Desktops
In India, PC sales are on the rebound. According to IDC India’s quarterly PC tracker, PC unit shipments in the third quarter of 2003 grew 17.6% sequentially and 24% on a year-on-year basis in JAS ’03 to reach 700,000 units. Introduction of new price points and aggressive promotions by the branded PC vendors saw consumer desktop sales growing by 16% to 218,000 units. Also strong buying by BFSI, BPO and manufacturing segments saw commercial ddesktop sales posting a 25% jump to 446,000 units.

"With all sectors of the economy, viz agriculture, manufacturing and services showing buoyancy, there is a boom in the stock market, and the return of consumers’ confidence is encouraging buying." says Aman Munglani, head, computing products research, IDC India.

HCL gained market share and maintained the top spot in the commercial desktop space in the quarter with 11.3% share. HP also gained and totaled at 10.4% share of the commercial desktops market. IBM maintained its third place in this space.

Laptops
Laptop sales have also been picking up, thanks to some really low pricing schemes by vendors. According to IDC, last year’s notebook sales stood at 48,666, while in the last three quarters of this year alone more than 57,762 units have been sold. Further, laptop sales saw an astronomical growth of 81.9% annually and more than 27% sequentially.

According to IDC, India is the third fastest growing notebook market in the Asian region, with a compounded annual growth rate of 21.9%. "Consider this: the ratio of desktops to notebooks in India is 1:30, while even Thailand boasts of a ratio of 1:6, with notebook sales outpacing those of desktops. We aim to change the equation in India with this sub-50,000 notebook range," said Ravi Swaminathan, V-P for the personal systems group at HP India.

Continuing from the last quarter, the notebook segment witnessed growth primarily driven by corporate and government demands.

Assembled
The quarter also witnessed initiatives from branded players trying to tap into the burgeoning assembled PC market that accounts for over 60% of India’s 2.4 million annual PC sales. HP has begun a pilot project to sell its non-branded personal computer kits to local assemblers. HP India has tied up with Redington to distribute kits to nearly 200 assemblers in an initiative called ‘Impact’, that will be rolled out in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. The price for the end consumer will be approximately Rs 29,000, inclusive of the operating system.

Microsoft is reportedly tying up with lesser-known Indian personal computer assemblers and hopes to help them with after-sales support for their customers, offer training to the customers as well as help the partners tap the home and small business customers.

With the introduction of such initiatives, PC sales are expected to go up in the coming quarters.

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