Recession hits PC growth in India

Posted on 15-07-2009

Apparently the recession took its toll on the growth of PC sales across India in the last fiscal year. The total PC sales – that includes desktop computers, notebooks and netbooks – between April 2008 and March 2009 were 67.9 lakh units, registering a decline in growth of 7 per cent over the previous year.

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The biggest drop was in purchases of laptops, with the growth plummeting to negative 17 per cent. In fiscal year 2007-08, it had reached a high of 114 per cent.

“Consumer sentiment was subdued due to uncertainty in the economy in 2008-09 which impacted the consumption of IT in the country,” said Vinnie Mehta, Executive Director of MAIT – the apex body representing India’s IT hardware, training and R&D services sectors – which conducted the market research.

Mehta added that netbooks seemed to be insulated from the huge sales drop, adding further credence to recent reports that netbooks might capture 20 per cent of the worldwide PC market.

Still, the report is optimistic in its future outlook, as it projects a growth of 7 per cent for fiscal year 2009-10 due to the stabilizing economy.

On the Internet side, India has added 14 lakh Internet subscriptions, bringing the entire Internet-using population base above the 6 crore mark. The businesses segment now accounts for 28 per cent of the total active Internet entities, while households comprise the remaining 72 per cent.

Meanwhile, a separate report released by TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) states that the country’s entire base of wireless telephone users is now at almost 40 crores.

In the period January-March 2009, 4.487 crore new wireless users were added (a growth of 12.39%), taking the subscriber base to 39.176 crore.

The total telecom subscriber base – which includes wireless and wired connections – now stands at 42.972 crore.

When they say India is the biggest market for telecom companies and phone manufacturers, now you know they’re serious about it!

Source: iGovernment, LiveMint