Printo to open 250 retail outlets India’s first organized retail venture in print & document services Naresh Malhotra, CEO, Café Coffee Day to join the board

Bangalore, June 15, 2007: Printo Document Services Pvt. Ltd (Printo), India’s first organized retail venture in the Rs. 17,000 crores market for print and document services, today announced its retail expansion plans at a press conference. The venture which will induce a tectonic shift in the hitherto unorganized space is already off to a start with 6 stores in Bangalore. The company plans to open 250 retail outlets over the next three years covering major cities in India in a phased manner entailing close to Rs.100 crores investments. On the occasion, the company also announced that Naresh Malhotra, CEO, Café Coffee Day will be joining its Board as an active member from July 1, 2007. The expansion move, to penetrate the hitherto untapped market and the induction of a seasoned veteran credited with building one of India’s leading retail brands augurs well for Printo which got incepted only in 2006.

Talking to media persons, Manish Sharma, Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer, Printo, 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% 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 Srivats Asur, Head, Operations, Printo, “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.”

Announcing the induction of the new member to the board, Lalana Zaveri, Co-founder & Director, said, “A person of the stature of Naresh Malhotra accepting to join our Board and taking active interest is important in that it clearly validates the immense potential of our business model and this space. Besides, from the point of view of the team at Printo, we are all excited about having him amongst us since we will have the benefit of the expertise and experience that Naresh has of building one of India’s biggest retail success stories from scratch.”

In his comments, Naresh Malhotra, CEO, Café Coffee Day, said,” 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. Personally, it is exciting to be able to work on retail formats in two very different sectors and being able to play my role in driving the evolution of the organized retail space in India in the service sector. I thank the team at Printo for having me and look forward to contributing to the success of the venture.”

Printo is 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, the company has a novel concept wherein 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. This approach not only helps customers in getting customized print products but also helps them source it with minimum lead-time. Importantly, the modern store design, well-trained staff, cutting-edge digital printing equipment, and internet technology would provide customers with world-class print outsourcing solutions right in their neighbourhood. Printo’s retail blitz is targeted at both the corporate and retail walk in customers. The company scouts for and identifies such locations where footfall for print and document services is perceived to be high for each of its stores.

Founded in 2006, Printo Document Services Pvt. Ltd. is an innovative venture that seeks to capitalize on the opportunity presented by the unorganized Rs.17,000 crores market for print and document services in India. Promoted by Manish Sharma and Lalana Zaveri, who between them have 23 years of expertise in digital printing, manufacturing, and IT services, Printo is experiencing exponential growth in all its areas of operations. The start-up has the backing of Pravin Gandhi (co-founder, Infinity Ventures and SeedFund), Naresh Malhotra (Café Coffee Day), and Raju Venkatraman (President & COO, ICICI OneSource) as advisors and investors.

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