Fuji Films eyes double digital camera sales

Fuji Films India private ltd(FFIPL) plans to double its sales of digital cameras to 70,000 units this fiscal after it sold 35,000 units in 2008, its first year of operations.

Going strong on establishing the brand in India, the company is looking at garnering a 15-18 per cent market share in India from a mere three per cent now. The Indian digital camera market size is around 10 lakh units and is clocking a 20 per cent year-on-year growth. Entry level cameras dominate 70 per cent of this market while the mid-range cameras have a 10-15 per cent share.

It will launch at least 10 to 15 models this year, and currently has a product portfolio of seven to eight models. It can also bring in its professional single lens reflex camera S5 Pro to India next year. It is currently only available on order. FFIPL sources cameras from its Malaysian and Chinese plants to keep costs low. "We have no plans to increase prices soon", Kumar confirmed. FFIPL is yet to announce its first financial results, but a senior official of the company said that the Indian subsidiary contributed around 2-3 per cent to Fuji's global turnover. The group turnover last year was $28.73 billion. "We are bullish on the eastern India market that currently contributes 18 per cent of net India revenue. We want to take that up to 25 per cent by the end of this fiscal when we also take our all-India market share to 5-7 per cent", said A Raj Kumar, country general manager, digital imaging, FFIPL.