PC sales up 26% in Q1

NEW DELHI: Indian personal computer sales grew 26 percent to cross 6,41,800 units in the April-May-June quarter, as the booming telecoms and backoffice sectors fuelled demand, an industry body said on Wednesday.

"The buoyant consumption witnessed in 2002/03 continues undiminished in the first quarter," MAIT, an association representing the computer hardware industry, said in a statement.

"With robust growth prospects, the IT market is expected to grow at 18 percent in 2003/04 and PC sales are expected to cross 2.7 million units."

The statement said aggressive pricing by vendors and growing demand from sectors such as banking and financial services had spurred sales.

Computerisation drives by the central and state governments were also responsible for higher growth.

Data collected from close to 30 vendors in 13 Indian cities showed the unorganised or the "assembled PC" market, which sells desktops at lower rates because it pays little or no taxes, accounted for 65 percent of first quarter sales.

Multinational brands had a 19 percent share of the market and Indian firms held the rest.

Sales of laser and ink jet printers also rose sharply while the market for dot matrix printers declined in the first quarter. Sales of notebooks, laptops and servers have also increased, according to the statement.

© Reuters