Zebra Tech to focus on smaller cities

Kochi, Sep 19: US-based Zebra Technologies Corporation, specialising in printing and automatic identification solutions, would shift its focus to Tier-II and III cities in India, as some of them were among the fastest growing areas in the country, company Country Head Shailesh Deshmukh said.

Talking to newspersons here last night to announce the launch of its latest speciality printers in the Kerala market, he said Zebra was bullish about Tier-II cities such as Kochi, which was witnessing a Gross Domestic Product(GDP) growth rate of 8.3 per cent. Mr Deshmukh said the overall Indian market for printing solutions was growing at about 35 to 40 per cent. The overall Automatic Identification and Data Capturing Industry (AIDC) had reached Rs 200 crore and was expected to grow quickly.

Zebra Technologies would target organised retail, logistics and manufacturing segments for selling its printer solutions, he added.

A 100 per cent channel-driven company, Zebra Technologies presently had about 75 partners and was aiming to double its channel base by the year-end.

Among the new speciality printers launched by the company here last evening, were a healthcare barcode printer, which generates antimicrobial coated wristbands for patient identification. It is priced at about Rs 50,000.

It also launched a desktop printer priced between Rs 16,000 and Rs 30,000 for the retail, hospitality and logistics industries.

With Kochi being the hub of textile retailing, seafood and spices exports, IT, tourism, health services, banking and shipbuilding in Kerala, all the verticals would be potentially automated, Mr Deshmukh added.

UNI