TOKYO, JAPAN: Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) announced it will enhance marketing and technical support in India as part of the company's plans to increase its market share in the country's high growth hard disk drive market. 

"We felt the need to be close to our worldwide and local OEM customers, who are boosting their manufacturing operations in India. This initiative will provide more comprehensive support to the channel, which plays a key role in the dissemination and usage of our high quality hard drives in various applications right across the country," said Robert Chu, Vice President, Asia Pacific, Hitachi GST. 

According to the company, the hard disk drive market in India has grown rapidly, with a CAGR of 19 percent in the last four years. Projections are for the market to grow at the same level in the future, especially with a burgeoning desktop and notebook market in India. According to IDC, the Indian desktop market grew by nearly 11 percent in volume and reached 4.5 million in unit shipments during the last fiscal year, while the Indian notebook market grew over 88 percent in volume to reach 1.1 million in unit shipments. 

Apart from the desktop and notebook category, Hitachi GST also sees a huge market in Consumer Electronic (CE) applications such as Digital Set Top Box, Digital Video Recorders, Personal Video Recorders, as these are also giving rise to demand for high-capacity hard drives across form factors. 

"India is a highly important market for Hitachi GST and we see immense potential for growth in the traditional IT and emerging non-IT segments. The enhanced marketing and technical support program is a strategic step to help us get closer to the market and enhance our go-to-market capabilities. Overall, this will help us consolidate our position in the market and accentuate the existing growth momentum," added Robert Chu. 

In a related announcement, Hitachi GST also announced that Karthik Laxman will be promoted to Country Manager of India and SAARC region. Laxman will be primarily responsible for growth in the market as well as enhancing the company's channel and OEM alliances in India. The announcement is part of Hitachi GST's global strategy to strengthen its capabilities within one of the world's fastest growing hard disk drive markets.