Pragati Simlote

NEW DELHI: Canon is getting aggressive in the A4 entry-level cartridge based products market and is targeting a 10 percent market share by end 2006.

Admitting that HP is far ahead in this category, Canon India, Canon Office System & Solution Division (OSS) marketing head S Gangopadhyay said that with the new products recently launched by Canon, it plans to increase its market share. Canon currently has around three percent – four percent market share in India in this segment. Canon also expects to end 2005 as the number one company in A3 laser MFDs in India.

Canon's OSS business contributes over 50 percent of Canon India's turnover. It consists of four groups small office home office/small and medium business (SOHO/SMB), utility products like copiers, document management system products (DMSS) like high end MFDs and production and graphic arts (PGA). Canon India's OSS revenue has grown 20 percent over the last year while in unit terms it has registered 46 percent growth.

Gangopadhyay said, “Of the four groups, the SMB is the fastest growing segment, utility is stagnant, DMSS is showing fast growth while the PGA segment is opening up with many companies going in for digital printing.”

According to Gangopadhyay, Canon plans to be very active in the cheque truncation space in the coming months. “We are tying up with major SIs like NCR Corporation to provide cheque truncation solution in India. We are also looking at other SIs to drive this business,” he added.

Gangopadhyay said that Canon would introduce its ImageWARE document management software in its product from January 2006. It is expected to offer businesses a smarter way to work by helping them to increase operational efficiency while sustaining a competitive advantage.