Is IndiaMART Worth It? How Buyers Find Sellers on IndiaMART and Justdial

IndiaMART is worth paying for if you sell products other businesses buy in bulk, you can answer enquiries the same day, and your free storefront already brings relevant enquiries; Justdial suits local, consumer-facing services. On IndiaMART a buyer reaches you in three ways: posting a requirement (a BuyLead), enquiring directly on your catalog, or calling your PNS number. On Justdial, a hyperlocal directory, buyers search on the mobile or desktop website, the apps or by phone. Paid sellers are a small minority on both — IndiaMART's paying suppliers equal about 2.4% of its storefront count, and Justdial runs roughly one paid campaign per 90 active listings — so test the free version first.

The phrase "3 sources of business in IndiaMART" is best read as shorthand for three enquiry types described in IndiaMART's help pages, and each route behaves differently for you. Knowing the route matters because each one tells you something different about the buyer — how far along they are, and what you should fix to get more of it.

A BuyLead is posted as a buy requirement by the buyer on the IndiaMART platform; IndiaMART filters it and shares it with the relevant sellers. Two things follow. First, the requirement is shared with relevant sellers — plural — so the buyer can hear from more than one supplier, and the speed of your reply matters. Second, you control which BuyLeads reach you: you set preferences by location and category in Settings, and paid subscribers can buy additional BuyLeads. When you respond, answer the requirement as posted — product, quantity, delivery location — so the buyer can compare your reply against the others.

A direct enquiry is posted by the buyer on the seller's catalog when the buyer finds the required product in that catalog. This buyer is further along: they found the product in your catalog and chose to message you. With 8.9 million supplier storefronts on IndiaMART, a buyer who lands on yours has already filtered a large field. Because direct enquiries start from what the buyer finds in your catalog, a complete, accurately categorised catalog gives buyers more to find.

IndiaMART gives sellers a Preferred Number Service (PNS) number — a virtual number that rings your registered numbers so business calls are not missed. It is the simplest route and the easiest to waste: someone has to pick up. If you are deciding who on your team handles inbound interest, read our note on call, WhatsApp or walk-in for Indian SMBs before you set the forwarding up.

Buyer search on Justdial runs through four channels: the desktop and mobile website, the Android and iOS apps, and a pan-India voice line, 88888-88888. Mobile carries almost everything — in the quarter ended 31 Mar 2026, 85.7% of Justdial's traffic came from mobile, 11.5% from desktop and 2.8% from voice. Listings carry ratings and reviews, and many are geocoded; Justdial held 157.1 million ratings and reviews and 41.0 million geocoded listings as of 31 Mar 2026.

Whatever order Justdial shows results in, four things stay in your control: the correct category, accurate area coverage, a steady stream of genuine reviews, and a phone that someone answers during business hours. That shape — category, area, reviews, phone — is what your listing should be built for.

Here is the paid minority, in the companies' own reported numbers.

Sources: IndiaMART and Justdial results for the quarter ended 30 Sep 2026; paid share is our arithmetic.

Read the table two ways. First, the paid share is small on both — about 2.4% against IndiaMART storefronts and roughly one paid campaign per 90 Justdial listings — so paying is a choice, not an entry fee. Second, do not compare the buyer-activity rows against each other: a unique business enquiry on IndiaMART and a unique visitor on Justdial are different units. Within IndiaMART, the storefront base is still growing, up 4% year on year.

Work through this checklist with your last few months of enquiries in front of you.

The split is clean. IndiaMART suits manufacturers, wholesalers and bulk trade; Justdial is hyperlocal and consumer-facing — restaurants, salons, local services. If your buyer is a purchase manager ordering in quantity, start with IndiaMART. If your buyer is a household a few kilometres away, start with Justdial. If you run a wholesale line and a local retail counter, you may end up on both — measure each separately, because the buyer and the route differ. For a fuller breakdown of both as inbound channels, read our pillar on Justdial and IndiaMART as lead sources.

1. Fill the free listing completely — every product, category and service area — because direct enquiries land on catalogs, and an empty catalog gives a buyer nothing to enquire about.

2. Set your BuyLead preferences by location and category in Settings, so the requirements reaching you match what you sell.

3. Log every enquiry for a month: date, route, product and outcome. Note the route — BuyLead, direct enquiry or call — because each one has a different fix if it underperforms.

4. Compute your close rate from that log, and decide on paid with your own numbers rather than a sales pitch.

5. Plan outbound alongside inbound. Not every buyer posts a requirement, and not every seller is easy to find online — wholesalers run at 51.3% with no website in the Mantis index, so phone-first outreach reaches businesses with little web presence. The Mantis list of manufacturers in India covers 2,491 manufacturers, suppliers and wholesalers, 2,246 of them with a phone number and 1,510 with a website. For sector playbooks, see how to get customers for a wholesale business, how to get customers for a manufacturing business and how to find distributors.

IndiaMART and Justdial are directories with phones attached: they reward sellers who answer fast, keep listings complete and measure what comes in. Run the free version for a month, count your enquiries, and let your own close rate decide.

If you also want to reach buyers who never post on marketplaces, Mantis maintains lists of Indian manufacturers, suppliers and wholesalers with phone numbers. Sign up and you get 500 free credits once at signup, no card.

I'm Tarun, founder of Mantis.