Lenovo eyes top slot in Indian PC market

KOLKATA: Lenovo India is aiming for a market share of over 20 per cent to become the leader in the Indian PC market by the end of the current fiscal, a company official said.

"Currently, we are among the top three players in the Indian PC market with a market share of 18.1 per cent. By the end of March, we expect that the market share would cross 20 per cent, making Lenovo the market leader," Lenovo India Director (Marketing) Bhaskar Choudhuri told reporters here today.

He said the growth in the PC (desktops and laptops) market in India was relatively flat at the moment. To increase PC penetration, he said Lenovo was targeting small towns, which will generate demand and drive sales.

PC density in India is 10 per cent at present, he added.

Lenovo has set up a PC manufacturing plant at Puducherry where it manufactures the `Thinkpad' series, which it acquired from IBM. Other PC products are being imported from China, he said.

Lenovo would open additional 350 exclusive stores across the country as well.

Asked whether the dip in Lenovo's profits globally had affected Indian operations, Choudhury said, "India is considered a strong market for the Chinese company although contribution to overall sales is below 10 per cent."

Lenovo's India currently employs 600 people.

Regarding smartphones, Choudhury said that Lenovo has adopted an aggressive strategy to capture a decent marketshare.

He said that the company is among the top five players in the Indian smartphone market with 6.6 per cent share, including that of Motorola.

Out of 6.6 per cent share, Lenovo's own market share was 4.4 per cent during the April-June quarter, he said.

"Our next aim is to be among the top three players in the Indian smartphone market," he said.

Lenovo started manufacturing smartphones in India with Singapore-based Flextronics at Chennai.

Lenovo, which had launched an array of smartphones under Rs 10,000, will launch a new model next week, he said.