Intel Corp Chief Predicts Boom In Indian Home Computer Market
The home computer market in India is set to swell to the 2.5 million mark within the next two to three years from the present level of around one million, said Craig Barrett, president and chief operating officer of Intel Corp, the worlds largest manufacturer of computer chips.
Within the next to three years the market will grow to reach 2.5 million PCs. However, it is important to remember that this is just the beginning. For this growth will continue to take place for the next ten to twenty years, Barrett told Business Standard.
Intels strategy to cash in on this growth, albeit a longer term one, is to promote education through PCs and creating awareness about computers at large. This, in fact, seems to be very much in line with Intels market development plans in emerging markets like Taipei, Mexico etc.
However, given the poor infrastructure in the country, the company has no plans, in the near future, to set up a manufacturing base. Establishing a manufacturing base involves an investment between one and two billion dollars and unless there is significant improvement in critical infrastructure needs like power and telecom, I dont think we can think about setting a manufacturing base in the near future, Barrett said.
Speaking at the National Science Centre in New Delhi yesterday, Barrett called upon the industry and the government to invest in the IT sector.
Citing the finance ministers budget speech in which P Chidambaram had said that India could emerge as a world leader in the IT industry Barrett said Intel wanted to be actively involved in the development of an information technology base in India.
As part of its market development strategy, the $20.8-billion US company, which has an 80 per cent share of the world market for computer chips, will launch a nation-wide advertisement campaign to impress upon both parents and families, the importance of computers and organise education seminars in major Indian cities to provide schools with training, information and awareness of the pricing of computers.
Intel also plans to open another cyberskool in Bangalore, in addition to the ones already existing in Delhi and Mumbai.
The Intel Cyberskool is a state-of-the-art multimedia computer lab to provide children, parents and teachers with hands-on exposure to multimedia computers.