1 million enterprises plan maiden investment in PCs

One million small enterprises (SEs) in India plan to invest in computers for the first time in the next 12 months, says Access Markets International (AMI) Partners.

Thus opening up a huge opportunity for hardware, software and solution vendors. Small enterprises are defined as companies with up to 99 employees.

Almost 40 per cent of the SEs in India, out of a total of 2.7 million SEs in India, do not own any computers, according to the study.

"There are still 2.7 million businesses in India, which do not own computers "� and a major proportion of them belong to the wholesale and retail sector," says Dev Chakravarty, senior analyst at AMI-Partners. "Almost 50 per cent of these SEs say PCs have no relevance to their line of business. But this attitude is beginning to change," he added.

The need to automate business processes and to improve efficiency are the two key drivers that non-PC SEs cited for buying PCs. The urge to keep up with competitors and increase employee productivity are some other factors.

Maintaining a basic IT infrastructure is also necessary to manage mushrooming business growth and keep up with demands from business partners.

About 15 per cent of non-PC owning SEs surveyed by AMI said they would opt to buy laptop PCs, instead of a desktop. "The need for laptops is a direct consequence of the burgeoning mobility needs of India's non-PC SEs," Chakravarty said.

The proportion of overall India SMEs with mobile employees rose to 41 per cent in 2006, a rapid rise by nearly twenty percentage points over 2005. At present, more than half of Indian SMEs have employees regularly venturing out of town to interact with business partners and will lug a laptop along.

Chakravarty, however, said PC vendors need to make greater efforts to educate SEs about the benefits of PCs and return on investment that they may gain due to PC usage. About 10 per cent of SEs cited lack of PC operating knowledge as a reason for not buying computers.

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WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY

Almost 40 per cent of the total of 2.7 million SEs in India do not own any computers

About 15 per cent of non-PC owning SEs, surveyed by AMI, said they would opt to buy laptop instead of a desktop