It operates 20 franchisee stores across the country in Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmadabad and Pune. “A lot of the proposed 80 new stores will come up in smaller town and cities. Typically, a franchisee partner needs to invest around Rs 15-20 lakh for these outlets,” Refeel Cartridge Engineering CEO Alkesh Agarwal said.

The company also plans to set up an online store for its venture. “Customers will be able to order for printer cartridges online. This will further help us to penetrate the market. While the online venture will come into shape once the 100 stores start operation, we plan to start trials in some six months,” said Mr Agarwal.

Bennett, Coleman & Co Ltd (BCCL), publishers of ‘The Times of India’ and ‘The Economic Times’, have recently completed a private treaty deal with Refeel Cartridge. As part of the deal, BCCL has invested around Rs 15 crore in the company.

Refeel Cartridge was floated in February 2007 but the first store was set up in August 2007. The company claims refilling inkjet cartridges at their store will enable price saving of 75% than buying an OEM cartridge and 60% for laser cartridges. Little wonder, the company has more than 50 corporate clients.

“Refilling printer cartridges is a way by which companies can cut their printing costs by at least 50-60%. Typically, a large organisation has a printing budget of around Rs 5-7 lakh per month. Around 40% of our revenue is expected from the enterprise segment and the balance from the small office home office (SOHO) and retail customers,” Mr Agarwal said.

The domestic market for printer cartridge refilling and re-manufacturing has been estimated at Rs 3,000 crore, growing at 30% annually. The cartridge refilling segment in India is highly fragmented with almost 40,000 small refillers.