Konica Minolta betting big on India's printing market

Veni, vidi, vici! There's no better way to describe the journey of Japanese electronics company Konica Minolta. In 2010, it had set up shop in India and today it controls 51 per cent of the production printing market.

The company currently offers five machines in India which are mostly used by large commercial printers, small and medium-size enterprises and jobbers. Jobbers run print-for-pay shops at different nooks and corners of India. "These people use our machines to print photo-books, especially wedding albums," says Yuji Nakata, managing director of Konica Minolta India (KMI).

Nakata claims that the bulk of the market has been created by KMI over the past four years. "When we introduced these production machines, our customers were able to generate higher return on investments. Secondly, because we were able to give reliable products at a low rate, we were able to expand the market," says Nakata. According to him, nearly 30 per cent of its customers started printing business because they could see the value offered to them by KMI.

In 2003, after the merger of Konica Corporation and Minolta Co, the company has transformed into a digital, optical and electronic technology giant. "Both the brands have traditionally been known for their colour. Konica was known for its films and production and Minolta for its imaging. The printing engine that we have today is a combination of these qualities," says Nakata.

In India, it competes with big names such as Canon, Xerox and Ricoh. The company sell its products to four partners who, in turn, build the customer base. Before the company started operating in India, two of these partners were already working as distributors for the parent company. In late 2000s, it saw an opportunity to expand the Indian printing market.

In the first financial year, it had a top-line of Rs 50 crore. In 2013-14, the corresponding figure was Rs 300 crore. But how is a KMI printer better than others? Before KMI hit the market, jobbers would print in RGB (red-green-blue) format.

"The gamut of colour required by a photographer, especially in the case of photo albums, is far higher. Many of these people migrated to our engines because we offered unique products," he says.

Production printing has varied applications and is used to make restaurant menus, design brochures, billboards and event displays. According to market estimates, the printing market in India is expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 5.7 per cent between 2013 and 2018.

Recently, the company launched a new printer. "Our recent engine has been developed using inputs from the Indian market. We have a twice-a-year feedback session with the research and development team on the customer expectations," says Nakata.