Helped by large government orders and notebook sales, the total personal computer market in the country has grown 6.6% to total 2.8 million units in the first quarter of 2012 over the same period last year, research firm Gartner today said.
Mobile PCs, with a 27% increase from the first quarter of 2011, helped drive overall market growth, Gartner said in a statement.
The partial execution of the Tamil Nadu government order helped Lenovo reach the No. 1 position in the first quarter of 2012. Its shipments grow 64% in the reported quarter.
The PC industry is being benefited by Tamil Nadu's aim to give laptop to students of state-aided colleges and high schools to fulfil the pre-election pledge made by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa.
This will add about 9.2 lakh units to total shipments in 2012 and is expected to be a major contributor for an estimated double-digit growth.
With this deal, Gartner estimates the total PC shipments in India to reach 12.5 million units in 2012, up 17% over the last calendar year.
HP's PC shipment grew 21%, whereas Dell declined 11% in comparison to the first quarter of 2011.
White boxes or unbranded PCs (including parallel import), which accounted for 45% of the overall desktop market, declined 20% in Q1 of 2012.
Multinational brands contributed to more than half of the total PC shipments in the first quarter of 2012, with shipments from Acer, Dell, HP and Lenovo representing 54.5% of the market.
Local vendor HCL's market share dropped to 5.8% in the first quarter of 2012, as it experienced a 13% year-on-year decline, Gartner said.
"Consumer buying accounted for 47% of total PC sales in the first quarter of 2012, which is down three per cent from the fourth quarter of 2011," Gartner Principal Research Analyst Vishal Tripathi said.
This underlies the fact that high inflation and increased prices have forced users to either prolong the life of their devices or postpone their purchase decision, he added.
"The increase in excise and import duties also played a part in decision making postponement. The delay in rate contract from DGSND (Directorate General of Supplies & Disposals) did not help market growth," he said.