New Delhi, Feb 11 (Inditop.com) Personal computer (PC) sales were almost flat during the first half of the fiscal at 3.71 million units, a meagre rise of one percent compared to the same period a year ago, primarily due to fewer orders from businesses, said a report released Thursday.
The statistics were presented by the Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology (MAIT) — an apex body representing India’s IT hardware sector — in its bi-annual report.
Sales of desktops during the first six months of the current fiscal dropped 11 percent to 2.61 million units, while notebooks and netbooks grew at a handsome 43 percent over the same period last year.
The primary reason for the slump in sales was fewer orders from business enterprises, who adopted a cautious approach in the wake of the global financial crisis.
“Enterprises drive a majority of the sales in the sector. Such sales were flat during the period. However, businesses typically place more orders in the second half and we expect sales to pick up on this front,” said MAIT Executive Director Vinnie Mehta.
However, households and some sectors like banking and financial sectors and telecom pitched in with an increase in demand for PCs.
Households in particular contributed to account for 43 percent of the total desktop market, registering a growth of 40 percent over the first six months of previous fiscal.
“Given the current macro economic conditions and conservative buying sentiment in the market, PC sales are expected to cross 7.3 million units in 2009-10, growing seven percent,” said a statement from MAIT.
According to latest figures available, the number of active Internet “entities” increased to 9.4 million units in September 2009, compared to 7.61 million in the same month of 2008.
“Entities are not users, they could be businesses or households. So one entity may have many users,” said Mehta.
With this, the number of Internet users has exceeded 70 million in the country. Internet penetration in the top 22 cities was 45 percent among businesses and 20 percent among households.
Among peripherals, overall printer sales declined by 12 percent during the April-September period due to poor consumption by businesses. Printer sales are forecast to cross 1.74 million units in the current fiscal.
The UPS market, led by households, grew 140 percent during the period under review at 1.58 million units.
“We should close this year on a good note, but we hope the government continues to maintain the 8 percent excise duty on IT goods and help the sector by removing the 4 percent special additional duty, which is a significant cost for local manufacturers,” said MAIT president Ravi Aggarwal.
