Economic Recovery Drives IT Hardware Market In Q3: MAIT

AIT has recently 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
percent 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 YoY basis.

Vinnie Mehta, Executive Director, MAIT 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 an 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 Center and the state
government." He added, "Vibrancy in consumption in households and smaller towns
was also visible in this 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 seven
percent annual growth."

MAIT's Industry Performance Review was conducted by a market research firm,
Indian Market Research Bureau (IMRB). It is a bi-annual initiative 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 16 metros in India. The quarterly review covers the
market size estimation for desktop PCs, notebooks, servers and peripherals,
printers and UPS. The assembled desktops, smaller lesser-known regional brands
and unbranded systems, accounted for 35 percent of the desktop sales in Q3
2009-10, while the proportion of the branded desktops was 65 percent. MNC brands
accounted for 52 percent of the market, while the Indian brands accounted for 13
percent.

With improving business sentiment and to meet the demands of growing
business, the establishment segment invested in enhancement of their existing
network capabilities and modernization of their IT infrastructure leading to a
30 percent growth in the servers deployment in Q3 2009-10 on a YoY basis. Over
27,000 units of servers were consumed in Q3 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.

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.

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.

DQc News Bureau