Increased IT usage boosts computer sales in India

Friday, 26 March 2004, 20:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: Increased usage of IT services, especially by the industry, has helped computer sales in India grow by 87 percent in the October-December quarter over the same period the previous year, said a study Thursday. According to the Manufacturers Association of Information Technology (MAIT), the umbrella group for IT hardware companies, the desktop personal computer (PC) market grossed over 800,000 units in the quarter ended December 31, 2003. The association said that computer sales for the full fiscal year ending March 31 would cross three million units, as traditionally the January-March quarter accounts for maximum purchases. "The buoyancy in sales can be attributed to increased consumption by traditional industries such as telecom, banking, financial services and insurance, IT-enabled services and manufacturing," said the MAIT study report. Non-traditional sectors like education, retail outlets and self-employed professionals also witnessed increased demand for computers, it added. "The significant consumption in the small and medium enterprises and in the home market, which are highly price sensitive segments, can easily be attributed to a drop in prices, especially at the entry-level," said the report. "Hence the trend of increased PC purchase in smaller towns and cities, witnessed last year, continues undiminished." The study, however, pointed out that computer consumption in the government was subdued. The MAIT study showed that the assembled computers, the smaller lesser known regional brands and unbranded systems, accounted for 55 percent of sales in the October-December quarter of fiscal year 2003-04. The Indian brands accounted for 15 percent of the market while the multinational brands accounted for the rest 30 percent. "With the reduction of excise duty on IT products in the first week of January this year, the dynamics of the IT business in India is all set to change," said Vinnie Mehta, executive director of MAIT. "The reduction in duty on computers to eight percent from 16 percent has helped the industry reduce prices of computers, the impact of which will be perceptible in the fourth quarter and even more pronounced in the next fiscal," he added. "We are confident that in the fiscal year 2003-04 we will comfortably cross three million units, a growth of 30 percent over the previous year."
Source: IANS
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