n February this year, senior managing director of Canon Inc Yukio Yamashita made a telling announcement in Delhi. The year 2005 would be the �Year of Expansion� for Canon India, the 100 per cent subsidiary of Canon Singapore, he said.
The senior Canon executive�s utterance could, of course, have easily been put down to an exercise in employee morale boosting or classic �media sound biting�. But for a few minor details. Canon�s India subsidiary, which closed 2004 with a turnover of Rs 264 crore, is targeting revenues of Rs 330 crore by the end of this calendar year - which would translate into a 25 per cent growth over last year. To this end, the company plans to introduce 50 new products in the Indian market through 2005. It has also set growth targets in excess of 25 per cent in the printer and projector markets, and is eyeing a 500 per cent growth in camcorders and sales of 40,000 digicams (up from 10,000 units it sold in 2004).
Tech sector observers don�t find anything out of the ordinary in Canon India�s bullish stance. After all, Canon India has, in the past, been fairly vocal about its desire to emerge as India�s No 1 digital imaging company by capturing a 30 per cent market share by 2007. Media reports have also documented Canon India�s target of becoming a Rs 700-crore company by that year. Which, in effect, means a 165-per cent growth in revenue in the next three years.... more