PC shipments in India Q2 2012 up by 15.7 percent: IDC

As per latest figures released by research firm IDC, computer shipments in India grew by 15.7 percent, registering 2.86 million units till June 2012, compared with the same period last year. Elaborating further, the report found that in Q2 2012 (April to June), the PC shipments in the Indian market  managed a sequential gain of 8.6 percent over the figures registered last quarter. The year-on-year growth was at 15.7 percent.

Lenovo leads Indian PC shipment market

The report found Lenovo at the top in terms of vendor share, with a market share of 17.1 percent in Q2 2012. HP came second with a market share of 13.7 percent, replacing Dell, which was ranked third with a market share of 13.4 percent. The report further expects PC sales to remain strong through the July-September quarter. IDC Associate Research Director Adwaita Govind Menon adds here that IDC sees Q3 2012 as the strongest period of PC sales in the Indian PC market, as the festive season and education buying continues to drive the sales numbers. Menon added, "However, as we move ahead, barring fulfilments for the largest deal noted so far ie ELCOT (which looks to extend into CY 2013), IDC observes commercial PC spending to be adversely impacted by the prolonged crisis in the Euro zone and other global markets".

IDC Senior Analyst Kiran Kumar adds, "Despite the environment around costs being volatile and unpredictable, consumers continued to be demanding, which has largely enabled the PC growth in Q2 2012".

The IDC report further pointed out that the state-run Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT) issued a tender for rate contract for more than nine lakh laptops. Lenovo, according to IDC, grabbed a major chunk of the deal, along with companies such as Acer and HCL.

On a related note, a recent report by Gartner gauging the performance of the PC market in India through the first quarter of 2012 proved to be rather disappointing. The report found that the PC market growth through Q1 2012 rather sluggish, attributing it to high inflation and increased prices. Vishal Tripathi, Principal Research Analyst at Gartner said that consumer-buying accounted for 47 percent of the total PC sales in the first quarter of 2012, which is down 3 percent from the fourth quarter of 2011.

Tripathi also said that the current market conditions, defined by high inflation and rising prices have understandably forced the end consumers to alter their purchasing decisions. That, in addition, to the recent spurt in excise and import duties had a role to play in forcing the consumers to postpone their purchases. He added, “This underlines the fact that high inflation and increased prices have forced users to either prolong the life of their devices or postpone their purchase decision. The increase in excise and import duties also played a part in decision making postponement. The delay in rate contract from DGSND (Directorate General of Supplies & Disposals) did not help market growth”.

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