PC sales jump 42% in Q3; may cross 73 lakh units in FY10: MAIT

Boosted by recovering demand from the enterprise segment, sales of personal computers, including netbooks and desktops, soared 42 per cent to 20 lakh units in October-December 2009-10, industry body the Manufacturers' Association for Information Technology (MAIT) said today.

With the improving demand, the overall personal computer (PC) sales for the whole 2009-10 are expected to cross 73 lakh units, registering a seven per cent annual growth, MAIT said in its quarterly report released today.

Desktop sales grew by 27 per cent to 13.5 lakh units, while netbooks and notebooks sales were at 6.6 lakh units, the report said.

"The impact of the global economic recession is now well behind us and the IT hardware industry in India is once again on a growth path. All segments of the IT hardware industry -- computers, peripherals and networking products recorded impressive growth in the Q3 FY2009-10 over the same period last year," MAIT Executive Director Vinnie Mehta said in a statement.

The corporate sector, which had displayed significant caution in IT-spending over the past five quarters, led the growth in consumption in the October-December quarter, he added.

Consumption, vertical-wise, was led by telecom, banking, education, SMEs, BPO/IT-enabled services and the e-governance initiatives of the government.

In the desktop computer market, branded desktops recorded 65 per cent contribution, while smaller and lesser known regional brands and unbranded systems accounted for 35 per cent of the sales in Q3 FY2010.

Consumption of laser printers witnessed an impressive growth of 70 per cent, while the UPS market grew by 28 per cent year-on-year to 5.6 lakh units in the third quarter of 2009-10.