PC market faced the headwinds, grew only by 5%

MAIT, the apex body representing India's IT hardware, training and R&D services sectors announced the findings of its Industry Performance Review for the financial year 2012-13. The annual MAIT Industry Performance Review - ITOPs, conducted by India's leading market research firm IMRB International, is a survey of the IT hardware sector's efforts to manage the business environment, gauge the market potential and consumer trends.

Key highlights of the study:

-The total PC sales between April 2012 and March 2013, combining desktop computers, notebooks and netbooks were at 11.31million (113.1 lakh) units, registering a growth of five per cent over the last fiscal.

-Internet penetration in the 22 cities was 65% among businesses and 35% among households.

-The sales of desktops stood at 6.77 million (67.7 lakh) units registering a growth of one per cent. Notebooks and Netbooks taken together recorded a consumption of 4.41 million (44.1 lakh) units, growing ten per cent over the last year.

-PC sales are expected to be around 12.11 million (121.1 lakh) units in FY 2013-14, a growth rate of eight per cent.

-Tablets are cannibalizing the PC market and registering a phenomenal growth of 424% in the 2^nd consecutive year.

Commenting on the industry performance, *Mr. J V Ramamurthy, President, MAIT*, said, "The overall IT Hardware Industry scenario seems to be on a conservative side with most of the markets posting either a muted growth or decline. The year 2012-13 has been the year for Tablet PC with consumers preferring Tablet over PC as their replacement. The combination of basic functioning of a PC coupled with affordability is turning the tide favourably towards Tablet PC. That said, the SEC C Households which made a significant contribution last year for PC continues to put on a strong show registering an impressive growth of 67%. The industry is hopeful that the overall PC sales for 2013-14 will reach around 12.11 million units, registering a modest growth of 8%.

While Mr. Anwar Shirpurwala, Executive Director, MAIT said*, "The overall growth of the Tablet industry is impressive, however, the decline in the growth of PC is a matter of concern which is growing by only 5% but it is also a reality. The growth of PC industry is crucial, as the country still has very low PC penetration."

Some salient findings of the 2012-13 Study are given below.

*The Notebook Market:*

*The Notebook sales posted a muted growth rate of 10% this fiscal compared to 22% rate in the last year. This growth was driven by House-Hold (HH) segment that accounted for about 61% of the total Notebook sales and registered a growth of 14% during 2012-13 over the previous year.

*‘SEC C' continues to gain its stronghold in Notebook segment contributing around 29% of the notebook sales and posting a growth of 90% over last year. SEC A and B consumers seem to have restricted the purchase as they recorded a growth of 1% and 5% respectively over the last year.

*Notebook sales among Establishments during 2012-13 ended with a rise of 3%.The growth is mainly accounted by Government sector that recorded a rate of 38% over last year.

*Netbook sales stood at 0.96 lakh unit; the market has gone for a major decline of 68% over the previous year. The decline is underlined by both the HH and Business segments showing a negative growth of 74% and 64% respectively over previous year.

*The Desktop Market:*

* The Desktop market is driven only by HH segment as it grew at 14%
over previous year. Household contribution to the Desktop market has
increased from 53% in 2011-12 to 59% in 2012-13.

* The Businesses sector posted a negative growth of 13% over previous
year majorly because of steep decline in large enterprisesand a
declined growth of 53% over last year. However, SMB regained its
composure and posted a positive growth of 49%.

* The top four metros, accounted around 28% of the total desktops
purchased and the Class B cities accounted for 12% of the market.
Consumption in top four metros went up by 3%, while in Class B
cities it was a 5% decline. In smaller cities, the only positive
growth driver posted a growth of 9% with contribution increasing
from 59% to 60%.

*The Tablet Market:*

* Tablet PC witnessed a massive growth figure of 424%. The sales for
2012-13 stood at 1.9 million units as against 0.36 million units in
2011-12.

*The Servers Market:*

* During the year 2012-13, server sales registered a decline of 2%
over the last financial year and it stood at 89,075 units in the
current year.

*The Peripherals Market:*

* Overall printer sales continued to decline albeit marginallyat a
rate of 1% during 2012-13 over the last fiscal year. The sales at
2012-13 stood at 2.93 million (29.3 lakh) units.
* Among printers, Laserjet printer is the only segment where sales
grew positively and the growth rate was around 14% over last fiscal
year. The consumption went to 1.57 million units from 1.38 million
(13.8 lakh) units.

·Inkjet printer sales continued its downward spiral with a negative growth of 9% over last year. The sales figure stood at 10.83 million (108.3 lakh)owing to the decline of HH segment at 11% over last year. The establishment segments fell by 2%.

* Dot-matrix printer sales took a free fall as it posted a negative
growth of 31% over last year. The sales figures cut short to 0.27
million (2.7 lakh) units in 2012-13 from 0.39 million (3.9 lakh)
units in 2011-12.The UPS market sold at 2.53 million (25.3 lakh), at
a decline of 1%. The decelerated growth in establishment segment was
the main reason as it slipped at 16% over last year. The HH segment
grew by 4% in the same period.

*The Internet Entities:*

* The number of active Internet entities posted 17.6 million in March
2013, growth of 11% over March 2012.

* Internet penetration in the 22 cities was 65% among businesses and
35% among households.

* Dial up contributed around 38% of the total internet connections in
establishments as broadband contribution stood at 22%. The other
mode of connections such as Leased lines and Data card contribution
stood at 20% and 17% respectively.