Dell eyes top slot in PC market

Steve Felice, Dell president (Asia Pacific and Japan), calls it an "aspirational goal". But his intent is clear: Dell is aiming for market leadership in the Indian personal computer market in a few years from now.

Latest IDC figures show that with a 7.3 per cent share, Dell is placed fourth in the market after Hewlett-Packard (20.3 per cent), HCL (13.9 per cent) and Lenovo (9.4 per cent). A year ago, Dell was sixth in the pecking order.

Dell's trump card will be the production facility it is planning to set up in Chennai for $30 million.

Once the plant starts operational by June 2007, Dell will be able to reduce the delivery time to its customers. At present, the company feeds the Indian market from its unit in Penang, Malaysia.

And it takes up to 15 days to execute an order. "With our factory in Chennai, we will be able to knock off several days from the delivery time," says Felice.

More importantly, the Chennai plant will help Dell widen its market as it will be able to sell to customers that can pay only in rupees and not in dollars. "That accounts for almost 70 per cent of the market," says Felice. To develop this market, Dell entered the public sector and small business & home segments some three quarters ago.

Local production, Felice hopes, will also help Dell offer its products at lower prices. "There are some import duties we will be able to avoid," said Felice.

Besides, it will help Dell offer its full bouquet of products including printers and projectors. Felice is also banking on the Dell sales model to get the better of his competitors in India.

The company has over 450 field technicians on its rolls who provide round the clock service in 600 cities in the country.

"In the notebook business, we are the only company that will go home to service our product," says he. As each Dell product is built to order, Felice says it helps diagnose problems better and faster. "Our Indian business has an annual run rate of $400 million (Rs 1,800 crore). So it is clear that the model is working," he added.