CMN: What is the target for you with your product portfolio and a huge market potential that exists in India?

VN: The potential in India is huge and with a large population, this market along with that of China could become one of the most lucrative markets for us. In the next four years we aim at being present in about 3000 photo outlets.

CMN: Isn't that being a bit conservative?

VN: Yes, it is.

CMN: With HP planning to enter this market, what are the cities that you are targeting?

VN: At this point we are not planning for targeting any particular area or zone, the retail facilities would be opening up in several cities at the same time.

CMN: How do you plan to showcase your presence in the retail space?

VN: Our retail presence would be via the self-operated kiosks that you see over there (points towards the kiosks situated towards the corner of the room!). Now, these kiosks would be printing digital photographs and would be accepting payments via credit cards. These kiosks would serve as a full-fledged photo centre, which would provide prints on mugs, T-shirts, canvas and the HP Micro Labs that I just talked about, is a scaled down version of the same.

CMN: Where would these kiosks be placed?

VN: As stated earlier, it would be more than a single city launch and we are in the process of discussing it with our channel partners and these kiosks would be seen in malls and hypermarkets such as Hypercity etc. and areas where there would be high traffic.

CMN: Who would be your competitors in this segment of the market?

VN: Kodak and Fuji

CMN: How are your offerings different from what they are offering?

VN: Our photos use HP inkjet and laser printers, which have a shelf life of over 200 years if they are kept in a photoframe or in an album. Their life would be over 100 years if they were kept exposed. Our competitors use silver halide or dye for their photos and the Wilhelm research have rated HP photos to possess superior resistance with time when compared to the rest.