India PC market heading towards recovery

NEW DELHI, INDIA: The overall India PC market grew 5.2 per cent during April-June quarter of the calendar year 2009 to touch 1.765 million shipments over the previous quarter. For the same period desktop PC shipments rose 4.4 per cent compared to the first quarter, while notebook PC shipments grew 7.2 per cent, according to IDC, the premier global provider of market intelligence and advisory services.

However, compared to the year-ago quarter, the Q2 figures are lower by about 15.3 per cent. While the Desktop PC shipments is lower by 16.2 per cent, Notebook PC shipments declined 13 per cent Y-o-Y.  

Still, according to IDC, this improvement over the previous quarter is an indication that the market is headed towards a recovery.

“The India PC market performance in 2Q CY2009 has shown, what may be termed as early signs of a revival, as the decline in overall PC shipments year-on-year reduced from a high of 22.7 per cent (4Q CY2008 vs. 4Q CY2007) to 15.3 per cent in the current quarter (2Q CY2009 vs. 2Q CY2008). Demand was buoyant during this quarter on account of a higher off-take by the consumer and education segments,” said Kapil Dev Singh, country manager, IDC India.

In the overall PC (Notebooks and Desktops combined) market, HP retained the top spot with a market share of 17.8 per cent, followed by HCL and Dell, IDC said in a press release. In terms of desktop PC shipments HP retained its top position with a market share of 12.7 per cent, followed by HCL and Acer in second and third spots respectively during 2Q CY2009.

In terms of notebook PC shipments, HP retained the top spot with a market share of 30.9 per cent in 2Q CY2009; Dell retained the second spot while Acer came in at the third spot.

In terms of horizontal segments, while the SME segment responded positively during the quarter (2Q CY2008), the large and very large enterprise segments are still waiting for cues of a sustained global economic recovery.

As expected, the recently concluded general elections proved to be a distraction from the Government sector spending on PCs, said IDC. However, with the new Central government settling down and the festive season starting earlier than usual this year, the coming quarter (3Q CY2009) presents an opportunity for vendors to spruce up their shipments performance.

Emergence of Mini Notebook PCs



In the emerging segment of Mini Notebook PCs, enjoying a newfound liking among home users, shipments doubled quarter-on-quarter (2Q CY2009 over 1Q CY2009).

According to Sumanta Mukherjee, Lead PC Analyst, IDC India, the Mini Notebook PC segment saw the emergence of new entrants like BenQ and Samsung, while existing players like Acer, Asus, and Lenovo moved to consolidate their positions.”

With more vendors slated to enter this space and with the launch of Microsoft’s Windows 7 OS lined up for October 2009, the India Mini Notebook PC space could see a lot more traction in the forthcoming quarters,” said Mukherjee.