Economic recovery drives IT hardware market in Q3

BANGALORE, INDIA: MAIT, the apex body representing the hardware, training and R&D services sectors of the IT industry in the country, announced the findings of its Quarterly Industry Performance Review for the quarter October-December (OND) of fiscal 2009-10. 

The total PC sales between October and December 2009, with desktop computers, notebooks and netbooks together, were 2 million (20 lakh) units, registering a growth of 42 per cent over the same period last Fiscal. The sales of desktops stood at 1.35 million (13.5 lakh) units, while netbooks and notebooks taken together recorded a consumption of 0.66 million (6.6 lakh) units growing 27 percent and 90 percent, respectively, on a year-on-year basis.

 

Commenting on the industry performance, Vinnie Mehta, MAIT Executive Director, said: “The impact of the global economic recession is now well behind us and the IT hardware industry in India is once again on a growth path. All segments of the IT hardware industry – computers, peripherals and networking products recorded impressive growth in the Q3/2009-10 over the same period last year. 

"The corporate sector, which had displayed significant caution in IT-spending over the past five quarters, led the growth in consumption in the OND quarter. Among the verticals,consumption in the IT market was led by telecom, banking, education, SMEs, BPO/IT-enabled services and the e-governance initiatives of the Centre and the state government. Vibrancy in consumption in households and smaller towns was also visible in the quarter. The industry is hopeful that the sales would further improve in the fourth (January-March) quarter. Overall PC sales for 2009-10 are expected to cross 7.3 million (73 lakh) units, registering a 7 percent annual growth.”

 

MAIT’s Industry Performance Review -- ITOPs, conducted by leading market research firm IMRB (Indian Market Research Bureau), is bi-annual and aims to address the hardware sector’s efforts to manage the business environment, gauge the market potential and consumer trends. The module to monitor the industry performance every quarter alternates with the half-yearly review, using the supply side estimation model involving data collection from the top IT vendors and leading channel players. This round of the quarterly study (October-December 2009-10) involved data collation from the major vendors and around 400 resellers/vendors in the top sixteen metros in India. The quarterly review covers the market size estimation for desktop PCs, notebooks, servers and peripherals – printers and UPS.

 

As per the MAIT-IMRB study, the assembled desktops – the smaller lesser known regional brands and unbranded systems, accounted for thirty-five per cent of the desktop sales in Q3/2009-10, while the proportion of the branded desktops was 65 per cent. MNC brands accounted for 52 percent of the market, while the Indian brands accounted for the rest 13 percent.

With improving business sentiment and to meet the demands of growing business, the establishments segment invested in enhancement of their existing network capabilities and modernization of their IT infrastructure leading to a thirty per cent growth in the servers deployment in Q3/2009-10 on a year-on-year basis. Over 27,000 units of servers were consumed in the third-quarter of 2009-10.

Printers market also bounced back in Q3/2009-10.  Led by high sales in the establishments segment, consumption of Laser printers witnessed an impressive growth of 70 percent. Consumption of Dot Matrix printers (DMP), on the back of robust institutional sales, grew by thirteen percent in OND 2009-10 compared to the same period last year.

Sales of Inkjet printers grew 17 percent in the OND 2009-10 quarter over that of the last year. While households and small businesses have been the traditional drivers of consumption of inkjet printers, the retail segment also emerged as a significant consumer of the Inkjet printers.

With improved consumption in the establishments and the households alike, the UPS market grew by 28 percent on an annual basis in the third quarter of 2009-10 registering 0.56 million (5.6 lakh) units in sales.