Price cuts push PC sales up 37%

Besides dropping prices, PC sales also increased because of corporate
consumption and buoyancy in small towns. 17.1 lakh desktop PC units were sold
during the H1 of 2004-05

Triggered by substantial price cuts and the subsequent upsurge in demand,
desktop PC sales grew at 37 percent year-on-year to 17.1 lakh units during the
first half of the current fiscal, according to MAIT's IT industry performance
mid-year review 2004-05.

According to the findings of its industry performance review for
April-September 2004, the PC sales are expected to touch four million units this
fiscal. The increasing consumption witne-ssed in the second half of 2003- 04 in
the wake of price drops, high corporate consumption and buoyancy in small towns
continued during the first half of the current fiscal, resulting in significant
market growth, MAIT said.

"The high growth in PC sales can be attributed, on one hand, to
increased consumption by industry verticals such as telecom, banking and
financial services, manufacturing, retail and BPO/IT-enabled services as well as
major e-governance initiatives of the central and state governments. On the
other hand, the highly price sensitive Indian market has responded positively to
the drop in prices, especially at the entry-level," explained Rajen-dra
Kumar, President, MAIT.

Interestingly, the smaller and lesser-known regional brands and unbranded
systems acc-ounted for 44 percent of the PC sales in H1/2004-05. The Indian
brands accounted for 23 percent of the market while the MNC brands accounted for
33 percent.

In absolute terms, the proportion of the Indian brands grew by 57 percent;
MNCs by 96 percent while the assembled by only five percent," Kumar added.

In HI, 2003-04, the assemb-led PCs commanded a 57 percent market share,
however, with increased sales from the branded players, especially the MNCs,
their proportion reduced to 44 percent in H1, 2004-05.

MAIT's Industry Perfor-mance Review - ITOPs, conduc-ted by market research
firm IMRB (Indian Market Research Bureau), is bi-annual in nature and aims to
address the hard-ware sector's efforts to manage the business environment,
gauge the market potential and consumer trends.

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