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Notebook sales in India are skyrocketing
By agencies
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Wednesday, 25 January 2006, 20:30 IST
MUMBAI: With a growth rate of 94 percent in the first half of the current financial year, the number and rate of notebooks purchased in India are already at par with the global trend.
Notebook sales are so brisk that they have even outperformed desktop purchases in 2005. At present, desktop-to-notebook ratio stands at 15:1, an improvement from last years 22:1. During the period under review, 153,000 notebooks have been sold. Just two years ago, the number of units purchased was hardly 36,000. Desktop sales also grew by 36 percent, with 2.34 million units sold this year.
In this, big firms accounted for 61percent of the total notebook sales. Medium-sized businesses and small enterprises made 21 percent and 17 percent of purchases respectively and households comprised of 13 percent. Notebook preference in India has been mainly attributed to price cuts. Current prices are 50 percent less than last years rates. The amount currently ranges from $800-$1000, significantly lower than last years average of $1500-$2000. The desktops edge over the notebook in terms of costs has already been narrowed to $200.
Other factor that is responsible for increase in notebooks popularity is the emergence of new professions. These jobs require Indians to have constant access to a computer and to the Internet regardless of where he or she is located. Government support has also contributed to the rise in notebook demands. IT infrastructure is also improving with more and more areas having wireless Internet access.
Though prices of locally manufactured notebooks are lower than those made by multinational companies (MNC) such as HP and Acer, users still prefer the latter because of their efficiency.