Brief

Fujitsu on the fast track

With plans to open at least six centres in India, Fujitsu is in expansion mode

In India, Fujitsu has a presence in notebooks, scanners and plasma screens. Although, it has been a market leader in Japan and other countries; the company’s performance in India wasn’t as strong in the past. That seems to be changing as the next quarter will see Fujitsu open centres in Pune, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad. It has offices in Delhi, Mumbai and Chennai and plans to open centres in East and Central India next year.

When compared with competition, Paresh Gathani, GM-Marketing Fujisan technologies (Fujitsu’s Indian subsidiary) believes that it boils down to quality. He says, “If you consider the Lifebook [notebook] segment, Sony and Toshiba are our biggest competitors. We make our notebooks in Japan as compared to those who make them in China or Taiwan.”

The Lifebook range starts with an AMD system and models at the higher end are powered by Intel’s Centrino. They are available in compact, normal, and tablet PC form factors. “Similarly the scanners available are high-end ones. These are used primarily for documentation,” says Gathani. The company’s experience has been that entry-level AMD laptops are hot favourites in the Indian market but the tablet PC segment has not grown accordingly. “Though Fujitsu products are unique in this segment, they have not been able to capture volumes due to their higher price,” adds Gathani.

This could change in the future. Competition is forcing Fujitsu to bring down prices. Gathani says, “With the current change in the duty structure, prices have gone down by 12 percent. We hope to translate this cut and provide the benefits to the end customer.”

We are choosy about customers and would like to cater to the enterprise level and individuals buying high-end products Paresh Gathani GM-Marketing Fujisan technologies

Along with price cut they are also moving into segments such as multimedia systems which have not been traditionally associated with Fujitsu. “We have recently launched N3510, a desktop replacement laptop. The product has won rave reviews. It has features such as 15.4” display, an Intel Pentium M processor, 100 GB hard disk, super multi DVD etc.,” elaborates Gathani. Fujitsu is looking at the entertainment segment.

While 50 percent of its revenue coming from notebooks, scanners are the other revenue generating segment contributing 30 percent followed by plasma screens. “In India, though the Lifebook segment has been the most productive, most of these are AMD-based laptops at the entry level,” says Gathani. The fact that every month they sell 150 such machines out of the 300 they sell in all speaks of the popularity of the product.

Tablet PC is one of the Fujitsu offerings that has not been able to generate interest among Indian buyers. Gathani believes that though there is a huge market for tablets in India, the reason it has not taken off is lack of applications and high price points.

The company boasts of a client list of companies such as Godrej, ICICI, Tata Power and Tata TeleServices, Essar Group, Larsen and Turbo for its Lifebook products and the likes of Polaris Software Technologies, HCL Technologies, Bharat Electronics, German Express Shipping Agencies for its scanner products.

“We are very choosy about customers and would like to cater to the enterprise level and individuals buying high-end products. But at the same time, we also believe in being aggressive and will provide attractive prices too,” says Gathani.

With a good presence in the insurance and shipping verticals they are now looking at sectors such as education, BFSI and engineering.

—Shivani Shinde