Dell sees strong momentum in consumer biz

Michael Dell, Chairman and CEO of Dell Inc, on Monday lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his ‘Digital India’ and ‘Make in India’ initiatives and said his eponymous computer company saw tremendous growth potential in the country.

“We see tremendous opportunity to grow our consumer business in India where 10 per cent of the 240 million households have a PC against 35 per cent in China and 64 per cent in Malaysia,” said Dell, who visited Bengaluru on Monday. “This gives us tremendous opportunity to grow our consumer business.”

India is Dell’s No. 3 market in the world after the US and China. Dell India serves all major industry verticals, including BFSI, telecom, manufacturing & utilities and pharmaceuticals. The company has eight major businesses in India including, services, enterprise solutions, R&D, data centre R&D, financial services, IT function, support services, analytics and manufacturing.

Growing Dell business “Over the last 15 years, the Dell business in India has grown seven times, where we have 28,000 people and 22 buildings in eight cities,” said Dell. “In FY 2015, Dell India grew 30 per cent across all businesses, registering the fastest growth among the top 10 countries in the world.”

He said Dell India also grew four times faster than the overall market, achieving 39 per cent share of the microprocessor-based server market, 48 per cent share in high-end workstations and 33 per cent share in notebooks last quarter.

To serve the consumer market, Dell will ramp up its exclusive store count from 600 stores to 825 by the year-end with a presence in 600 cities.

On taking the company private two years ago, he said: “Financially, we are doing quite well and are ahead of the plans that we shared with rating agencies and banks. Taking the company private has allowed us to get away from the short-term orientation that listed companies find themselves in and focus more on three years, five years and 10 years up. Twenty per cent of my time has got freed up now, which I spend with customers, on products, with the team etc.”

Asked about revenue targets and quantum of investments in India over the next five years, he said: “The targets are very big for India but I cannot reveal them. We are making significant investments in sales force capabilities, R&D and partner channels.”

Lauding the Modi Government’s Digital India, Make in India initiatives and its focus on helping entrepreneurs and new businesses, Dell said, “We are providing technologies that underlies a lot of the government’s initiatives. India has a lot of youngsters, who will all require jobs. “Seventy to 90 per cent of new jobs will be created by small and medium-size companies and not by giant global companies; therefore the government’s move to help new businesses will make it easier for new jobs to be created.”

Consolidation coming On whether the market for PCs will shrink further, Dell said: “We see a consolidation in the PC space. The top three PC companies are gaining market share and together have 53-54 per cent market share, which could go up to 80 per cent share in 5-7 years, so there is potential for further growth.”

The CEO began his day with a visit to city-headquartered, Edutel Technologies, a company that he has invested in through the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation.

The Foundation works closely with non-profit and for-profit social enterprises in India, having contributed $185 million in investments and grants so far.

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