MNC brands score over Indian PCs, says Gartner

Personal computer brands of multinational corporations have overtaken Indian PC brands in terms of sales, with only HCL withstanding competition from global players such as Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo and Dell.

According to a recent report by the independent research group Gartner, Indian PC players HCL, Zenith, Wipro and PCS put together managed just 14 per cent of desktop PC sales in the country and another 6 per cent of laptop sales In the first half of this year.

HCL, which has withstood the stiff competition so far, appears to be losing out to MNCs in the consumer segment.

The Indian PC landscape is divided among MNCs, local brands and white box (assembled) vendors.

Over the past few years, although local brands have grown at a steady pace, they are still way behind the growth registered by MNC brands.

PC shipments by Indian vendors grew 18 per cent year-on-year last year against 35 per cent y-o-y in 2005.

On the other hand, shipments by MNCs grew a sizeable 73 per cent in 2006 and 50 per cent in 2005.

"Unable to withstand the pressure of the marketing blitz and the reach of MNC brands, local brands have almost exited the consumer segment and are rethinking their strategy to focus on government, education, small and mid-size business (SMB) segments," said Diptarup Chakraborti, principal research analyst for Gartner's client computing group.