Lenovo kickstarts India biz

Chinese PC maker Lenovo has kickstarted its Indian operations with an estimated business of Rs 700-800 crore. This is part of its global acquisition of IBM's PC business.

The transaction was completed on Monday. The company has announced that Neeraj Sharma will head its South Asia operations. Sharma was earlier VP (personal computing division) at IBM India.

In a media statement, Sharma said that the company will continue to sell its products under the ThinkPad (for laptops) and ThinkCentre (for desktop) brands.

"We will innovate in technology and cost. The new company will be more PC-focussed," he said. It is expected that Lenovo will try to make a major thrust in the consumer space.

Under the terms of the global transaction, Lenovo paid IBM $1.25 billion, comprising approximately $650 million in cash and $600 million in Lenovo Group shares.

In India, Lenovo will have to contend with established players like Dell and HP besides homegrown majors like Wipro and HCL Group.

Speaking on Lenovo's entry into India, a market analyst said that as the 'Think' brand of IBM will continue, Lenovo might have less of a problem penetrating the Indian market.

"IBM has been focussing on the corporate segment with its desktops, but Lenovo said that it will play aggressively in the consumer space. This will translate into cheaper PCs," he noted.