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Xerox India unit to grow top-end copying solutions

The Indian unit of troubled US office equipment maker, Xerox Corp, said on Tuesday it was pushing to increase the contribution of high-end solutions to its revenues in a bid to push growth amidst flat copier sales.

The firm also said it would invest Rs 1 billion in India between 2001 and 2003 in improving infrastructure, software development and skill enhancement to help the greater focus on services.

"Worldwide, 40 or 50 per cent of the revenues and profits, depending on the region of the world, comes from this high-end, value-added services," Mukund Abhyankar, deputy managing director of unlisted Xerox Modicorp Ltd, told a news conference.

"In India, six months ago, it was roughly three percentage points, and our target in the next two to three years is (a share of) between 25 to 30 per cent," he added.

Xerox's value added services include high-end production, publishing and printing solutions, outsourcing document services and software services.

The $19-billion Xerox Corp, in India since 1983, has nearly 70 per cent share of the domestic copier market by value and 80 per cent of the colour and large centralised copier systems, company officials said.

"Market share we have today, now we want to grow this business through high-end, value-added services," Abhyankar said. He said the company would pull out of some smaller low-priced photocopier segments that were less profitable.

The company's parent, Xerox, US, has survived a rough previous 12 months, going through four consecutive quarters with losses and faced investigations into its accounting practices in Mexico.

But Abhyankar said the Indian unit was profitable and clocked revenues of about $50 million in the six months to June 2001. Officials forecast revenues could climb to over $200 million in 2003, helped by an increasing share of the solutions business.

The firm's investment will be used to upgrade office facilities, in setting up a solutions centre on the outskirts of Delhi to demonstrate technology, in training and developing an enterprise software solution for Xerox worldwide, he added.

Xerox has a little over 50 per cent stake in Xerox Modicorp Ltd while India's B K Modi group owns over a 40 per cent stake.

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