HP is looking to expand its ‘Renew’ programme in India

HP is set to expand its ‘Renew’ programme in India, which offers a range of refurbished HP computing products, in a bid to promote circularity and sustainability. The company considers India to be one of its key markets for this programme in particular, not just because of the sheer size of the market but also HP's established brand presence in the country, and is targeting governments and large private enterprises for this programme, Grant Hoffman, executive vice president and chief supply chain officer at Poly, which was acquired by HP last year, told ET.

Refurbished electronics refer to devices that were previously owned and have undergone an inspection, repair, and testing procedure in line with their manufacturer's standards and efficiency. They are sold at lower costs compared to brand-new items, which makes them a cost-effective choice for customers while still offering reliable performance and a warranty of some kind.

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HP announced its first-ever PC refurbishment programme at the Imagine event at their Palo Alto headquarters last week, which it said would be the first tool in a suite of services it is terming Renew Solutions. It said the current offering will be available in France this year, expanding to other regions in 2024. In India, it currently offers a rental model with six or 12-month options but will look to expand its offering shortly to include other aspects of the Renew business model as well.

"We have outlined the Renew Solutions business into three segments—transactional, contractual, and HP certified," Hoffman explained. "I think India is going to end up playing (a part) in all three of those (segments) and today, India is definitely going to play (a part) in two of them—the transactional one, where a customer or company wants to buy a refurbished device or has devices that they would like HP to refurbish for them, and the contractual segment, where customers want a little bit more flexible payment solution offering."

The contractual offering is already operational in India wherein HP would own the device but would dole out some sort of subscription-based model to a customer, who may need the device for say, six or 12 months or any period of time, and want the flexibility to return that device at will.

According to Coherent Market Insights, the global refurbished electronics market is estimated to be valued at $48.29 billion in 2023 and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 10% to touch $94.10 billion by 2030.

"On the India side, today we offer what's called the ADC or annual device contract, which is what you would consider like this contractual offering," Hoffman explained. "Within the next couple of weeks, we will be launching an offering on the transactional side in India where a customer would be able to purchase a refurbished device from HP."

He was quick to add that the quantities are limited to start with but it represents an important move towards HP dipping its toes on the transactional side of the refurbishing equation. He added that the ‘HP certified’ segment should also make an India foray at some point. 'HP certified' relates to a model wherein HP certifies vendors and hence, devices and products purchased from such a vendor would have the confidence of having the manufacturer’s seal of approval for the company's SOPs being met.

"India for us is a top priority—the market is very large (and) the competitiveness in the market fits the Renew Solutions strategy very well," he said. "Much of the activity that we have in front of us is related to large companies, governments, and then the SMB space, where we also believe there is a significant opportunity."

Investment-wise, Hoffman said that HP was looking to pump in a significant amount in the country for this particular project and added that India would be among the top two investment destinations for Renew Solutions for FY24.

(The author was in Palo Alto at the invitation of HP.)