NEW DELHI, INDIA: The onset of the economic slowdown in the middle of last CY heralded the arrival of difficult days. Where traditionally the channel would look forward to the festive season as a time when their sales would get a boost, last year turned out to be a no-show. After the poor performance of the market in the months around Diwali last year, this year the IT channel was looking forward to a change.

And this year distributors and resellers across the country shared that sales were definitely improving and consumer spending was once again reviving.

"This time, Diwali came with positive signs. People were spending more and this phenomenon could be attributed to indulging in purchase, post the economic slowdown frugality," said Mukesh Choudhary, DGM- Sales, North, Ingram Micro. About the sale figures for this year as compared to last year, Choudhary said it was difficult to arrive at the number because this time the hype surrounding spending was more. However, YoY the sales in Ingram Micro remained flat.

In Delhi, partners shared that the overall sales did see an improvement as compared to last year. "The sale during Diwali was not as bad as we had expected. In comparison to the previous year, the sale was definitely better this time. During the working days we managed to make good business but because of the multiple holidays in between sale was hampered," commented Ajaya Kumar, CEO, Park Computers.

According to KK Jha, CEO, KK Software, this year there was a lot of excitement surrounding Diwali. "Sales have gone up by 10 to 15 percent from the previous year and customers were spending during the festival time. This shows that the situation is now back to normal and customers are spending on technology once again."

Throwing light on the Jammu market, Sanjay Langer of AGM Sales Corp pointed out that for a week, around Diwali time, the market picked up. "This is due to the mentality of people who want to save their IT purchases for the festive seasons. We have made almost Rs 25-30 lakh during these few days. The popular brands are HP, Compaq, Sony and Dell," said Langer. In Karnal, Harbhajan Singh of Infotech Computers and Communications felt that growth had been visible for a few months now.

"Market has seen some growth. The previous quarter (JAS) saw better numbers and even during Diwali we did see good sales. While the demand for notebooks has gone up, desktops have taking a backseat.

Also, sales of security and networking devices are picking up," commented Singh. In the East the situation was similar. In fact with Durga Puja, which is a major festival in the region, coming just before Diwali the sales were high for a considerable period. "During Durga Puja and Diwali, the market fared very well. This time, we registered good growth; 13 percent more than that of the previous year. I would definitely say that the market has picked up and the upward trend will continue. The same impact can be felt in the upcountry regions too where sales are fast picking up. In the Northeast, sales have been commendable with Guwahati taking the lead beating North Bengal. However, Kolkata and B-class cities continue to dominate the market," said a major national distributor in the East.

But for Rashi, the market maintained a status quo, though East fared better than other regions. Gopal Pansari, Branch Manager—East, Rashi Peripherals commented, "Sales during the festive season was not unusually high. The primary focus was on consumer electronics while the IT market witnessed the usual surge. However, coming out of slowdown as early as end of Q1 this FY, Kolkata fared better than other regions. The impact of the slowdown was not major here. While markets in Delhi and Mumbai underwent a dramatic dip, Kolkata maintained its balance all through the turmoil with major dealers and companies posting marginally healthy growth compared to other markets. However, business was very slow in Q4 last FY. Now, with the market recovering, the average market growth rate is between five to 10 percent in cities as well as upcountry. Also, Rashi has registered a staggering 45 percent growth in the East on a YoY basis."

In West, partners shared a mixed response to the market. Dinesh Gupta, Datatronics System, Nagpur shared, "The IT market post Diwali in Nagpur was good. Notebooks were in high demand. Other components like printers did not show growth this festive season. I suppose students buying notebooks resulted in the higher sales compared to other components."

Sharing similar sentiments, Rita Budhay, Business Algorithms, Nagpur exclaimed, "We are an exclusive distributor of HP laptops and desktops in Nagpur. The sales have gone up four times during and post Diwali in Nagpur. There has been a definite improvement in the sales as compared to the last few months."

Speaking about the Gujarat market, Talkin Zamindar, Media Infocom stated, "In Gujarat the IT market has received very good response post Diwali. The festive season indeed has brought positive response from customers. Compared to previous Diwali the market this year has increased by 20 percent. Dell and HP lead in the product sales in the laptop and desktop segments. We hope to see more sales in the market in the coming days as well."

Mumbai-based Aarvee Computers is into distribution of HP, Epson and Compaq brand of products. Vinod Mulchandani, CEO of Aarvee stated that the growth as far as Mumbai and the suburbs including Thane market was concerned, had been stable. "For the past few months we have been selling no less than 500 units of laptops per month. The festive season saw good response in terms of laptop and desktop sales," said Mulchandani.

Pointing out that the growth during this festive season was largely driven by SOHO and consumer segments, Umang Mehta, CEO of Mumbai-based Roop Technology shared, "The corporates are yet to get into purchasing mode and if they do not come forth then the coming quarter will witness a major slump in terms of growth and sales. If at all the corporates begin purchasing, it will happen by the month of February or March next year. As far as upcountry sales are concerned there is no denying the fact that the upcountry market has matured."

Pune and the surrounding markets also showed healthy growth post Diwali. "The market is improving and showing signs of growth. Compared to last year, 40 percent growth has been registered by our company. The notebook market is witnessing huge growth and brands including Dell, HP Compaq followed by Lenovo and HCL have been the biggest contributors to our business," noted Pune-based Anil Mahske of Datacare Corporation.

In South, partners felt that the slowdown did not have much impact on the upcountry regions here and while it is sluggish now, it would pick up during Christmas and New Year. "The upcountry markets were not impacted much by the economic slowdown. There was panic in the market, due to which people curbed their spending. For us we have witnessed that sometimes desktops sales go up, while other times laptop sales jump. But in general, laptops dominate the market, as more students prefer laptops than desktops. In my view, the market will be sluggish during November, but with New Year and Christmas approaching, December quarter will be very good," commented Kuberan, CEO, VBK Computers & Cube Systems, Trichy.

Throwing light on their business in the past one year, Ravikumar, CEO, Pentagon's Compushop and Exclusive HP World Gold Partner (Madurai), stated, "I would say business was adversely affected by just about 10 to 15 percent. But two days before Diwali we witnessed very good sales. I am very positive about the results of OND quarter."

For Karthikeyan, CEO, Bloom Electronics, Coimbatore, except May, the whole year was good and during Diwali sales were normal, "It's June-August, when we see higher sales, as this is when the students community makes their PC purchases. OND quarter is normal for us."

Ketan Shah of Bengaluru-based Kruthi Comp, the exclusive dealers and sub-distributors for HP shared, "Every November-December we expect a new product or new additions to the product. For example the change in G5 servers to G6 servers which is doing pretty well in the market. We have seen a 30 to 40 percent growth in sales in laptops, servers and storage equipments. Going forward we plan to clock higher revenues. Procurve is our highest revenue earner."

Ankita Electronics, distributors of Imation India saw a hit on its sales last year due to its strategy which was to focus on channel sales. Nalin Mehta, Director, Ankita Electronics shared, "This year we are planning to get in to the corporate segment rather than focus on the channels. Corporates are more stable with regard to payments and this helps us a great deal.