The Hindu Business Line : Telecom, banking sectors boost PC sales 14 pc in Q3

BUOYED by increased consumption by traditional industry verticals, including telecom, banking and financial services, India's computer sales clocked over 9.21 lakh units in the third quarter ended December 2004, posting a 14-per cent year-on-year growth.

"This is a sequential growth of 12 per cent over the previous quarter (July-September). With increased sales throughout the year and also traditionally the last quarter accounting for maximum sales, the industry is expected to comfortably touch the four-million mark in PC sales," hardware association MAIT said, announcing the findings of the Industry Performance Review for the October-December quarter 2004-5.

It said consumption had also picked up in non-traditional sectors such as education, retail outlets and self-employed professionals. "The highly price-sensitive segments of the market have responded very positively to the drop in prices, especially at the entry level. This has led to significant consumption in the small and medium enterprises and in the home market. Further, the trend of increased PC purchase in smaller towns and cities, as witnessed last year, continues undiminished. Emergence of a strong replacement market was also one of the notable features in the October-December quarter for 2004-05," MAIT said here.

In assembled PCs, Indian brands accounted for 23 per cent of the market while MNC brands accounted for the remaining 34 per cent. The smaller lesser-known regional brands and unbranded systems accounted for 43 per cent of PC sales in the third quarter.

"The aggressive pricing strategy of the organised sector led to a drop in the market share of the assembled PCs from 55 per cent in the third quarter of 2003-04 to the current 43 per cent," it added.

Replacement demand has also contributed to the growth of the PC market. New technology and new features, application better suited to run on latest machines combined with aggressive pricing are driving the replacement market, MAIT Executive Director, Mr Vinnie Mehta, said.

Drop in notebook prices saw the market growing at 47 per cent over July-September 2004, scaling 64,707 units. Corporates have always been the major target segment for notebooks, but with price reductions making them only as costly as desktop PCs in many cases, notebooks are also finding a place in households.

Traditional markets such as banking and finance, government, education, manufacturing and corporate continued to fuel the server market, which crossed 18,000 units, around three times consumption in the previous quarter.

For most peripherals, the third quarter witnessed significant growth. On a quarter-on-quarter basis, laser printers witnessed a growth of 90 per cent, followed by dot-matrix at 85 per cent and inkjet at 30 per cent.

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