Printer market in India suffers due to recession

By siliconindia   |   Monday, 24 August 2009, 21:17 IST
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Bangalore: The combined printer, copier and multi-functional product (MFP) market in India declined by 12.7 percent in the first half of 2009 due to global economic slowdown, according to a Gartner report. "The impact of the global recession is clearly visible in Indian market as consumers and businesses are either delaying or canceling their decision to buy print devices," said Vishal Tripathi, Principal Research Analyst, Gartner. According to the report, the shipments totaled nearly 1.1 million units in the first half of the year. "New sales are also getting impacted due to the credit crunch and tight budgets. However, with the decline in hardware sales, there is increased focus from vendors on their document management software and services capabilities to help businesses reduce and better manage costs," said Tripathi. The top five vendors in Indian printer, copier and MFP market have all recorded a decline in the first half of 2009, with Canon being the only exception. Canon has 21 percent share in A3 Flatbed Copier/MFP and has emerged as leader in the first half of 2009. Cannon shipped 178,100 pieces in total, an increase of 22.2 percent compared to the first half of 2008. Even though Hewlett-Packard (HP) declined from 53.3 percent in the first half of 2008 to 49.8 percent in first half of 2009, it is still the market leader. HP shipped 562,300 pieces in total, a decline of 18.7 percent compared to 692,100 pieces shipped in first half of 2008. Epson shipped 143,400 pieces, a decline of 9.2 percent as compared to 157,900 in the first half of 2008. Samsung Electronics shipped 89,800 as compared to 90,000 in the first half of 2008. While TVSE shipped 70,100 pieces in the first half of this year, 10 percent less than the same period last year. "With the freeze on hardware spending and more focus on cost cutting, vendors are looking at managed print services as an alternative solution to help users cut costs and better manage their print fleet. This will also allow them to save money on capital expenditure," said Tripathi. He feels that print services can help businesses understand and reduce the cost associated with printing and copying.