The Hindu Business Line : Notebook sales double

PC sales up 16%: Mr Mukul Singhal (right), President, MAIT, and Mr Vinnie Mehta, Executive Director, at a press conference in the Capital on Tuesday. –

Our Bureau

Advertisement

New Delhi, July 8 India’s total PC sales – desktops and notebooks combine – rose 16 per cent during 2007-08 fiscal to 7.34 million units, propelled by a significant 114 per cent growth in notebook consumption.

Even as the sales to large enterprises was less-than-expected, the consumption was led by telecom, banking and financial services sector, education and BPO services and e-governance initiatives, as well as SMEs and households - all of which helped the IT sector maintain its growth targets set at the beginning of last fiscal.

The total PC sales are expected to be 8.5 million units this financial year, which translates into a growth rate of 16 per cent (the growth rate being the same as last year).

The desktop sales are likely to be almost flat at 5.5 million units, while the notebook sales are estimated to grow 65 per cent at three million units this fiscal, as consumers seem to be preferring notebooks over desktops.

Announcing the industry performance review for 2007-08, hardware association Manufactuers Association for Information Technology (MAIT) said while the desktop sales in unit terms grew one per cent, the notebooks stole the sectoral limelight with sales jumping 114 per cent. However, with drop in prices of both desktops and notebooks, in value terms the notebook space posted 90 per cent growth in FY08, while for desktops it was a two per cent drop.

Preference for mobility

Notebooks now account for a quarter of the total PC market in the country, up from less than three per cent four years ago–a clear indication of consumer preference towards mobility. Households accounted for 44 per cent of the market growing 150 per cent; while business accounted for 56 per cent of the market growing 93 per cent. “Almost three-fourth of the notebook consumption happened outside the top metros. Driving the consumption are factors like drop in entry level notebook price-points and mobility,” MAIT Executive Director, Mr Vinnie Mehta, said at a conference here.

Slackness in North

Western India followed by the South-led PC consumption accounted for 31 per cent and 27 per cent of the market, respectively. Sales in both West and South grew by 39 per cent each over FY07. The sale of PCs in the East surged by 10 per cent, accounting for 17 per cent of the market. However, the Northern states witnessed a decline of 13 per cent in PC sales – presumably reflecting the slackening demand from large enterprises - and ended up accounting for 25 per cent of the market.

Multinational brands accounted for 45 per cent of the total desktop market in 2007-08 (compared to 39 per cent share last year). The proportion of Indian brands fell from 23 per cent to 22 per cent. The share of assembled desktops and unbranded systems also shrunk to 33 per cent of the total desktop sales (38 per cent in FY07).

Internet

The number of active Internet entities (establishments or individuals with Internet connection) increased to 7.2 million subscriptions by March 2008, while the figure was six million units on March 2007. With this, the Internet users exceed 52 million.

“Notebook consumption has driven the PC market in India in 2007-08. With sales crossing a million units in the second half of the last fiscal, total sales of notebook in 2007-08 have surpassed 1.8 million units, growing by 114 per cent over the last fiscal,” Mr Mehta, said.

Related Stories:
Notebooks drive PC market in H1

More Stories on : Hardware | Trends

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page