Canon eyes 10% growth in India this year

Company is also looking to aggressively expand its retail presence and will add over 60 Image Square stores

Japanese tech giant Canon looks to achieve 10% revenue growth by end of this year in India, buoyed by strong uptake of its commercial printers and imaging products.

The company, which posted a 6% rise in revenues to Rs 2,158 crore last year, is also looking to aggressively expand its retail presence and will add over 60 Image Square stores.

"We have seen a steady and consistent growth of six% for last two consecutive years. While it still is a small part of the global revenues, but the market here is growing significantly and is a huge bet for us," Canon India CEO and President Kazutada Kobayashi told PTI.

Canon India receives equal contribution from business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) segments towards its revenue share, he added.

Last year, commercial printers business for Canon India grew at about 12%, while cameras business was up six%.

"In terms of strategic focus areas for 2016, we want to further expand our commercial printers and imaging products business. Also, we will focus on the projector and surveillance camera business which was introduced in 2015," he said.

Besides, the company is also betting on India for its software business. "We have about 75 engineers at our Bangalore centre, which is among 5-6 such global research locations. It contributes to innovation at a global level," Kobayashi said.

The company is also expanding the number of its Image Square stores to 240 by year-end.

"We will take the number from 176 (at the end of December 2015) to 240 by this year end," he said.

These franchisee stores help the company tap into smaller cities and towns.