Tablet shipments in India up 31.8 per cent in September quarter

Tablet shipments in India were up 31.8 per cent y-o-y to nearly 1.36 million units in the September quarter, according to research firm CyberMedia Research, PTI reported.

Total shipments were at 1.03 million units in  2014 Q3, while the same stood at 1.07 million in the April-June period.

"Nearly 1.36 million tablet PCs were sold (shipped) in the quarter by as many as 38 domestic and international vendors. However, only 12 vendors shipped in significant volumes of more than 20,000 units each during the period," CMR said in a statement.

The company attributed the growth to the aggressive approach by Pantel Technologies (16.4 per cent share), which was earlier exclusively packaged with state-run telecom operator BSNL's mobile services.

"The vendor has now broadened focus to target both the government and retail sectors. Further, on account of the festive season in India, a number of vendors pre-stocked shipments for sale during the month of October," it added.

Other players reporting significant growth in the quarter as against the previous quarter included Samsung (14.9 per cent share), Micromax (14 per cent), Datawind (13.2 per cent), iBall (11.8 per cent), CMR said.

"We have been repeatedly saying that tablets need an enterprise / government orientation and this is what players like Pantel have been able to successfully adopt. With not much sales happening at the consumer side and the enterprises also not so bullish about this product, the procurement in the government domain have helped this product to re-surface," CMR lead analyst telecoms practice Faisal Kawoosa said, PTI reported.