Business and Finance

Indian ops to contribute 5% to global sales in 3 yrs: Nikon

PTI

Japanese camera giant Nikon Corporation  today said it expects India's contribution to  global revenue to grow  to 5 per cent within next three years on account of increasing  demand here.

Although the company is yet to announce its results for 2012-13,  its wholly-owned  subsidiary 'Nikon India Pvt ltd' is expected to   clock a sales revenue of Rs 1,050 crore for the period.

"Indian camera market is growing even during the time of slowdown  in economy and we  hope to continue this trend in our sales also.   We expect that India will contribute 5 per  cent of our global revenue  by March 2016," Nikon Corporation General Manager  Marketing Headquarters,  Imaging Company) Tetsuya Morimoto told PTI here.

For the fiscal 2012-13, India is likely to contribute 2 percent to the global sales turnover during last financial year, he added."The exact global numbers and India figures for the next three  years will be forecast  hen  we will announce the three- year mid-term  business plan in June or July this year," Morimoto said.

When asked if the company will consider setting up an assembly line in India, he said it will depend on demand for its products in future. At present, Nikon India imports all its products from its parent's three plants In Japan, Thailand and China.

Talking about its business in the country, Nikon India Managing  Director Hiroshi   Takashina said during last fiscal, the company has  crossed the Rs 1,000 crore milestone in  sales turnover for the first time here.

"We will achieve a figure of Rs 1,050 crore in our annual sales  for last fiscal. It will be a  growth of around 40 per cent from Rs  750 crore in 2011-12," he added.

Takashina further said the company hoped to increase its revenue to around Rs 1,150 crore during 2013-14 on the back of its new product range. The company today introduced a new range of 17 compact 'Coolpix' cameras, priced between Rs 4,990 and Rs 54,950.

"Currently we are enjoying 55 per cent market share in digital  SlR segment, while it is  27 per cent in compact cameras. We are looking   to maintain the same share in DSlR range, but aiming to increase the market share in the compact segment," Takashina said.

According to the company's estimates, the Indian market for  the DSlR segment stands at 2.4 lakh units annually and it is 27 lakh units every year for compact cameras.

He said the DSlR segment is likely to grow to 3 lakh units,  while compact camera  arket   is estimated to grow to around 30 lakh  units in this fiscal. The company currently sells its products through 3,000 multi-brand outlets that will grow to 3,600 store by March 2014, Takashina added.