Indiantelevision.com Team

(13 June 2007 8:44 pm)

BANGALORE: Print and document services are an unorganized industry in India. Printo Document Services, (PDSPL), a Bangalore based company formed with angel funding has announced plans to ramp up their outlets from the current six in Bangalore to 250 over the next three years or even earlier.

The document services and print market in India is about Rs 170 billion per year, and growing even at conservative estimates by about 80 per cent annually. The market is expected to touch 1.6 per cent of the GDP and beyond according to industry speculation.

Printo claims to be the first player in India on this scale. They have chalked out their growth in three phases – the first phase was opening on six outlets in Bangalore, which has already been completed. The second phase which is expected to be complete over the next 12 months is targeting 54 outlets in the metro cities in India. The focus however is more towards the south of the country.

During the third phase Printo plans to open up to 250 outlets, 60-70 of which would be through the franchisee route. The total investment would be in the range of Rs 1 billion.

PDSPL co-founder and CEO Manish Sharma said, “Globally the print and document services market is an organized business worth hundreds of billions of dollars dominated by large chains that operate across geographies. In India, despite the market growing at an exponential 80 per cent year-on-year, there has been no organized attempt in this space.

"In that sense, Printo was a venture that was bound to happen and going by initial market response the timing of the venture has been perfect coming close on heels of India taking to organized retail as a format in a big way. The introduction of branded retailing in this space is sure to change the market contours radically in the coming years.”

According to PDSPL head-operations Srivats Asur, “While it is innovation on the go with everything that we do, we recognize that for this format to succeed, achieving certain scale and efficiency quickly is critical. Over the next three years we plan to open 250 stores that would allow us to touch and service a consumer where ever they need us. That will lay the foundation for us to make the next big push which then combined with our growing bouquet of packaged and value-added services would give us a competitive edge."

PDSPL claims to be India’s first branded retail chain for print and document services which leverages digital and internet technologies to reduce people dependency in delivering print products of international standards. Besides regular services, customers could pick and choose from its template bank, on the internet as well as in-store, and customize it to their choice - be it marketing brochures, event collaterals, business cards, brochures, posters or invitations.

The company also announced the induction of Café Coffee Day CEO Naresh Malhotra to the board of directors today. Said Malhotra, “ Printo represents the next frontier for organized retail in India - prizing open hitherto untapped or mostly unorganized spaces which have significant market size and potential.”