Indian SMB spent $317 M on printers-study

By siliconindia   |   Friday, 04 March 2005, 20:30 IST
Printer Print Email Email
BANGALORE:Total spending on printers by India small and medium businesses (SMBs) exceeded $300 million over the last 12 months, and is expected to grow at a rate of about 22 percent over the next five years. The increased availability of low-cost printers coupled with the adoption and usage of integrated printing solutions has resulted in significant cost savings to India SMBs. Inkjet and dot matrix printers currently dominate the India SMB market; however, many India SMBs are adopting color solutions as well. Today, 26 percent of India medium businesses have adopted color laser printers, which account for 12 percent of their current installed base. The above findings were released today by New York-based Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, Inc. AMI-Partners conducted the annual tracking surveys of SMBs in 20 countries, including North America (the U.S. and Canada); Europe (the U.K., France, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland and Russia); Asia-Pacific (Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand); and Latin America (Mexico and Brazil). According to AMI's study, total printer spending by India SBs amounted to $285 million in 2004. The manufacturing (28 percent), professional business services (20 percent) and other services (20 percent) sectors drove nearly 70 percent of this total spending. "The economy's impact on the India SB market during the last 12 months has been excellent," said Partha Sengupta, analyst at AMI-Partners. The trend will continue in the next year, the data said. AMI study revealed that 37 percent of India PC-owning SBS plan to expand their workforce and 9 percent of them expect to open new branches over the next year. A total of approximately 0.3 million printers are likely to be purchased by India small businesses in the next 12 months. "India Small businesses will play a significant role in total printer shipments over the next 12 months" said Sengupta. Hewlett Packard is the preferred choice of the Indian businesses, with Epson and domestic companies like TVSE and Wipro are alaso major player in the Indian market.