Poor demand pulls down PC market 25 per cent in Q1: IDC

NEW DELHI: Poor end-user demand pulled down PC shipments 25 per cent to 2.03 million units in the country during the first quarter this year, research firm IDC said today.

The shipments in India were 2.71 million units in Q1 of 2013.

Business optimism has climbed to its highest in the last 3-4 years and is expected to restore volume growth in the PC market over the next 12 months, the research firm said.

"Though recovery is unlikely to happen immediately, the challenging economic conditions are expected to revive, bringing back consumer confidence," IDC India Market Analyst (Client Devices) Manish Yadav said.

The impact of currency fluctuations is also expected to relieve through price control and inflation control measures, he added.

" Vendors are expected to boost their sales during the festive period in the second half of the year. For the near term, Q2 may witness some growth on the back of education season but the growth is expected to be irregular," Yadav said.

Consumer PC shipments in Q1 stood at 1.01 million units, representing a drop of 4.3 per cent sequentially over Q4 2013.

"Consumer's sentiments plummeted further due to high inflation and soaring prices owing to rupee fluctuations. Concerns over the economic conditions remained a key drag and Q1 was no different," IDC India Research Manager (Client Devices) Kiran Kumar said.

The overall commercial PC segment recorded a total shipments of 1.02 million units, showing a marginal increase of 4.1 per cent sequentially over October-December 2013.

"The overall commercial PC market showed first signs of improvement over the last 9-10 months as investment activities have improved in the banking and government verticals," Kumar said.

Vendors are optimistic about the overall market sentiments and believe it will pick up gradually among other verticals too in the course of 2014, he added.

Dell replaced HP as the market leader with a share of 23.1 per cent at the end of March quarter.

"We have done well on the back of the renewed approach to both consumer and commercial business. We have expanded our reach and brought in products across price categories that has helped us get to the number one position," Dell India Executive Director and GM (Consumer and Small Business) P Krishnakumar said.

HP, which dominated the India PC market in 2013 across product categories, stood second with a share of 20.4 per cent in Q1 2014, followed by Lenovo (14.9 per cent) and Acer (10.9 per cent).