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mirrorless is growing. Already it has   shift to full frame because we would like   the time of the X-E3 launch, we asked
          started to grow, yet not comparable to   to concentrate on what is our advantage,   many photographers for feedback
          other countries. But surely it will come.   and that is the size of cameras. Our   about the expected features,and
                                            focus is on enhancing our advantage by   functions for the next camera. Then we
          How do you plan to change this    raising the image quality to professional   incorporate them when we plan our
          situation?                        standards by maintaining the same size.   next camera. This is very important for
          Professional photographers already   Of course, our another big advantage   us.
          know the advantages and disadvantages   is the high quality of our lenses. So our
          of D-SLR and mirrorless. So they   endeavour is to combine this superior   How was 2017 for Fujifilm and what
          separately use both formats depending   optics with this size of sensor for better   are your expectations in 2018?
          on the situation. But the end customer   image quality.              We relaunched our operations just a
          is not aware of this yet. So we have to                              few months back. We are growing, but
          educate them. In order to educate them,   What new products are you   still DSC (Digital Still Camera) sales is
          we need to educate the photographers   showcasing in this CEIF?      very slow. We expect robust DSC sales
          first. We want to change the mindset of   This time, we are trying to show not   in the coming years. There is surely
          the public. But in other countries like   only image capture, but also our printing   a market. Overall, in India, we are
          the US and europe, people already know   solutions such as dye-sublimation, silver   growing, though our main driving force
          that size does not matter and that quality   halide and inkjet printers. We have a   is medical systems—x-ray systems,
          does not depend on size. So Fujifilm and   graphics division with very high quality   mammography etc. This is a major
          Sony have very big market shares in   inkjet printers. From a B2B point of view,   business for us. To expand the medical
          other countries. There mirrorless is very   we are showing our photo finishing   business, we have entered endoscopy
          strong, for example, in Japan, mirrorless   products and also solutions aimed at the   business for the first time. At second
          has around 25 percent market share.   end customer such as the Wonder Photo   position is the imaging business, mainly
                                            Shop. This is an important part of our   photo printing with silver halide colour
          Is there any chance of Fujifilm coming   business. We are improving the software   paper and dye-sub. Wedding market in
          up with a full frame mirorless camera?  in our products and will also offer a new   india is very big and it is still growing.
          No. From our end, we are achieving the   product every year. This year, in 2018   So we can expect increase in sales of
          same quality as that of full frame with   also, you may expect some new models.  colour paper. In photo finishing, we
          APS-C size. So we do not need a full                                 are into wide-format inkjet business
          frame. Right now, we are enjoying the   We are always focussing on the feedback   and also CTP (Computer to Plate). So
          advantage of this size. We do not want to   from the photographers. For example, at   our main domains are medical, photo
                                                                               imaging, and graphic arts. In addition
                                                                               to that, we are also present in industrial
                                                                               products like NDT (Non-Destructive
                                                                               Testing – using x-rays to reveal defects
                                                                               in substances). The industrial business
                                                                               is not very big, just about 5-6 percent
                                                                               of our portfolio. Every year, we are
                                                                               growing by about 9-10 percent. In
                                                                               2016-17, we achieved nine percent
                                                                               growth overall. This year (2017-18), we
                                                                               are expecting double digit growth.

                                                                               Could you elaborate on your
                                                                               customer service initiatives?
                                                                               We currently have four customer
                                                                               service offices in Gurgaon, Mumbai,
                                                                               Chennai and Kolkatta. Now we plan
                                                                               to expand the Gurgaon centre to be
                                                                               equipped to conduct all camera repairs
                                                                               in-house. The other three centres can
                                                                               do light repairs, but heavy repair jobs
                                                                               are transferred to Gurgaon. According
                                                                               to the penetration of our cameras, we
                                                                               can enhance these functions. We have
                                                                               collection centres at 48 locations. We
                                                                               already have Fujifilm Professional
                                                                               Services (FPS) operating in US, Japan,   Smart Photography
                                                                               China and Europe. We will possibly    February 2018
                                                                               introduce it in India also. |SP

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