The Hindu Business Line : Nikon sets up 100% subsidiary here

New Delhi, Sept. 26 Japanese camera manufacturer Nikon Corporation has set up a fully owned subsidiary in India which would manage Indian and West Asian operations.

“Nikon India Pvt Ltd, the 100 per cent subsidiary of the company, will help customers to get a first-hand experience of the products that we launch. This would also support our vision of capturing a 45 per cent market share of the Indian digital SLR market and 10 per cent of the domestic compact camera market,” Mr Hidehiko Tanaka, Managing Director, Nikon India, told newspersons here on Wednesday.

Currently, the company has a 3 per cent market share in the compact camera category and between 18 per cent and 20 per cent in the professional camera range in India.

According to industry estimates, the official market for compact cameras in 2007 is estimated to be around seven lakh units, while it was 10,000 units for professional cameras. Both categories have been growing at a CAGR of 40 per cent in the last three years and expected to maintain the growth momentum.

Dealership network

Besides serving the Indian market, Nikon India will also manage the West Asian market comprising Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Turkey, Iran, Bahrain, Israel, Oman, Qatar and Egypt. “We are also in the process of expanding our retail dealer network in the country. The plan is to double the dealership network from the current 300 dealers in the next couple of years,” said Mr Prashant K. Singh, Marketing Head (Imaging Products) of the company.

The company is also looking at increasing the number of service centres in the next couple of years. It currently has five service centres located in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata and Gurgaon. Nikon also plans to launch seven new models by the year-end in the SLR and compact category segments.