The computer industry has seen a continuous increase in computing power, greater refinement in its components and a decrease in their prices. However, recently, this trend has been reversed in India and in the world, for two entirely unrelated developments.
The sealing of Nepal border due to elections in the country has led to a quantum jump in the prices of RAM chips. Earlier, the 32 mb RAM chip costing Rs 1,100-Rs 1,200 has now risen to Rs 2,900.
The reason being smuggling from Nepal having come to an end and till the borders remain sealed, the prices will continue to remain buoyant.
In addition, there has been a general rise in prices of all components due to the imminent Y2K problem. There has been a spurt in demand , as the companies are trying to replace their computers/components since they had not guarded themselves against the Y2K problem.
This has led to a spurt in demand, and the manufacturers were perhaps not prepared, said Upendra Kumar, MD, UPTEC, for this spurt.
The Mother board , which earlier used to cost Rs 2500 is now priced at Rs 3,600. CPU, whose entry level seller's price was Rs 3000 has seen a spurt of 20 per cent. Hard disk 4-3 GB drive used to cost Rs 4000, but now it is selling for Rs 4500. Colour monitor prices have risen from Rs 900 to Rs 6,900.
