India HCP market records 9.2% growth in Q2 2012

According to International Data Corporation (IDC), Hard Copy Peripherals (HCP) market in India declined by 4.3% q-o-q in Q2 2012 as expected and stood at 802,063 units but recorded a y-o-y growth of 9.2%.

"Q2 is generally a weaker quarter for all the vendors after a strong Q1 performance reported last quarter which was backed by an increased Laser HCP spending in Government and Education sector. The overall HCP market will bounce back in Q3," commented Nitin Kumar Singh, Sr market analyst, IDC tracking Printer market in India.

"The overall printer market was subdued in Q2 after a strong Q1; consumer sentiments were weak, which adversely affected the HCP market," commented Dr Adwaita Menon, associate director at IDC.

HP continued to be the market leader in the overall printer market with a market share of 45.7% followed by Canon and Epson at second and third positions, with a market share of 19.5% and 11.4% respectively. Canon gained market share in Q2 2012 primarily in the Inkjet category.

"Launch of new models coupled with exciting marketing campaigns by HP and Canon, helped them sustain their dominance in the HCP market, which otherwise witnessed rising pressures owing to Rupee volatility in Q2," commented Mohit Raizada, market analyst at IDC, who tracks the Printer market in India. In addition to the revamp of channel ecosystem in the recent past, new marketing campaigns and increased focus on their flagship models helped Canon in their growth, which was noted to be higher than the industry average in Q2.

"It is expected that the vendors will further increase the printer prices or cut down on the back end schemes to the channel partners in order to drive growth in Q3, as Rupee remains unstable and volatile. We observe that the end user promotions and campaigns by the vendors would however support the overall HCP market in Q3 and generate more demand and help in achieving a double digit sequential growth in Q3 2012," adds Nitin Kumar Singh.