Economic recovery drives IT hardware market in Q3: MAIT

NEW DELHI: MAIT has recently announced the findings of its quarterly Industry Performance Review for the quarter October-December (OND) of fiscal 2009-10.

The total PC sales between October and December 2009, with desktop computers, notebooks and netbooks together, were 2 million (20 lakh) units, registering a growth of 42 percent over the same period last fiscal.

The sales of desktops stood at 1.35 million (13.5 lakh) units, while netbooks and notebooks taken together recorded a consumption of 0.66 million (6.6 lakh) units growing 27 percent and 90 percent respectively, on YoY basis.

Commenting on the industry's performance, Vinnie Mehta, Executive Director, MAIT said, “The impact of the global economic recession is now well behind us and the IT hardware industry in India is once again on a growth path. All segments of the IT hardware industry, computers, peripherals and networking products recorded an impressive growth in the Q3 2009-10 over the same period last year. The corporate sector, which had displayed significant caution in IT-spending over the past five quarters, led the growth in consumption in the OND quarter. Among the verticals, consumption in the IT market was led by telecom, banking, education, SMEs, BPO/IT-enabled services and the e-governance initiatives of the Center and the state government.”

He added, “Vibrancy in consumption in households and smaller towns was also visible in this quarter. The industry is hopeful that the sales would further improve in the fourth (January-March) quarter. Overall PC sales for 2009-10 are expected to cross 7.3 million (73 lakh) units, registering a seven percent annual growth.”

MAIT’s Industry Performance Review was conducted by a market research firm, Indian Market Research Bureau (IMRB). It is a bi-annual initiative and aims to address the hardware sector’s efforts to manage the business environment, gauge the market potential and consumer trends.

The module to monitor the industry performance every quarter alternates with the half-yearly review, using the supply side estimation model involving data collection from the top IT vendors and leading channel players. This round of the quarterly study (October-December 2009-10) involved data collation from the major vendors and around 400 resellers/vendors in the top 16 metros in India. The quarterly review covers the market size estimation for desktop PCs, notebooks, servers and peripherals, printers and UPS.

According to the MAIT-IMRB study, the assembled desktops, smaller lesser-known regional brands and unbranded systems, accounted for 35 percent of the desktop sales in Q3 2009-10, while the proportion of the branded desktops was 65 percent. MNC brands accounted for 52 percent of the market, while the Indian brands accounted for 13 percent.

With improving business sentiment and to meet the demands of growing business, the establishment segment invested in enhancement of their existing network capabilities and modernization of their IT infrastructure leading to a 30 percent growth in the servers deployment in Q3 2009-10 on a YoY basis. Over 27,000 units of servers were consumed in Q3 2009-10. Printers market also bounced back in Q3 2009-10. Led by high sales in the establishments segment, consumption of laser printers witnessed an impressive growth of 70 percent.

Consumption of Dot Matrix printers (DMP), on the back of robust institutional sales, grew by 13 percent in OND 2009-10 compared to the same period last year.

Sales of Inkjet printers grew 17 percent in the OND 2009-10 quarter over that of the last year. While households and small businesses have been the traditional drivers of consumption of inkjet printers, the retail segment also emerged as a significant consumer of the inkjet printers.

With improved consumption in the establishments and the households alike, the UPS market grew by 28 percent on an annual basis in the third quarter of 2009-10 registering 0.56 million (5.6 lakh) units in sales.