Why is MXL spending Rs.20 crore on IT during 1997?

“What at the moment we would like to do is to re ally expand the market. Our aggressive target is Rs. 350 billion (Rs. 3,500 crore) to be achieved by the year 2000. Therefore, today if we are a Rs. 500 crore company, we have to find ways to go beyond the year 2000,” said Steve Turney, managing director, Modi Xerox Limited (MXL).
“What at the moment we would like to do is to really expand the market. Our aggressive target is Rs. 350 billion (Rs. 3,500 crore) to be achieved by the year 2000. Therefore, today if we are a Rs. 500 crore company, we have to find ways to go beyond the year 2000,” said Steve Turney, managing director, Modi Xerox Limited (MXL).
And the way to reach the tar get, according to Turney, is by in vesting in the infrastructure. The infrastructure can be anything related to IT-from a cell phone to a pager to a fully networked environment. The idea is that every body needs to be on a communication link-any time, any where, round the clock, across the globe.
Modi Xerox Limited, a joint venture between the Dr. B.K. Moth Group and Xerox Corporation, is a 13-year old company, which began its career as a seller of photo copiers. The company commands a 55 percent market share in the copier segment in India, though copiers are no longer Modi Xerox’s only mainstay. Over the years, the company has evolved as “a document company,” with solutions encompassing fax machines, and computer printers.
Said Steve Turney “In the pre-liberalized period, we were essentially selling the products manufactured at our plant in Rampur in Uttar Pradesh. Our in vestments in manufacturing helped us leverage ourselves into a position of leadership in the copier market.”
MXL meanwhile is gearing up to face the competition and challenges of the next decade. The company is strategically planning for the year 2000, and making all kinds of investments in segments which it considers will be crucial in the coming years.