PC sales to ride on boom in services sector

The personal computer market is expected to benefit from the boom in the services sector, with shipments predicted to grow by around 20 per cent, to over six million units.

The forecast comes in the backdrop of two important trends "" domestic branded personal computer (PC) makers have increased their market share and smaller towns have become engines of growth.

According to the Manufacturers' Association for Information Technology (MAIT), forecast for the current fiscal follows 32 per cent growth in 2005-06, when 5.04 million PCs were sold.

Commenting on the industry's performance in 2005-06, MAIT President Rajendra Kumar said, "The growth in PC sales can be attributed to a significant consumption by industry verticals such as telecom, banking and financial services, manufacturing, retail and BPO."

The four metros accounted for 33 per cent of the total PCs purchased in 2005-06, while their share in overall sales decreased from the last year's 38 per cent.

PC sales for Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Pune grew 50 per cent and they accounted for 13 per cent of the market.

In other towns, personal computer sales increased 35 per cent to account for 54 per cent of the total number of PCs purchased in 2005-06.

Desktop sales crossed 4.6 million units in 2005-06, registering an annual growth of 27 per cent compared to the 3.6 million units sold in 2004-05. Notebook shipments touched 0.43 million units in 2005-06, 144 per cent more than the 0.17 million shipped the year before.

The overall printer sales grew to 1.5 million units, 28 per cent over the 1.17 million figure in 2004-05. The growth projection for 2006-07 is 23 per cent and sales are expected to cross 1.8 million units.

The market share of assembled PCs slid from 41 per cent of the total PC sales in 2004-05 to 37 per cent in 2005-06. The market share of Indian brands grew from 24 per cent in 2004-05 to 28 per cent in 2005-06, registering total growth of 48 per cent in 2005-06.