India PC sale continue slide

The overall Indian personal computer (PC) market continued to decline in the first quarter of the calendar year, largely due to poor end-user demand.

The overall India PC shipments for the reporting quarter stood at 2.03 million units, representing a year-on-year drop of 25.2 per cent over Q1 2013, according to a report by  International Data Corporation (IDC).

The overall commercial PC segment shipped 1.02 million units, recording a marginal 4.1 per cent sequential increase over the fourth quarter.

''The overall commercial PC market showed first signs of improvement over the last 9-10 months as investment activities have improved in the Banking and government verticals.

Vendors are optimistic about the overall market sentiments and believe it will pick up gradually among other verticals too in the course of 2014,'' said Kiran Kumar, Research Manager of Client Devices at IDC India.

On the other hand, the overall consumer PC shipments stood at 1.01 million units in the first quarter of 2014, a 4.3 per cent sequential drop over the same quarter of last year.

''Consumer sentiments plummeted further due to high inflation and soaring prices owing to rupee fluctuations. Concerns over the economic conditions remained a key drag and Q1 was no different,'' Kumar added.

Dell leads
In terms of vendor share, Dell took an early lead in 2014 with a 23.1 per cent market share. ''Dell is doing well in reenergising its channel focus in both consumer and commercial business. Renewed approach in their go-to-market strategy, product refresh on their commercial portfolio, and deeper penetration in the upcountry markets have been their driving forces in the first quarter of 2014,'' said Manish Yadav, market analyst, client devices at IDC India (See: Dell displaces HP as India's top PC seller in first quarter).

HP
HP, which dominated the India PC market in 2013 across all product categories, came in second with a 20.4 per cent market share during the quarter under review. The company, however, continued to lead the consumer PC market in Q1 2014 across both desktop and notebook categories.

Pricing, widespread retail presence, and strong support from channel partners ensured their lead in the consumer market. 

Lenovo
Lenovo, with 14.9-per cent market share, took the third spot. ''Lenovo is currently in midst of an amendment to their structure and policies. Its commercial business unit continued to support the growth in Q1 2014 too. The company is positioned strongly amongst private banking, IT and IT-enabled Services and telecom companies,'' added Yadav.

IDC India anticipates the overall sentiments to get a boost amid hopes of a business-friendly and stable administration in the centre. Business optimism has climbed to its highest since the last three - four years and is expected to restore volume growth in the PC market over the next 12 months.

''Though recovery is unlikely to happen immediately, the challenging economic conditions are expected to revive, bringing back consumer confidence. The impact of currency fluctuations is also expected to relieve through price control and inflation control measures. Vendors are expected to boost their sales during the festive period in the second half of the year. For the near term, Q2 may witness some growth on the back of education season but the growth is expected to be irregular,'' Yadav added.