Lenovo expects around 20 pc revenue growth in India this fiscal

PC maker Lenovo is looking to increase its India revenues by around 16-20 per cent in the current fiscal, which will be double the industry's growth rate, a top company official said.

Traditional PC shipments in India dropped 8.3 per cent to 2.15 million units in the the January-March 2019 period, according to market research firm IDC.

"Market is looking very stable in 2019-20. IDC is projecting it to be flat. My view is that in revenue it will grow maybe 8-10 per cent and in volumes it will be 3-4 per cent. We will grow every business in double digits in terms of revenue and volume both... at least double the market growth," Lenovo India Managing Director and CEO Rahul Agarwal told PTI.

According to IDC, Lenovo had the third highest market share of 25.2 per cent in overall personal computer segment in the first quarter. It missed the second spot to Dell by a narrow margin. HP led the market with 28.1 per cent share.

Lenovo India has 21-22 per cent share in the enterprise segment and 19-20 per cent each in the consumer and small and medium business (SMB) segments, Agarwal said.

Lenovo counts tablet business as a separate category in which it commands an estimated 33 per cent market share.

"We have aggressive plans. Our strategy is growth. We are very watchful. We want to be profitable. We want to sell premium products, which is Rs 50,000 above -- there our strategy is (selling) gaming PCs and thin and light PCs. We are number one in the thin and light PC segment. In SMB we will have more partners, we will reach more customers," Agarwal said.

Lenovo's share in commercial PC segment increased during the first quarter of 2019 on account of a contract it bagged from ELCOT (Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu).

"Last two years we have been growing our share in PC and tablet. We will continue on that path. One in three devices in India should be Lenovo. In tablets we have achieved it. In PC we have to achieve. Right now, we have Lenovo as one in five device. But we are not in a hurry," Agarwal said.

There is no big factor that will boost the PC business in India, he added.

While there are projections of business growth in the technology segment with 5G coming in India, Agarwal said the company is reworking on its mobile phone sales strategy and does not see much impact in the current fiscal on overall business due to the next generation technology.

"Between 3G to 4G life did not change dramatically. Quality of phone calls has gone down, but data has improved. I don't know how 5G will change our lives. Data will keep growing. Today everyone cries about the phone call," Agarwal said.

Presently, Lenovo makes some of its commercial PCs in India, while rest are imported from China.

Agarwal said there is little benefit in manufacturing PCs in India as the market size is very small and there are no export incentives offered by the government.

"We have supply chain set up in China. To disrupt it and set up manufacturing chain in India there should be a good reason.

"Today on export there is hardly any incentives. If the government gives 3-4 per cent incentives and tax breaks on export, I think a lot of people will start moving in here," he said.