Intel on a high, designs India growth plan
By siliconindia   |   Monday, 03 May 2004, 19:30 IST
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CHENNAI: Bouyed by three consecutive successful quarters in South Asia, Intel India is planning to expand its presence in the country by extending footprint in 60 more cities by the end of the current year. Company’s current dealer network is spread across 120 cities. The expansion will largely be in the southern region, as the company sees a huge growth potential emerging from sectors like education, small-and-medium businesses, infotech and state governments. “South is the fastest growing region for us in India,” said Mr GB Kumar, director, sales, Intel Technology India. Kumar said the governments in the southern states were more proactive and IT savvy and were initiating a number of projects particularly in the e-governance area. “With 60% research labs set up by multinational companies, we consider the IT & ITES sector as a big market for the company. In case of small-and-medium enterprises, we will focus on the textile belt of Tirupur and automobile auxiliary units in Hosur,” said Mr Kumar. Intel had a very successful first quarter in 2004 mainly because of the good take off of the SMB initiative in India, where SMBs account for about 45% of the overall consumption of personal computers. In the first quarter, laptop sales also increased 100% over the corresponding quarter of the previous year. “We expect a higher growth during the second quarter of the current year. In the first quarter, despite the cut in duty on computer components and the consequent drop in the PC prices, we did not witness significant sales. Moreover, due to the ongoing elections, a number of government projects and tenders have been deferred,” said Mr Kumar. Intel is also looking at the option of working with telecom service providers to promote broadband penetration in the country.

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