Canon 'clicks' first ever South Indian store

Canon has flagged off its first ever Digi Click Zone in Hyderabad, which is
also Canon's first digital camera store in the whole of South India. Canon has
earmarked to open up 25 such stores by December 2004. "The speed of
expansion is tremendous. We would be launching eight showrooms a month, so as to
launch the set target of 25 showrooms by December 2004," said Alok
Bharadwaj, Director and GM, Canon Consumer Imaging and information division.

Canon India Pvt Ltd is planning to increase its revenues to Rs 270 crore by
FY04-05. Also, it is planning to increase its present 10 percent market share in
India to 30 percent by 2007. Presently, the revenues from digital cameras in
India is around Rs 10 crore, which as per Bharadwaj, expected to increase to Rs
35 crore next year and to 180 crore by 2007.

Bharadwaj also informed that digital camera only contribute one percent to
the overall revenue but the company expects this share to grow to four percent
by 2004 and to 10 percent by 2007.

Canon's products can be roughly classified under six divisions. Of all
these, according to Bharadwaj, revenues from printers is the highest contributor
with 25 percent of the total revenues coming from this division.

Citing the year 2004 as the 'Year of the Camera' for Canon, the company
has launched 11 new digital cameras for the Indian market priced between Rs
12,995 to Rs 1,27,995.

"Today, the Indian digicam market is pegged at Rs 100 crore and as the
digital camera share increases this is likely to increase upto Rs 600 crore by
2007. We want to capture at least 30 percent of this market by 2007,"
opined Bharadwaj.

CyberMedia News

Hydrabad