Bangalore: The combined serial inkjet and page printer, copier and multifunction product (MFP) market in India totaled 6,95,128 units in the first quarter of 2012, a 3.9 percent increase compared to the first quarter of 2011, according to Gartner.
 
“The first quarter was a mixed bag for most of the print providers in the Indian market. The imaging industry saw a slight push by the government and the home segment despite the glum economic scenario prevailing overall in the IT sector,” said Amrita Choudhury, research analyst at Gartner.
 
HP remained the leader in the India printer, copier and MFP market (see Table 1), as its market share totaled 58.7 percent in the first quarter of 2012, followed by Canon with 12.7 percent market share, Epson at 9.7 percent, and Samsung with 8.8 percent market share.

The A4 MFP segment is expected to remain the growth engine in the print market as the price gap between MFP’s and printers continues to narrow amid a broader range of MFP products and a continued sales focus. This segment showed a healthy growth of 16.8 percent in comparison to the first quarter of 2011. HP maintained its leadership position at 59.2 percent market share, followed by Canon with 13.3 percent, Samsung with 10 percent and Epson with 8.7 percent market share in the first quarter of 2011.

 In first quarter of 2012, A3 flatbed copier MFP segment also fuelled up a strong growth of 27 percent compared to the first quarter of 2011. Ricoh led the market with 25.3 percent market share, followed by Canon with 19.7 percent, Konica Minolta with 13.9 percent, and Kyocera Mita with 12.3 percent market share compared to the first quarter of 2011.

The page printer market declined 13.5 percent in the first quarter of 2012. HP dominated the market with 68.8 percent market share. Canon saw a major shipment decline of 67.5 percent compared to first quarter of 2011, and its market share also contracted significantly from 36 percent in the first quarter in 2011 to 13.5 percent in the first quarter 0f 2012. Samsung recorded a growth of 2.6 percent, and it accounted for 12.6 percent market share in the Indian page printer market.

The inkjet printers market declined 3.3 percent compared to the first quarter of 2011.The advancement of electronic media, such as smartphones and tablets, as a means of communication also contributed to the decline. In this segment, the market leader, HP, witnessed a shipment decline of 3.6 percent compared to first quarter of 2011, and it accounted for 58.3 percent market share. Epson sales grew 3.7 percent, and it accounted for 35.6 percent market share, while Canon saw a decline of 29.1percent compared to the first quarter of 2011, contributing to  6.2 percent market share in the first quarter of 2012.