Dell beats HP to become top PC seller in India

Dell has pipped Hewlett-Packard (HP) as the number one seller of personal computers (PCs) in India for the first time.

For the quarter ended June, the overall PC market in India grew 34 per cent year-on-year, according to IDC’s India quarterly PC tracker. PCs include desktops and notebooks.

While Dell managed to grab a market share of 15.2 per cent in the second quarter (April-June) of 2010, HP had a share of 14.3 per cent. HP was leading the PC market share for the past six years.

Dell, for the first time, took over from HP in notebook sales in the fourth quarter (October-December) of 2009, with a market share of 26.3 per cent.

In the second quarter of 2010, in terms of notebook PC shipments, Dell reclaimed the top spot, with a market share of 29.2 per cent. HP was at second position, followed by Acer.

“An exciting product portfolio, strong channel support and an effective after sales service network are becoming increasingly important to sustain growth in this competitive market,” said Sumanta Mukherjee, lead PC analyst, IDC India.

Meanwhile, sequentially, the PC market grew 5.8 per cent, said the IDC report.

Desktop PC sales accounted for nearly two-thirds of total PC sales at 1.56 million units, representing a 24 per cent increase year-on-year. Sales of notebook computers grew 61 per cent year-on-year, recording 0.8 million shipments.

“The April-June quarter traditionally shows a small sequential dip in PC sales. The sequential growth of six per cent in overall India PC shipments in the second quarter of 2010 points to the continuing economic revival,” said Anirban Banerjee, associate vice-president, Research, IDC India.

“Timely rollout of 3G services in the country will influence the overall PC market fortunes in the first half of 2011, especially in the mini-notebook PC and notebook PC segments,” Sumanta added.