Japanese printer maker Konica Minolta mulls setting up plant in India

BENGALURU: Japanese printer maker Konica Minolta plans to set up its first manufacturing unit in the country, a top executive said. Yuji Nakata, managing director at Konica Minolta India, attributed the move to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ call as well as the fact that India is the firm’s fastest-growing market.

The firm’s seriousness about India is visible in its latest television commercial in Japan, which highlights India’s obsession with wedding albums. “With our new commercial we wanted to tell our investors in Japan the importance of the Indian market for us,” Nakata told ET. He refused to share details about Konica Minolta’s proposed facility in the country.

Konica Minolta, which entered the Indian market in 2010, already holds 51% share in the professional production printer market in the country that largely caters to printing wedding albums. Its India revenues stood at about Rs 400 crore in 2014, up from Rs 100 crore in 2011. Besides printers, it sells medical equipment such as X-ray machines in the country.