``We are planning to capture over 10 per cent of the market in the first year,'' said Mahatta Camera Corporation director (operations) Ajay Mehta. ``We expect to post sales of Rs 50 crore in the first 12 months.'' The Indian market is dominated by Fuji (marketshare: 39 per cent), Konica (32 per cent) and Kodak (29 per cent), and is growing at 15 per cent a year.

Initially, MCCIL is importing Agfa's highly acclaimed HDC Plus series, including 100 ASA and 200 ASA, from Germany. To be priced at Rs 107, the product would be distributed through MCCIL's network of seven regional offices, 100 distributors and over 4,000 retail outlets. ``Our target is to reach 40,000 outlets in the next four years for the photo films business,'' said Mehta.

Next to join the photo film portfolio is Agfachrome CT Precisa 100 and Agfachrome CT Precisa 200. MCCIPL's initial focus will be on the distribution of films followed by different photographic products like paper, camera and chemicals in the next phase.

MCCIPL's distribution plan is to market Agfa photo films through dealers and retailers of: conventional outlets like camera shops, photo shops and labs; and non-conventional outlets like departmental stores, general stores, medical shops and gift shops.

The first phase of the Agfa roll-out includes Delhi, Jaipur, Haryana, Goa and Bangalore; in the second phase, between January and April 2000, Agfa will cover Mumbai, Chennai and Hyderabad and by the end of April 2001, it will be present in the eastern region and cover over 28 cities.

According to Agfa, photo film sales are driven by functional appeal rather than brand preference so dealers play a critical role in influencing the buying-decision of the customer. Though a range of variants are available from 100 ASA to 400 ASA films, yet the understanding and awareness about the ASA concept is low. The average consumption is a paltry 0.03 rolls a year.

Which is why, Agfa's primary tack is to brief the consumer on usage to expand the market. ``With each film we will provide a compact booklet to educate the consumers about the tricks of better photography and explain the aptness of different film speed,'' said Mehta.

Agfa is also flagging off an ad-campaign in the next 10 days. Created locally by Madhyam, the campaign will promote Agfa with a tagline `For pictures that talk' in leading dailies and magazines. The TVC will break after the second phase.