ET Make in India SME Regional Summits: How Canon is enabling Indian MSMEs

At the ET Make in India SME Regional Summit in Chandigarh, Vikas Gupta, Senior Sales Manager for Canon India’s BIS Channel, made one thing clear: the Japanese tech giant isn’t merely selling printers. It’s aiming to power India’s next phase of business transformation.

The Chandigarh leg of the nationwide ET SME Summits series on August 7 had Canon as tech enabler and IDBI as banking and lending partner.

Tracing Canon’s journey from its 1933 beginnings in Japan to its 25-year presence in India, Gupta highlighted the company’s expansive footprint: over 1,000 employees, offices across the globe, and a product portfolio that spans high-end multifunction printers, document scanners, cameras, and advanced software solutions. Its machines are designed with enhanced security, inbuilt antivirus protection, and a focus on sustainability and durability.


“For MSMEs, we have shortlisted eight scanner models. Canon has held the no. 1 market share in this division for the past nine consecutive years, and we aim to make it 10 this year,” he said. Gupta’s additional pitches for micro, small, and medium enterprises were better technology, lower costs, and reliable service. From printers delivering 20-50 pages per minute to scanning solutions that streamline digitisation, Canon offers models that significantly cut per-page costs.

“One of our printers comes with an inbox toner cartridge yield of 20,500 pages, a paper tray capacity of 550 sheets, a 100-sheet bypass tray, 1 GB RAM, and 2 GB flash memory,” he explained. “The cost per print is less than ₹0.30, and we’re offering it for under ₹58,000 (including GST). Compared to smaller printers that cost ₹25,000–₹30,000, it can replace three to four units in capacity and efficiency. Another heavy-duty model brings costs down to around ₹0.20 per page and is priced at under ₹84,000.”

For attendees at this ET SME Summit, Gupta also offered exclusive discounts of over 50% on pre-bookings, with no-questions-asked cancellations.

All that said, the brand’s ambitions for India go beyond office tech.

“As part of our ‘Make in India’ commitment, we are setting up a semiconductor manufacturing unit in Gujarat, so you will soon see Canon-made semiconductor chips in India. We have also entered the medical equipment sector,” he stated.

Sustainability is another pillar of the company’s strategy. For every corporate copier sold, Canon plants a tree in India (over 50,000 so far), and its CSR activities include adopting and supporting entire villages.

Canon’s other innovations extend to software such as document management systems, print management tools like Uniflow, and advanced PDF editing through Tungsten. Its proprietary UFR (Ultra Fast Rendering) print language and energy-efficient designs place it among the top five companies globally for patents.

“Sales and service go hand-in-hand,” Gupta said, pointing to Canon’s toll-free helplines, online and WhatsApp support, and a nationwide service network. His closing invitation was straightforward: “Come see what’s possible. The latest technology is right here.”

The ET Make in India SME Regional Summits, ET MSME Day, and ET MSME Awards are flagship initiatives to celebrate the versatility and success of India’s MSME sector. If you lead or are part of a micro, small, or medium enterprise, register for the ET MSME Awards 2025 before August 31, 2025.