Education sector drives PC sales in Pune

The education sector and the home segment have been the principal drivers pushing the sales of personal computers in Pune.

Interestingly, the sale of laptops is also catching up fast and is getting close to the sale of desktop PCs in the city.

Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the ninth Pune IT Expo here, Sunil Gugale, vice-president of the Computer and Media Dealers' Association (CMDA), said the city had been ahead of all other markets in India in terms of the sale of PCs.

"Pune clocked a growth of over 40 per cent in the sale of PCs last year, compared with a growth rate of 20-25 per cent in the whole country," he said.

A very high student population, a well-entrenched class of self-employed professionals as well as an ever increasing number of women PC users were driving the PC sales in Pune, he said, adding that the institutions of higher learning had made it a practice to give a personal computer to every student.

Additionally, the growing number of IT companies, and an expanding BPO sector had led to a significant rise in the sale of PCs, he said.

Commenting on the trend, Gugle said the number of buyers of laptop computers was also increasing, as people find it convenient and stylish to own a laptop than a desktop computer.

The fall in prices of laptops had also made them popular. Of the total sale of 10,000 PCs in Pune each month, the number of laptops sold accounted for more than half, he said.

The expo, which will be on till December 24 witnessed participation of IT hardware majors such as HP, HCL, Acer and many others. An attraction of the show is an industrial PC used in airplanes and submarines for extremely high-end operations that need complete reliability, he informed.

Managing Director of Sakal Papers Limited Pratap Pawar inaugurated the show on Thursday.