MAIT review shows Indian PC market breaking the 1 million sales barrier

The Manufacturers' Association for Information

Technology (MAIT), the apex body representing IT hardware manufacturers and

service providers in the country, has announced the findings of its second Annual

Performance Review for the IT industry for the year 1998-99. The review conducted by the

Indian Market Research Bureau (IMRB) shows that the desktop PC segment has grown by 29

percent and unit sales have crossed the one million mark. According to the study, total

desktop PC units sold in fiscal 1998 were 10,27,190 as against 8,00,000 units in the

previous fiscal. However, rate of growth in the same segment witnessed a drop of over

three percent in fiscal 1998.

The review saw notebooks record a negative growth rate of

20 percent with sales falling to 22,921 units from 28,753 units in the previous fiscal.

The good news in the segment came from PC servers, which grew at a robust 41 percent with

35,870 units sold. Within peripherals, dot matrix printers recorded a negative growth rate

of 12 percent, laser printers grew by 34 percent, inkjets by 17 percent, line printers by

9 percent, keyboards by 13 percent, monitors by 9 percent and UPS systems by a healthy 47

percent.

The review shows that the largest chunk of the desktop PC

market--53 percent--remains with assembled brands. Domestic brands and MNC brands account

for 25 and 22 percent of the market respectively. The highest demand for PCs from the

business/corporate establishment came from small businesses (companies with less than 10

employees) followed by medium and large enterprises.

For the next fiscal MAIT estimates a growth rate of 30

percent given current policies. If the IT Action Plan-II is implemented, the association

expects growth rates to be in excess of 50 percent. The IT Action Plan-II is touted as the

panacea to all the problems plaguing the industry, it has been approved by the Finance

Minister and is waiting cabinet approval. "A turn around in the industry can only

happen if the IT Action Plan-II, the report of the National Taskforce on IT, is

immediately implemented," said Vinnie Mehta, Director, MAIT.

The MAIT/IMRB review generated a hint of controversy as

well. The figures of the MAIT/IMRB study vary from IDC India and Dataquest magazine

figures for the last fiscal. Both IDC and Dataquest have shown the desktop PC market to be

way below the one million mark, with unit sales in the vicinity of 800,000. IMRB Vice

President and General Manager, Bhupendra Mathur, explained the variation by citing

differences in the method used to conduct the surveys