We are aiming big in revenue by 2017: Ricoh India

Manoj Kumar, senior VP and CFO, Ricoh India, in an exclusive interview with DQ Channels, talks about the company's strategies, future plans and the next big revenue target

What are the steps you are planning to take to tap the growing production printing market in the country?

Aiming a Rs 100 crore business from the segment, we have recently launched three new production printers, to achieve the same. We have already achieved the milestone of reaching 100 installation base of color and black and white production printers. We are glad that coastal areas like Kerala are doing thriving business using Ricoh products. Even in West, in the interiors of Gujarat, Ricoh machines, used to take the pictures of intricate handi craft work, are a hit. Also, our products are being used for bulk printing in various banks too.

What are your major competitors in the segment and how do you tackle them?

We have our own niche and products and there is no particular competition for us. Also, the industry is very big and there is space for everyone. But yes, if we have to name it then it can be Konica Minolta, in terms of pricing. But we are thriving on our quality and people are buying our products for that. We are also planning to come up with low cost production printers for upcountry users. There are Canon and Xerox also, but they are nit so active.

Tell us about your plans and growth in the IT services segment.

Currently we are targeting the domestic market, especially the government sector. Although we have already worked for the government like projects for AADHAR card and data networking for e-panchayat, but we are looking forward to more projects in the sector.

Our data center in Kolkata is doing really well. We have a Business and software development center and an IT incubation center over there. One of the major banks of north east is using our data center service. This has happened for the first time that a government bank is using this service from a private firm.

We have also come up with IT app labs. Our RicohDocs is a platform for application development. The very renowned Dr. Lal Pathlabs has used it to integrate its functioning.

What is happening in the lazer printer segment?

We have come up with 2lakh units in the last 2 years in this segment. We are now focusing on colored printers. We are targeting and expecting the segment to contribute 5% of the Rs 1,000 revenue mark that we have set for this year.

Do you plan to set the mark beyond Rs 1,000?

With our aim to achieve Rs 1,000 crore this year with 58% growth from a total of Rs 633 crore done till March'13, we now intend to follow the same path and growth trajectory, like that of last three years, in terms of revenue, by 2017.

What are your future plans?

We are targeting tier 2 and 3 cities. There's lots happening in places like Trichy, Nasik, Coimbatore, Shillong, etc. So we intend to tap these markets. We are planning to sponsor as well as participate in various events in the cities, as p-art of our 'Go Remote' strategy.

We are also targeting the healthcare sector. We have already participated in various government health projects like Rashtriya Swasthiya Bima Yojna, but we plan to extend our business in various hospitals.