For the first time, PC sales fall 7%: MAIT

Total sales of personal computers (PCs) between April 2008 and March 2009 were 6.79 million units, down 7 per cent year-on-year (y-o-y), due to the slowing economy, said a report by the Manufacturers’ Association for Information Technology (MAIT).

Decline in consumption in both establishments and households impacted the consumption of notebooks, where the drop in sales was most pronounced.
 

CONKING OUT
Product category (in %)	H1-2008/09	H2-2008/09
Desktops	55	45
Notebooks	51	49
Servers	61	39

Unlike previous years, where sales in the second half of the year were significantly higher than those in the first-half, 2008-09 was different. With business sentiment gradually gaining momentum, the report said that PC consumption in fiscal 2009-10 was expected to cross 7.3 million units, 7 per cent growth. This is linked with the number of active internet entities, that increased to 8.6 million subscriptions by March 2009. This figure was 7.2 million units in March 2008. The number of internet users in India now exceeds 60 million.

Consumption of netbooks exceeded 70,000 units in fiscal 2008-09. “The year also witnessed deviations from the traditional downward trend in pricing for IT products, as the dollar continued to be significantly strong, compared to the rupee. This was mitigated, to an extent, by price drops due to technological advancement and due to intense competition. With signs of revival in the domestic economy, we expect positive growth for PCs and other IT products for 2009-10,” said Vinnie Mehta, executive director, MAIT.

In 2008-09, multinational brands accounted for 51 per cent of the total desktop market, growing 8 per cent over the previous year, while the market share of Indian brands fell to 18 per cent from 22 per cent. Assembled and unbranded systems witnessed a fall in their market share to 31 per cent from 33 per cent in the previous fiscal.

The report found that the sales of servers declin=ed 2 per cent, as Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad, the key IT-ITeS centres, witnessed 78 per cent decline in consumption of servers.