The branded players are having a good-time in the personal computer market in India. Will they continue to steal the show from the unorganized players?
The year 2004 has been a boom time for the manufacturers of personal computers (PCs) from India and abroad, as the market for PCs has grown at a much faster pace in comparison to the earlier years. The 34% growth in the Indian PC market last year is the highest growth in four years. With this growth, PC manufacturers hope that the Indian PC market is poised to take-off. Particularly, the branded PC manufacturers have had a successful run in 2004. Moreover, the good news for PC manufacturers is that India is turning out to be a promising market. There are several factors which have led to the increase in sales of PCs, viz., reduction of customs duty and the increasing usage of computers which have led to the continuous fall in the prices of PCs. For a long time, computer manufacturing companies across the globe have been quite anxious about the Indian market and now they have been successful in their attempt to convert the Indian PC market into a profitable one. Much of the success can be attributed to the astonishing performance of the branded PC manufacturers.
The Indian PC market is the fourth largest in the Asia-Pacific region after China, South Korea and Australia. Experts foresee a great business potential for computer manufacturers in India. As a matter of fact, the hardware business in India never really took off. During the late nineties, much was being talked about software development and every company was looking towards software business. Analysts feel that the hardware industry would have been in an even better position had the software industry not overshadowed the entire market. Even the government, stock markets and businessmen were more inclined towards software instead of concentrating on the hardware business. But things have changed, as the boom in the Information Technology sector is back and there is a rising demand for jobs in that sector. Also, computerization has become a highly essential task for every organization irrespective of its size and nature. Increasing use of PCs in software companies and outsourcing companies, developments in telecom and banking sectors and their foray into rural markets has further facilitated the increase in sales of PCs. In addition to all these, computer literacy has become an essential part of education. |
