BWI: Canon Makes Strategic Inroads into B2B Rental Business

Press release from Business Wire India
Source: Canon
Thursday, May 14, 2009 02:02 PM IST (08:32 AM GMT)
Editors: General: Consumer interest; Business: Advertising, PR & marketing, Business services, Electronic appliances & components, Publishing & printing; Technology
Release no: 19934
--------------------------------------------------
Canon Makes Strategic Inroads into B2B Rental Business
Announces an Investment of Rs 100 crores towards New Business Area as well as Marketing & Service Infrastructure; Extends its Business to 80 Business Imaging Products with the Launch of Hi-Speed Mono Digital Production Printing Press

New Delhi, Delhi, India, Thursday, May 14, 2009 -- (Business Wire India) -- Canon India Pvt. Limited, India's No 1. Complete Digital Imaging Company in an attempt to take forward its commitment to the next level has announced an investment of Rs 100 crores towards enhancing its rental business as well as infrastructure to support B2B business. The strategy is to combat the current economic downturn as well as create a growth driver for its Business Imaging Solutions Division. This competitive leasing plan from Canon India is designed to assist the corporate across categories to adopt the latest technologies in document management without having to invest upfront.

Building upon the success of Indian service verticals like education, publishing, telecom & BFSI, Canon announced the launch of hi-speed mono production digital press range under award-winning imagePRESS line. The new flagship model, imagePRESS 1135 is a versatile and highly reliable product suitable for mission critical applications like large scale bill printing. With this launch Canon now offers an enhanced portfolio of 80 business imaging products and solutions.

"As an industry leader, Canon India had made investments in three demo centres called Business Solution Lounges last year. In the current downturn, sustaining operational excellence without additional capital investments has become a necessity for corporates across sectors. We at Canon have taken the lead in partnering with our customers to create a rental business model. This required higher capital infusion. Hence, we decided to invest Rs 100 crores in Canon India's capital base", said Mr. Kensaku Konishi, President & CEO, Canon India.

During 2008 the total market size for Digital Copier Multi-Functional Devices was 78,564 units as per IDC. Canon was ranked No. 1 with 21.4% market share. The total industry growth in 2008 was 21%. During Q1 2009, the B2B segment in India registered a de-growth of approximately 20%. On the Digital Mono Production Printing space, there are estimated 300 installations with a market size of about 100 mid and high production machines a year. The Digital Colour Printing Press industry has over mid & hi-end 200 installations and a market size of around 100 machines a year. The total market size for the above 3 categories is Rs 1000 crores.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Alok Bharadwaj, Senior Vice-President, Canon India said "We have observed a transformation of corporate mindset from capacity building to cash flows over the last six months. With even banks cutting back on lending, the commercial production printing segment has also been affected. In a growing economy like India, it is imperative for companies to continue to deploy new technologies aimed at creating a more productive work environment. The rental proposition is a strong and compelling anchor as it offers scalability in line with growing demands. We believe that the document printing cost should be managed using specialized solutions than to cut down on deployments. The need for business machines is actually a growth driver for the Indian companies."

"We are going to be offering the facility of rental machines through our team of 80 sales people in Direct Sales business division that handles top 500 corporate accounts as well as the commercial print segment in India. This year the rental business will be contributing Rs 60 crores to Canon India's turnover. We expect the rental business to contribute Rs 100 crores as we target Rs 1000 crore revenues next year," he further added.

The Canon imagePRESS 1135 is an extraordinary new monochrome digital production press designed on the core architecture of the imagePRESS line. The Canon imagePRESS 1135 can be custom configured with various finishing options at an engine speed of up to 135 pages-per-minute (ppm). With a true resolution of 1200 x 1200 dots-per-inch (dpi) and 256 tonal graduations, the new imagePRESS 1135 offers customers the ability to tailor their press to meet their specific printing needs without compromising, quality or desired speeds.

It utilizes technologies from Canon's revolutionary black-and-white printing solutions to deliver uncompromising image and text quality, productivity and versatility coupled with minimum uptime on service. The imagePRESS 1135 is designed to offer high-quality, digital black-and-white printing solution which helps increase profitability and productivity across categories like transactional printing, service bureaus, publications, data centres and commercial printers.

About Canon Inc

With total revenue of about 45 billion dollars in 2008, Canon Inc. is a global leader in photographic and digital imaging solutions. Its global network now includes 239 companies, employing some more than 131352 people. Five Technology 'imaging' engines of Optical, Electrophotography, Bubble Jet, Semiconductor and Display drive Canon's cutting-edge technology products. Canon is the world leader in office automation and digital imaging technologies. The company is dedicated to the advancement in technology and innovation and commits 10% of its total revenue each year to R&D. Canon is ranked 36th on the Best Global Brands for the second consecutive year in Business Week's 100 Best Global Brands 2008 and 189th on the Fortune Global 500 in year 2008. Canon has consistently remained as one of the top 3 companies to have earned the most number of patents over the last decade. Guided by its kyosei philosophy, which focuses on "living and working together for the common good", Canon delivers high performance and user-friendly products and solutions to improve efficiency both in the office and home environment. More information is available on www.canon.co.in.

Canon's product portfolio extends over a vast variety of photocopiers, multi-functional peripherals, fax-machines, printers, scanners, All-in-ones, digital cameras, camcorders and multi media projectors, cable id printers, semi conductors and card printers.

Canon in India

Canon India Pvt. Ltd. is a 100% subsidiary of Canon Singapore Pvt. Ltd., a world leader in imaging technologies. Set up in 1997, Canon India markets over 180 comprehensive range of sophisticated contemporary digital imaging. The company today has offices in 7 cities, warehouses in 11 cities across India and employs over 700 people. Canon products are available in over 300 towns in India. Overall Canon's presence is expected to increase to 4000 outlets by December 2009.

Canon India closed 2008 with revenue of Rs. 665 crores, which marked 31% growth over 2007. Overall, Canon expects to touch revenue of 840 crores in 2009.

To view the Photographs, please click on the links given below:

Picture 1

Picture 2
For picture(s)/data to illustrate this release click below:

http://www.BusinessWireIndia.com/attachments/Pic 1(36).jpg
Pic 1(36).jpg
http://www.BusinessWireIndia.com/attachments/Pic 2(15).jpg
Pic 2(15).jpg


CONTACT DETAILS
Rinu Jha, 20:20 MEDIA, +91 9999687155, rinu@2020india.com
Rita Chowdhury, 20:20 MEDIA, +91 9711074401, rita@2020india.com

KEYWORDS
CONSUMER, MARKETING, BUSINESS SERVICES, ELECTRONICS, PUBLISHING, TECHNOLOGY

If you wish to change your Business Wire India selection please click on this link http://www.businesswireindia.com/media/news.asp and use your personal username and password to login.

Submit your press release at http://www.businesswireindia.com