I purchased a Canon A1100 IS camera in January 2010 for about Rs 8900/-. Before buying this camera I had gone through the camera reviews in internet, hence I got more or less what I expected (listed below). Before this I had a Sony camera , but this time I was convinced of the superiority of Canon camera in this price range and decided to go for it.
The reasons why I consider this camera is a good buy for this price range are: (1) it has a 12MP sensor (2) zoom x4 is available , whereas many cameras in this price range offer zoom of 3.3 (3) Optical image stabilization is available which uses a small motor to neutralize camera shake during low light photography, unlike the more cheaper digital image stabilization which simply tries yo process the image(4) you can use zoom (admittedly digital zoom only) while in the video mode, which is not available in cameras this price range - with 12 MP sensor you can afford to trade some pixel resolution for digital zoom (5) there is a wider range of shutter speed from 15 sec to 1/1600 sec unlike, say, in similar priced Sony camera where the range is 1sec to 1/1600 sec. If you want to buy a Sony camera with all features such as this you may have to pay Rs 11, 000/-
The pictures taken by this camera (indoor and outdoor) are very good. Because of image stabilization you can take pictures at slow shutter speeds (i.e without flash). The battery life is also adequate for several days of photography with flash. I never faced battery life problem when I use the rechargeable heavy duty Ni-MH battery (AA size) which comes with this camera.The cons of this camera are the little extra bulk because of the two AA batteries instead of using lighter Li-ion battery as in Sony DSC type camera which would have made it more easy to carry in the pocket. There is also no battery level indicator as in Sony, hence you have will have no warning when the battery gives out.
In comparing Canon with Sony, I feel the electronic engineering in Sony is good (miniaturization, battery etc) but the overall combination including picture quality and optics is better in Canon.