Panasonic eyeing value-added pie

Shipra Arora / New Delhi

The Rs 150 crore System Products Division (SPD) of National Panasonic India, which looks after the telecom and office automation products of the company, has outlined a major focus on the Indian IT market. It is devising an aggressive expansion plan for the Indian operations. The company, which till now has been selling multi-functional devices (MFDs) as part of its IT related business, will for the first time introduce notebooks, Web cameras and high speed scanners in India. The company wants to create a sizeable portfolio for its IT products. These products are likely to be launched within the current year.

IT along with telecom, a traditional strength area, has been identified as the growth driving businesses for SPD, going forward. For fiscal 2003-2004, IT is expected to contribute around 15 percent of SPD’s total business and this is targeted to grow to 25 percent in the next fiscal. The new products will boost the company’s IT strategy. SPD is targeting Rs 200 crore in revenues for next year as against Rs 150 crore this fiscal.

According to Shashi Bhushan, manager–Marketing, Systems Product Division, the division is currently in the process of studying the market in terms of demand, competition and understanding requirements before launching products here. The company is already selling laptops, Web cameras and high-speed scanners in many countries worldwide. Though declining to comment on prices, he maintained that the products would not be in the lowest price brackets and would be slightly on the higher side as compared to what was available in the market.

SPD will not be launching all models that are available globally. It is currently in the process of identifying models for the Indian market. While scanners will be targeted at the corporate market, Web cameras will find their way into retail shelves. Notebooks, on the other hand, will be initially launched as corporate products and later targeted at the retail market as well. In terms of high-speed scanners the company foresees demand coming specifically from the banking and insurance sector. “The market was not ready till now in the banking and insurance segment but now we see demand improving and hence the decision to launch the product,” Bhushan said. In terms of notebooks, the company will be launching a range of notebooks, from the low-end to the high-end. On the webcam front the company has not ruled out forging alliances for bundling them with PCs.

In terms of its channel strategy, SPD will be launching new products through its existing channel partners and will later expand its channel network for the new product line. It presently has around 220 direct dealers and distributors with resellers down the line as part of its network.

While launching new product lines, SPD will also be strengthening its presence on the MFD front. The new product that will be coming out of the company’s stable is an MFD with a PC keyboard and a large LCD panel, targeted at editing applications and market segments where image and document processing are required. The product, which has been recently developed by the parent company’s global R&D centre in the Philippines is presently in the testing stage. After testing it in the domestic market in Japan, the product will be launched in other countries, including India. SPD also recently launched the ‘Workio’ series of MFDs, which handles the entire document processing system for complete office automation. It can copy, print, fax, scan and e-mail. The three variants are DP 1510P priced at Rs 1,20,000, DP 1810P priced at Rs 1,30,000 and DP 1810 F priced at Rs 1,85,000.

Panasonic has a range of office automation products, including basic telephones, key telephone systems (EPABX), faxes, LCD projectors and electronic copy boards.