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Archana Venkat

A family friend who recently became a grandfather received pictures of his US-born granddaughter on e-mail. Advised against printing them at a local studio, he had to contend with showing visitors the computer images. In such situations one wishes digital photos could be printed with the same ease with which they are uploaded.

ZoomIn may have a solution. Launched a few weeks ago, this Web site allows users to upload, share and print digital photos. Unlike competitors such as Flickr and Snapfish, who outsource photo printing to third parties, ZoomIn has set up a 4,000 sq.ft studio in Mumbai, capable of printing over 1 lakh prints a day. Users can get door-delivered prints anywhere in India a day after placing the order.

“Outsourcing printing to multiple studios would result in multiple print quality, which we do not want,” says Sunny Balijepalli, Chief Executive Officer, ZoomIn. Unlike most photo studios, the company uses digital offset printing (generally used for high-quality printing such as brochures) to print all photos and provides free red-eye correction and colour tone enhancement facilities.

Varying print sizes are available at rates comparable to film-based printing — a 4X6 print at Rs 4, a 5X7 print at Rs 7 and a 8X10 print at Rs 40. Delivery charge is Rs 25 per order, irrespective of the number of prints or the delivery destination.

Those unhappy with prints may return them and claim refunds, Balijepalli told eWorld via telephone.

The Indian photography market is estimated at about Rs 3,500 crore. Aided by digital camera sales in India (about 9 lakh digital cameras are expected to be sold this year) ZoomIn plans to launch three more services — an application for camera phone users to upload, share photos and place print orders via their handsets, professional photo printing services (for corporates) and ‘white label’ services. ‘White label’ services would provide users with a set of online applications using which they can print photographs on their own.

“That way they (users) can use our infrastructure yet retain their branding,” Balijepalli explains. ZoomIn will also launch a line of premier printed products that will allow users to customise and print pictures in the form of greeting cards, albums, calendars and planners.

The company plans to expand its Mumbai facility (with about 14,000 sq.ft unoccupied) to cater to future demand. It is in active discussions with private equity and venture capital companies, including US-based First Round Capital for procuring seed capital, typically under $3 million (Rs 12 crore). The company is currently funded by co-founders Balijepalli and Phiroze Havaldar. Investments made so far were not disclosed.

archana@thehindu.co.in

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