 million+ listings of local businesses, and an estimated $50+ MM revenues. Just
Dials phenomenal growth has been because of two key factors the rapid growth of telecom, and
internet industry in India allowed Just Dial to increase penetration in the consumer market and
resistance to the temptation of becoming a B2B focused BPO business allowed Just Dial to establish a
foothold in the nascent B2C local search market. Today Just Dial has few competitors and runs a
profitable operation.
Just Dials IPO debuted on Indian bourses on June 5 this year. It was the biggest public offering of any
Indian consumer internet company and raised $150+ MM (919.4 Crores). The public offer was
subscribed over 11 times and listed at more than 11% premium to the IPO price of 530. Also, Just Dial
is the most valuable Indian internet firm with a market cap of $740+ MM.
Company Market Cap as on July 4, 2013

$500 MM (3,029 Crores)

$525 MM (3,150 Crores)


$740+ MM (4,457 Crores)

Just Dial IPOs success stands proof to the fact that investors reward high growth, and they do so more
often in the Internet industry. Just Dial IPO is trading at over 72x its FY13 expected EPS of 60, and this
valuation than that of any comparable peers including Info Edge. However, Just Dials revenues have
grown at a CAGR of about 40% between 2008 and 2012 while Info Edges revenues had grown at under
15% over the same period. Even as several analysts have termed Just Dials valuation to be
unsustainable, the investors are confident that Just Dial would sustain high growth driven by growing
broadband and mobile internet penetration in India. Sceptics may still choose to wait for an impending
capitulation in Just Dials stock price, but investors will most likely stay dialled into the company as long
as it is able to deliver on investor expectations and continues its strong growth.