India's desktop computer sales up 27 p.c.

NEW DELHI  - Sales of desktop personal computers in India grew 27

percent in the year to March to over 4.61 million units as prices fell and the

telecom and banking sectors bought more terminals, a trade body said on

Thursday.






The Manufacturers' Association for Information Technology said sales in the
previous year stood at 3.63 million.






Sales of unbranded or assembled computers grew 14 percent in the year though
their market share fell to 37 percent in 2005/06 compared to 41 percent in the

previous year.






"Lack of a strong retail presence and strong word-of-mouth referrals is what
drove the growth of the unbranded market," said MAIT President Rajendra Kumar.

"But they are losing market share."






Growth was led by "significant consumption" by the telecom, banking,
manufacturing and retail sectors and a drop in prices of entry-level PCs for the

home market, the body said.






Notebooks were a "star performer", registering the fastest sales growth -- 144
percent to 431,834 units last year.






Server sales rose 81 percent to 89,161 units in the same period with strong
growth outside India's four main metropolitan cities of New Delhi, Mumbai,

Kolkata and Chennai.






The industry group forecast that desktop sales would cross 5.6 million units for
the financial year ending March 2007.






"Retail is going to be a very big phenomenon with high deployment," Vinnie
Mehta, executive director at MAIT said.






"If there is government intervention on the policy front this year we can even
see growth go up to 50 percent for this year."






But he cautioned that momentum -- computer prices in India are among the lowest
in the world -- would depend on value-additions like inexpensive downloadable

Bollywood movies and songs, as well as lower prices.






"We need an eco-system, it is critical. We need software that suits Indian price
points. You need relevant content, relevant applications, relevant services," he

said, citing how PC gaming is popular in South Korea and animation in Japan.