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Vipin V. Nair

NEW DELHI, March 14

AFTER growing at over 40 per cent in the previous two years, desktop PC sales in the country crashed in 2001 to clock a meagre 10 per cent growth as depressed economic conditions took a severe toll on the industry.

Total PC sales in 2001 stood at 17,58,212 units as against 16,04,170 units, industry sources told Business Line, quoting a report by International Data Corporation (IDC) India.

In 1999, during which period India achieved the landmark one million PC shipments in a single calendar year, PC sales had grown by around 42 per cent, while in 2000, the growth was 45 per cent. The industry sources said total commercial desktop shipments in 2001 was 11,96,555 units over 10,60,181 in 2000, growing at about 13 per cent. Consumer desktops grew by just three per cent to 5,61,657 units, up from 5,43,989 units.

They said the unorganised segment continued its sway over the PC market and improved its market share in 2001 to 62.1 per cent from 59.5 per cent in the previous year, much to the chagrin of the branded manufacturers.

The unorganised segment accounted for as much as 75 per cent sales of consumer PCs and 56 per cent of commercial PCs, the sources said.

Delhi-based HCL Infosystems emerged the largest branded PC vendor in the country during the year with a market share of 8.6 per cent, beating last year's market leader Compaq.

HCL Insys sold 1,51,104 units in 2001 while Compaq sold 1,47,406 units (market share: 8.4 per cent). In the previous year, these companies had sold 1,18,902 and 1,35,022 units respectively. Both the players gained market share in the commercial PC segment in 2001, but the year saw HCL's market share dipping in consumer PCs from 7.2 per cent in 2000 to 5.3 per cent.

Compaq retained its number one status in consumer PCs with sales of 52,280 units (market share: 9.3 per cent). A prominent loser in the year has been Hewlett-Packard (HP) which saw its total sales drop by 12 per cent from 95,958 units to 84,098 units. Its market share fell to 4.8 per cent from six per cent.

Dell too witnessed a slide in its sales in the year from 40,894 units in 2000 to 35,442 units. The other US-based computing major, IBM, however, grew by 12 per cent during the year to achieve a total sale of 72,428 units, up from 64,468 units (market share: 4.1 per cent).

In both the consumer as well as commercial segments, IBM improved its performance. Apart from HCL Insys, the only other domestic manufacturer who could notch up growth in the year was Wipro as the other two local players, Zenith and Vintron, had to contend with lower sales during 2001.

Though Wipro suffered a massive 53 per cent fall in its consumer PC business, a 14-per cent increase in sales of its commercial PCs helped the company manage a growth of two per cent in the year. Its total sales were 64,710 units.

While Zenith sold 64,412 units, down from 75,454 units in 2000, total sales of Vintron stood at 25,644 units as against 29,468 units, the sources said.

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