The site provides a comprehensive marketplace for members from 14 countries representing a cross-section of steel producers, processors, construction companies, rolling mills, traders and warehousing companies who are already registered on the site.

The site offers a negotiation module that will enable buyers and sellers to successfully conclude deals online. It has a unique combination of in-depth knowledge of Indian and global steel industry, a distinct business and revenue model and a highly qualified team of IIT alumini and management graduates from steel industry who are confident of meeting the requirements of the fast-paced Internet environment, said Anurag Saraf, CEO of Steel RX.

Saraf said that it is a truly neutral exchange and offers a negotiation model. The steel on-line exchange already have over Rs 20 crore worth of steel for trading. The exchange will offer insurance through United Insurance Company and quality assurance and verification through SGS and TUV.

He said that the World Steel Dynamics in its recent publication has predicted that 400 million tonne of steel will be traded through Internet, which is about 30 per cent of the total steel production. According to the study, India is expected to trade over Rs 6,500 crore or over two million tonne of steel on internet by the year 2003. Steel demand in India is expected to grow from the present 23 million tonne to 40 million tonne by the year 2005. steel RX will aim to tap this market by providing Indian companies with a neutral e-marketplace that offer them access to global markets, reputed suppliers, uniform pricing, quality assurance and also help in removing complexities in distribution system and improves efficiency in procurement process.

The business model of steel RX is based on inputs from steel industry through a commissioned survey by Indian Market Research Bureau.

Apart from providing a complete e-marketplace, steel RX has built an extremely strong offline support network. To enable the fulfilment of transactions on the site, steel RX has several alliance partners, some of whom include Ernst & Young for organisational planning and process management, Verisign for security of transactions, SGS India Ltd and TUV for quality assurance and verification, United Insurance Company for insuring steel that is traded on the site and a number of agencies to provide member credit and performance rating and banks for online payment gateways, said Saraf.

YPS Suri, COO of steel RX said that in the first year of its operation, steel RX plans to capture 50 per cent of the online steel market and thereafter grow at over 100 per cent every year over the next three years to capture a market share of 75 per cent. The membership base will be increased to 1000 and trade is slated to increase over 50,000 tonne of steel by the end of this year.

Pallav Saxena, head of marketing in steel RX said that the exchange believes in `strategic aggression'.

The next three months will see the roll out of another unique service `DemandAggregation' for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) players in the steel industry such as traders, re-rollers, fabricators, ancillary companies and construction companies.

Demand aggregation aims at collating the demand of a certain product type and once it reaches a certain lot size put it to large suppliers for fulfilment. steel RX will be the first Indian exchange to offer such a service. steel RX will deal in all types of steel such as mild steel, carbon steel, alloy steel and stainless steel.

The product range that would be available on the site includes, flats products like plates, sheets and coils, long products like bars and rods, structurals, billets and rails, pipes and tubes like ERW, seamless and spirals, forging and castings.

One per cent commission will be charged for transactions up to Rs 10 lakh and for transaction up to Rs one crore, 0.75 per cent commission will be charged and for deals above Rs one crore a commission of 0.5 per cent will be charged.

Other services to be rendered by the exchange includes, auctions (for members only), reverse auctions (spot buying) initiated by buyer) and negotiation module.