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Printer market grow by 31%, inkjets continue to surge: IDC

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CIOL Bureau
New Update

BANGALORE: The Indian printer market is moving on a robust growth path with printer shipments crossing 6.7 lakh units in 1999, representing a growth of over 31 per cent against the previous year, according to the latest figures released by IDC (India) Limited.

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As is the trend in the printer industry, the year was marked by frequent product launches and average selling prices moving southward, which kept a check on the growth in terms of value, said an IDC release. Nevertheless, the value growth was impressive at marginally below 25 per cent.







































Year



Unit Shipment



Value (Rs Crores



1998



513521



710.3



1999



673221



886.7



Growth



31.1



24.8

Although printer sales continue to be closely linked to PC sales, there has been a significant



reduction in the Printer to PC shipment ratio over the years, the release pointed out. While this ratio stood at 66 per cent in 1998, the subsequent year saw it coming down to 61 per cent. Considerable shift towards network printing among large and medium businesses, and relatively lower replacement/ upgrade rates for printers vis-à-vis PCs have brought around this change, felt IDC.

IDC expects that printer to PC shipment ratios will keep going down in the future, despite the booming home PC market. Amongst the various segments, small businesses (i.e. businesses with 10-49 employees) emerged as the largest buyers of printers, contributing more than a fourth to total printer sales in 1999.

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As compared to 1998, it was the small office segment (i.e. businesses with 1-9 employees) that witnessed the maximum growth (111 per cent). Government and Home were the other segments that grew above the market average. IDC believes that the trend towards bundling Home PCs with printers will improve the relative share of the home segment in years to come.

IDC said technology-wise, inkjet printers witnessed the highest growth (42 per cent) although their shipments fell short of dot matrix shipments. The inkjet market saw the complete disappearance of monochrome printers, entry of a new brand-Apollo, a fiercely competitive scenario, unprecedented aggression from almost all vendors, and a virtual flood of new models.

Strong demand from government departments and banks kept the market for dot matrix printers

alive even though the worldwide trend has been the opposite. IDC predicted that although the

market for dot matrix printers would keep growing for the next two years, non-impact technologies

like inkjet and laser would rapidly eat into its share. Year 2000 will also see an improvement in the share of laser printers, which have hardly added on to their share in the last two years.

Affordable models at the entry level will drive the penetration of laser printers among small

offices and small businesses.

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