GURGAON: The Indian PC market has logged in 29 percent growth in terms of unit shipments for the financial year 2004-05 to exceed the 3.6 million mark, according to IDC. This was marginally above the total forecast unit shipments of 3.5 million in IDC India's Quarterly PC Market Tracker report of AMJ 2004.

HCL led the desktop market in the financial year with shipments of over 4.75 lakh units. HP led the notebook market with shipments in excess of 75,000 units. However, for the overall PC market, HP claimed the number one spot, followed by HCL and IBM in that order.

According to IDC, the market was fueled by a strong demand from the notebook and consumer desktop markets. During 1Q05, the Indian PC market performed slightly lower than expected, largely due to the poor uptake in the consumer desktop market. The consumer desktop market in India declined six percent sequentially in JFM 2005.

The overall desktop segment in JFM 2005 (consumer + commercial desktops) grew 16 percent compared to the same quarter a year ago to total 8,97,000 units. The consumer desktop market in India grew 22 percent year-on-year, in the first quarter of 2005. The commercial desktop segment grew 14 percent year-on-year basis to total at 608,000 units.

The notebook PC segment displayed an explosive growth, driven by corporate and government demand. The increase in run rate business was also crucial to the increase in overall numbers. Notebook sales in India grew nearly 87 percent in 1Q05, in unit terms, compared to the same quarter a year ago. HP emerged the leader with a nearly 33 percent market share. IBM also recorded growth and stood at No. 2 with a close to 26 percent market share in unit terms during the same time period.

The market for notebooks grew on account of revival in investments, increased capital expenditure and aggressive price war by the vendors. It is interesting to note that though entry-level prices for notebooks created a lot of noise in the market, majority of the gains took place in the Rs 70K-80K category.

X86 server shipments in India grew 29 percent on a year-on-year basis. Imperative to the growth in numbers were key installations at financial institutions, coupled with a surge in shipments in the government space.

"Although 'Availability' and 'Affordability' of PCs is on the rise, it will be the third and most crucial A of 'Applicability' that holds the key to explosive growth during the next financial year. More and more consumers are seeking value and willing to pay an extra premium to get it," said IDC (India) Ltd hardware research senior manager Sanjit Sinha.