Sluggish start for India PC market in the 1Q of 2014

The overall Commercial PC segment recorded a total shipments of 1.02 million units, showing a marginal increase of 4.1% sequentially over Q4 2013. Kiran Kumar, Research Manager of Client Devices at IDC India comments, “The overall Commercial PC market showed first signs of improvement over the last 9-10 months as investment activities have improved in the Banking and Government verticals. Vendors are optimistic about the overall market sentiments and believe it will pick up gradually among other verticals too in the course of 2014.” On the other hand, the overall Consumer PC shipments stood at 1.01 million units in Q1 2014, representing a drop of -4.3% sequentially over Q4 2013. “Consumer’s sentiments plummeted further due to high inflation and soaring prices owing to rupee fluctuations. Concerns over the economic conditions remained a key drag and Q1 was no different,” adds Kumar. Top 3 vendor highlights: Dell In terms of vendor share, Dell took early lead in 2014 and achieved a market share of 23.1%. “Dell is doing well in reenergizing their channel focus in both consumer and commercial business. Renewed approach in their go-to-market strategy, product refresh on their commercial portfolio, and deeper penetration in the upcountry markets have been their driving forces in Q1 2014,” says Manish Yadav, Market Analyst of Client Devices at IDC India. HP HP, which dominated the India PC market in 2013 across all product categories, took the second place with a share of 20.4% in Q1 2014. They however continued to lead the Consumer PC market in Q1 2014 across both desktop and notebook categories. Pricing, widespread retail presence, and strong support from channel partners ensured their lead in the consumer market. Lenovo Lenovo, with 14.9% market share, took the third spot. “Lenovo is currently in midst of an amendment to their structure and policies Their commercial business unit continued to support the growth in Q1 2014 too. They are positioned strongly amongst private banking, IT/ITeS and telco accounts,” adds Yadav.