Kodak ties-up with HCL; Neoteric out of scene

Amrita Tejasvi

New Delhi

Aug 16th, 2007

While awarding the assignment of distributing digicams to HCL, Kodak has
marked an end to its partnership with Neoteric, which has been its traditional
distributor for several years. However, the two companies (Kodak and Neoteric)
preferred to remain silent on the surmounting queries of the reason behind this
break off. "We had a great working relationship with Neoteric for over
seven years. Moving forward and keeping in mind the business direction of both
the parties, we have taken this decision and will not be working with
Neoteric," commented Ravi Karamcheti, MD, Kodak India.

Responding on the query for the reason behind signing with HCL, Karamcheti
said, "HCL Infosystems is a proven name in the business and we see the
digital lifestyle and personal technology category growing by leaps and bounds
and the same vision is shared by HCL. We are sure that our relationship with HCL
will help us to reach our target consumers more effectively."

With the new partnership, Kodak is trying to reach out to large scale of
customers for which it has revived marketing budgets and trained personnel,
streamlined service support network, etc.

HCL has planned to market the Kodak digicams through HCL Digilife stores
nationwide besides utilizing its distribution network. HCL will also be
responsible for pan-India institutional sales. "HCL will utilize a
composite mix of channels to distribute Kodak digital cameras. This will include
the photography stores, consumer electronics stores, IT stores and other telecom
outlets. HCL will also be responsible for organized trade and modern trade
format sales," said a spokesperson from HCL.