Chennai is first click for Fujifilms India WPS

On the anvil are eight to ten such centres in various metros of India, which would mean an investment of about Rs 30 crore. In each centre, the investment on the back-end facility for providing stamp size to life-size images works to Rs 3 crore, said Yasunobu Nishiyama, MD, Fujifilm India.

Giving an overview of the market, he said the company is banking on its first experiential store in India to drive the photo renaissance-led growth. “Fujifilm sees a huge potential in the Indian market. We are committed to preserve the culture of photography and our WPS is meant to act as a catalyst for a photo renaissance, a rebirth of the enjoyment of photography,” he said.

On the rationale of choosing Chennai to set up its maiden India centre, L Centhilnathan, EVP, said apart from the growing interest in photography displayed by enthusiasts, the company also had an “emotional” connect here. The success of the centre would pave the way for online business too, he added. The pricing would be proportionate to the size of the images. Also, there were 11 varieties of paper available in this centre, that could cater to the high-value products as the demand for items such as photo album, wall décor and gifts was increasing.

Currently growing 9 per cent year-on-year, it is aiming for 14 per cent growth in the coming years.

The medical systems contributed 50 pc of its revenues in the country, Nishiyama said, photo-imaging constitutes 30 pc of its revenues, graphic arts portfolio 15 pc and the rest comes from recording media and industrial segments.

The wholly-owned subsidiary was set up in India in Feb 2008.