New Delhi, Nov 17 (PTI) With business gradually inching towards pre-Covid levels, Japanese imaging products major Nikon is expecting a 40 per cent growth in India this fiscal and is hopeful of touching a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore in the next two years, according to a top company official.
The company is eyeing a turnover of Rs 745 crore in the ongoing fiscal. Currently, 65 per cent of its demand is coming from top 10 cities in India and the rest 35 per cent from Tier II/III cities.
“Compared to last year, this year, in the first six months the growth is pretty high. It will be close to 85 per cent but on a year-on-year basis we are anticipating 40 per cent growth because the second half last year was also good,” Nikon India Pvt Ltd Managing Director Sajjan Kumar told PTI.
While the ongoing global semiconductor shortage has had an impact on sales and will continue so in the second half of the year, he said even after accounting “for all those things”, the company expects that in the second half of this fiscal the company expects to reach pre-pandemic level.
In the pandemic hit 2020-21, the company had a turnover close to Rs 520 crore, he said adding “this year we are anticipating around Rs 745 crore”, which will be very close to what the company had achieved in 2019-20 before COVID-19 hit.
India is among the top five countries in value contribution within Nikon Corporation’s global imaging business.
When asked how soon can the company reach the Rs 1,000 crore turnover mark in India, Kumar said if the situation remains the same as at present, it expects that to happen in the next two years.
While stating that a lot will depend on how the industry grows overall, he said certainly this year as compared to the previous year, looks very, very positive and a decent double digit growth of 25 per cent for the industry is expected.
As for Nikon, he said, “We foresee that in the coming time with the kind of product lineup we are having, the kind of solutions we offer to our customers, we are very much hopeful that the positive growth momentum and participation of customers will continue.” Kumar said at present Nikon India is getting over 50 per cent of its turnover from its mirrorless cameras and attached lenses, although DSLR cameras are also finding a lot of traction.
In terms of market, he said at present 65 per cent demand is from top 10 cities and 35 per cent from Tier II/III cities and the “growth potential is much more in the upcountry places”.
Asked if Nikon is looking to tap the smaller cities, he replied in the affirmative and said, “With the market opening up we started offline activities. So our offline activities are not limited to just the major cities. We are reaching out to the customers even in the upcountry towns…” PTI KRH RKL MR MR
