Buoyed by the buying sentiment in the market, personal computer (PC) sales grew by 26 per cent to cross the 6.3 million unit mark in 2006-07. The Manufacturer's Association for Information Technology (MAIT), in its bi-annual Industry Performance Review, projected PC sales to touch 8 million units in 2008. It attributed the projected growth to strong macro-economic conditions and a strong buying sentiment.MAIT executive director Vinnie Mehta said: "The mood in the IT hardware industry is buoyant in the face of rising demand arising on the back of industrial and infrastructure growth as well as the rise in incomes and falling prices of IT products." He added: "Domestic demand is likely to gain further momentum in 2007, which has been declared as the year of the broadband."Laptop sales, which increased by 97 per cent, were identified as the key diver in the growing IT consumption. The affordabilty factor has led to the notebook share increasing from 9 per cent in the total PC share in the last fiscal, to 13 per cent in 2006-07. Moreover, while the consumption of the notebook PCs in the business segment grew by 41 per cent, the study indicated that the household segment now accounts for over a fifth of the total markets -- a five-fold increase.Desktop sales too witnessed a 19 per cent growth -- increasing from over 4.6 million recorded in the previous year to an approximated 5.5 million in the current fiscal. Household consumption now accounts for 26 per cent of the total desktop market, with sales crossing 1.4 million units, while the business segment continued to dominate the market accounting for 74 per cent of the market -- an increase of 18 per cent from the last fiscal.Telecom, banking and financial service sectors (BFSI), education and BPO-IT enabled services led the demand in PC segment, e-governance initiatives from union and state governments were also identified as the catalysts for the high demands in the PC space. The e-governance activities led to a 126 per cent increase in government consumption.In terms of the regional break-up, the northern parts of India overtook the Southern states by accounting for 31 per cent of the total desktop consumption, showing a growth of 59 per cent. The West, witnessed a 5 per cent growth in this segment accounting for 27 per cent of the total desktop consumption. The smaller towns accounted for 60 per cent of the total PC sales an increase of 33 per cent from 54 per cent last fiscal, while the top four metros accounted for 32 per cent of the total desktop purchases, an increase of 15 per cent.Multinational brands grew their percentage share by 33 per cent year-on-year from 35 per cent to 39 per cent this year. In Indian brands, however, suffered a decline with the year-on-year their percentage figures declining from 28 per cent to 23 per cent -- recording a 2 per cent decline. The study also revealed that the overall printer sales declined one per cent to reach 1.49 million units, though they are forecast to cross 1.8 million units in 2007-08. The UPS market however grew by 80 per cent to reach 2.17 million units in sales. This robust growth was attributing to the high level of powercuts in the country by Vinnie Mehta.A robust growth was also seen in the number of active internet entities, with the figures increasing from 4.12 million last year to 6 million subscriptions. The internet penetration in the top 22 cities is still dominated by the household segment which accounts for 67 per cent of the total active internet entities.Highlights#Total PC sales: over 6.3 million units with 26% growth, projected to touch 8 million by 2008#Laptop sales : increased by 97%, increased from 9% to 13% in total PC share#Desktop sales: 19% growth from 4.6 million to 5.5 million#Telecom, BFSI, education, BPO-ITeS and e-governence led the highest demand verticals for PCs#MNCs grew percentage share from 35% to 39%, while Indian companies declined from 28% to 23%#Printer market declined by 1%#Active internet entities increased from 4.12 million to 6 million
