Indian tablet market revives with 22% growth

In Q2 2015, India tablet market clocked 1.04 mn unit shipments

Tablet growth in India continued to see positive growth, even as the global smartphone market witnessed a double-digit growth.  The Indian tablet market grew at a healthy 23 per cent in the second quarter of 2015, recovering from a slow start in the first quarter, said a report of the International Data Corporation’s (IDC).  In the second quarter of 2015, the India tablet market clocked 1.04 million unit shipments with 22 per cent growth over the same period last year and year-to-date growth of 15 per cent.

This was mainly due to the BIS certification deadline on power adapters, which was earlier slated to be May but  was moved to a later period. And hence, a few vendors pushed high volumes of their existing non-BIS compliant inventory into channel during early months of the second quarter of 2015.

Karthik J, senior market analyst, says, “However, for the tablet market to grow further, consumer demand is vital, which is losing sheen as tablet as a category is suffering to justify its use case existence between larger smartphones and Notebook PCs.”

The Indian tablet market continues to grow, as market leaders compensate for shrinking volumes of unbranded players. Demand in the commercial segment continues to rise and this segment witnessed 12.4 per cent shipment growth in the second quarter of 2015 against the first quarter of 2015, even as the volumes doubled up against the same period a year ago.  Owing to a sharp spike in second quarter due to BIS regulation, third quarter of 2015 is likely to have lesser shipment intake. However, on a yearly basis, IDC expects 2015 to post a higher single digit growth over 2014.

The consumer market outlook appears to be stagnant but the commercial segment is anticipated to witness growth, especially through government and education projects.

“A strong differentiating use case specific to tablets, which could either be a solution or a technology itself is required to revive interest in the category. We’ve noticed new use cases such as POS devices, attendance systems, and sales-force automation to drive enterprise demand in the recent past,” added Karthik.

The second quarter of 2015 has been a great quarter for Microsoft as Windows-based tablets’ shipments more than doubled over previous quarter, standing currently at five per cent OS share, said IDC. New Windows-based products launched in Q2 at affordable price points received good response led primarily by brands like iBall, Micromax and Lenovo. Almost three-fourths of tablets sold in India are connected tablets (2G/3G/4G enabled) and 54 per cent are 3G enabled owing to limited Wi-Fi hotspots in the country.

Kiran Kumar, research manager, IDC India, said, “With 4G network now being available nationwide through Airtel and more operators to join league soon, it presents a positive picture for next generation 4G connected tablets in India.”

Among vendors, iBall jumped back to top spot. Its strong presence in entry level tablets i.e., sub $100 is further strengthened with new products added to the line-up. Supplementing this is its expanding retail and geographical reach, which is working well in favour of the brand.

Meanwhile, Samsung slipped to second spot in the Q2 2015, despite posting a healthy double digit growth over previous quarter.

Inventory issues in some of their top selling models restricted the overall performance for this brand in Q2.

Datawind stands at a close third place after Samsung with vendor share of 13.5 per cent.

Tele-sales continues to be a key mode of channel for Datawind as it continues to capitalise on TV penetration in the country to push volumes in smaller cities and towns.