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Computer sales on the upswing
PC sales have registered a growth of 32 percent in 2003-04
to touch 30.3 lakh units from 22.9 lakh units sold in the previous fiscal, and
the market is projected to grow at 27 percent in 2004-05. According to the Indian
Market Research Bureau, which conducts the market survey on behalf of MAIT,
the surge in PC sales was triggered by a steep decline in prices coupled with
an increased demand from the telecom, banking and allied services, e-governance,
retail, manufacturing, home and SME sectors.
The total revenues from the IT hardware market, both domestic
and export, is estimated to be around $6.25 billion in the fiscal ending March
2004, registering a growth of 22.5 percent over the $5.1 billion of the previous
year. “This has been a good year for the hardware industry. In particular,
the duty and excise reduction in the last quarter (Jan-Mar) gave a shot in the
arm to PC sales,” says Vinnie Mehta, executive director of MAIT. The entry-level
price of a desktop PC is pegged at around Rs 15,000, and is likely to fall further
to touch Rs 10,000 in about a year’s time. Another factor contributing
to the fall in prices is the availability of alternate technology, especially
different operating systems.
B- and C-class cities accounted for 57 percent of total PC
sales, a growth of 62 percent. Consumption of notebooks in the business segment,
in class B and C cities, grew a whopping 167 percent accounting for 41 percent
of the total market. Similarly, in the printer segment, Class C towns accounted
for 59 percent of the dot matrix market growing at 28 percent. In the case of
inkjets, Class C accounted for 46 percent; in laser printers, Class C accounted
for 44 percent of the consumption.
The share of non-Pentium-processor-based PC shipments increased
to 14 percent in 2003-04 from 12 percent in 2002-03. The market share of Indian
brands decreased from 26 percent (2003-04) to 21 percent (2002-03) while the
market share of MNCs decreased to 26 percent from 28 percent while the assembled
market gained with an increase to 53 percent from 46 percent.
Notebook consumption accounted for 88,831 units in 2003-04,
a growth of 74 percent from 50,974 units in the previous year (2002-03). Entry-level
notebooks are now available at Rs 40,000, and this bottom is likely to touch
Rs 25,000 soon. The number of active Internet subscribers increased to 2.36
million in March 2004, while the figure was 1.43 million in March 2003.
—Financial Express
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