Indian PC market dipped 5.9% in Q3 of 2012: Gartner

Market impacted by high inflation, global economic uncertainty and limited share of wallet

The combined desk-based and mobile PC market in India totalled nearly 2.9 million units in the third quarter of 2012, a 5.9% decrease over the third quarter of 2011, according to  information technology research and advisory company Gartner Inc.

“Consumers accounted for 47% of total PC sales in the third quarter of 2012 compared to 55% in the third quarter of 2011,” Vishal Tripathi, principal research analyst at Gartner, said in a release on Wednesday.

“This emphasises the fact that despite the festive season and availability of various end user schemes on PCs, the market was impacted by high inflation, global economic uncertainty and limited share of wallet as consumers preferred to spend on other consumer durables,” he added.

Execution of the Tamil Nadu government order, and a strong increase in the consumer space, helped Lenovo retain the number one position in the third quarter of 2012 with a market share of 17%. Hewlett-Packard ’s PC shipment grew 10%, while Dell declined 22% compared to the third quarter of 2011.

Multinational brands contributed to more than half of the total PC shipments in the first quarter of 2012, with shipments from Acer, Dell, HP and Lenovo representing 60.6% of the market. Local vendor HCL’s PC market share dropped to 3.4% in the third quarter of 2012, as it experienced a 43% year-on-year decline from the third quarter of 2011, the Gartner report stated.

White boxes (including parallel import), which accounted for 47% of the overall desktop market, declined 35% in the third quarter of 2012 compared to the same period last year. mobile PCs, with a 23% year-on-year increase, helped drive overall market growth, it said.