India PC shipments surge to record 4.5 mn in Jul-Sep on potential import ban

The unexpected rise in an otherwise flat market was driven by brands boosting supplies in anticipation of festival season sales, as well as the government’s brief import ban in August followed by a swift policy reversal, IDC said in its latest report.

Desktops, notebooks, and workstations, which comprise the traditional PC market in India, saw varied growth; notebooks rose by 13.1%, while desktops saw a significant increase of 19.3%. The commercial sector remained unchanged, but the consumer sector experienced a substantial boost of 26.3% compared to the previous year.

“The consumer segment saw strong traction in 3Q23 after a challenging past four quarters. In August, the government of India declared a mandatory requirement of import licenses for PCs from 30 October. Though this decision was later put on hold, vendors shipped significant channel inventory to avoid any risks of supply shortages or price hikes, not to mention ensuring sufficient supplies for festival season sales,” said Bharath Shenoy, senior research analyst, IDC India.

The education sector, especially due to the Gujarat education project, experienced a notable growth of 117.5%. E-commerce platforms also showed a resurgence, with a 26.4% increase in the online retail channel, reversing a trend of declines from the past year.

“In the past few months, the PC market has seen a substantial channel push in the consumer segment and to some extent in the SME segment as well. The vendors are now focused on increasing their local assembly mix as government and education projects are expected to prefer locally assembled devices. While this might give a further boost to the government and education segments, a dearth of enterprise orders is a matter of concern as the enterprise segment is expected to decline by over 20% on-year in 2023,” said Navkendar Singh, associate vice president, Devices Research, IDC India.

HP Inc. dominated the market, seizing a 29.4% share, with leadership positions in both commercial (34.3%) and consumer (25.9%) segments. IDC credits the firm’s aggressive inventory strategy for achieving its biggest ever consumer quarter to date.

Lenovo was a distant second, with a share of 17% as its shipments fell 8.8% on year. It narrowly outpaced Dell in the commercial segment but fell behind Asus in the consumer market.

Dell Technologies, with a 14.6% market share, saw a modest year-on-year growth of 3.8%. The company’s decision to limit stockpiling resulted in a slight market share drop but ensured a healthy channel inventory.

ASUS, overtaking Acer for the fourth position with a 12.5% share, celebrated its most significant consumer quarter as it surpassed 500,000 units in the consumer segment, influenced by its strategic inventory buildup.

Acer, despite recording a vigorous 20.9% year-on-year growth, slipped to the fifth spot. The company’s focus on online channels contributed to its most substantial consumer quarter on record, IDC said.

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Updated: 16 Nov 2023, 03:39 PM IST