Leading the monitor market, and with over a third of HDD sales, this Korean giant repositioned itself as an ‘IT essentials’ company from being just a peripherals company in its first full financial year as a wholly owned Indian subsidiary. It posted 76% growth with revenues of Rs 881 crore to emerge as India’s top-notch peripheral company in the DQ Top 20 list.

While the much-awaited decision to set up a color monitor plant in Noida finally saw the light of the day, the company continued to dominate the color monitor segment, mopping up over a third of the market and shipping a total of 718,000 units. The 15-inch monitors cornered the maximum share followed by 17- and 14-inch units. On the HDD front, the fiscal brought in a bonus. Capitalizing on Seagate’s inability to meet demand during the peak OND season, the company upped its marketshare to 32% this fiscal from 20% the previous year (company sources). Samsung also emerged stronger in the ODD segment, selling 571,000 units worth Rs 103.5 crore.

Samsung beefed up its dealer network to 6,000 from 2,000 in 1999-00, and plans to leverage this to give its laser printer sales a big lift-up. The aim: No 2 position in the product space, a growth of above 200% and a volume of 17,000, by December end. And toward that end, activities were perked up in Q4 of FY 2000—of the total 5,500 units sold during the fiscal, 2,200 were shipped in Q4 alone. The strategy is to launch a wide range of printers and plug in all gaps in the LME and government demand segments. The company also added two new channel partners, Ingram Micro and Salora International, for its printer business.