In your image

SERVICES: Imaging services firm Fobaz aims to satisfy the needs of image-happy Indians.

Want your photograph on a greeting card to send out? Or your snapshot on a coffee mug? Or a T-shirt, or even a calendar? Fobaz India has the technology to put photographic images on not just greeting cards, coffee mugs, T-shirts and calendars, but a host of other things.

The company, which launched its Indian operations recently, has lined up an initial investment of Rs 30-60 crore for a market it hopes to find receptive to its services. It currently offers online photo sharing through its website, and hopes to offer retail services soon.

"The Indian photo print market is worth $400-500 million," says Fobaz India's managing director and CEO, Virender Ahluwalia, "Last year, 58 million sq metres of photo paper was sold. The market, however, is highly unorganised. We are planning to tap this market through a three-pronged strategy of online offerings, retail push, and mobile applications. The first step has already been taken with the launch of our e-portal, fobaz.com. We are working towards starting retail services in 2-3 months."

The company, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Fobaz Foto Bazaar, Cayman Islands, is in advanced stages of talks with both retail companies and mobile phone operators.

To mould its larger plans into shape, Fobaz plans to approach all of 1,54,000 photo retailers that operate in the country. It helps that organised retail in India is growing at a brisk 40 per cent a year, a phenomenon almost unique to this part of the world. "We look to enter the market through tie ups with mom-n-pop photo retailers, where our products will be delivered by the retailer, thus driving business to their stores," Ahluwalia adds.

Though, several corner-shop outfits in India offer similar image imprint services, this is an official thing. Fobaz is backed by FotoWorks, a US-based imaging solutions provider, and also has US-based XMedia Technologies and Matinicus Capital as investors in the company.