Sun Microsystems India revenue rises 26%, sanctions slow down growth

BANGALORE: Sun Microsystems India Pvt. Ltd. has announced

26 per cent growth in revenue for the financial year ended June 30, 1999. The company has

posted 24 per cent rise in value and 53 per cent growth in units.

However, Sun Microsystems India managing director Bhaskar

Pramanik admitted that the company’s revenue had got hit due to the sanctions

announced by the US government following the nuclear tests conducted by India last year.

``While some of the potential sales were rejected, some have been delayed. The growth in

revenue should have been about 15 per cent more if the sanctions were not in

place,’’ he added.

During the last financial year ended June 30, 1999, the

company saw 23 per cent unit growth in the workstation segment. While Sun grew by 65 per

cent in the overall server market, the industry experienced a negative growth of 15 per

cent. The enterprise server segment grew by 136 per cent and mission-critical applications

increased by 106 per cent.

Mr Pramanik said that he expected a growth of about 50-100

per cent during the current fiscal, as he clearly saw the economy making a comeback. He

added that the sanctions were expected to stay for a few months more.

He pointed out that the some of the challenges during the

year were weak economic growth, uncertain political climate, stiff trade sanctions, low

government spending and lack of confidence. ``However, factors such as the Y2K, which

forced the corporates to procure different products and upgrade their systems, were the

positive highlights of the year.

During the beginning of the financial year, the

company became a wholly owned subsidiary of Sun Microsystems in India. It also launched

its India Engineering Centre in May this year. Mr Pramanik said that during the current

year, the company plans to specifically target corporates in the small and medium

enterprise segment. Towards this goal, it had appointed Godrej Pacific Technologies Ltd.

as its authorised distribution centre for workstations and workgroup servers. Sun

currently has 21 Authorised Java Centres across the country.