India’s PC market reaches all-time high at 4.49 million units in July-Sep

Online festival sales drove the demand for premium notebooks.

New Delhi: India’s traditional PC market (inclusive of desktops, notebooks and workstations) shipped an all-time high of 4.49 million units in the July-September period (Q3) this year, up marginally by 0.1 per cent, according to a report on Tuesday.

The e-commerce sales, which typically starts around the second week of October, began in late September, leading to a surge in PC shipments, according the report by the International Data Corporation (IDC).

Bharath Shenoy, Research Manager, IDC India and South Asia, said that brands capitalised on e-tail sales by offering steep discounts, cashbacks, and bundled accessories.

“Many of them also matched similar pricing in their brand stores and offline channels like Larger Format Retail stores (LFRs), leading to the second biggest consumer quarter in history,” he said.

The notebook and workstation categories saw marginal growth of 2.8 per cent (on-year) and 2.4 per cent YoY, respectively.

Online festival sales drove the demand for premium notebooks (over $1,000), which grew by 7.6 per cent. The commercial segment grew by 4.4 per cent, while the enterprise segment grew by 9.6 per cent YoY.

HP Inc led the market with a share of 29 per cent, topping the charts in both commercial and consumer segments with shares of 34.3 per cent and 24.8 per cent, respectively.

Lenovo was a distant second with a share of 17.3 per cent. Dell Technologies stood third with a 14.6 per cent share.

Dell came second behind HP in the commercial segment, with a 20.8 per cent share and a 4.7 per cent growth, according to the IDC report. Acer Group was tied in third position with Dell Technologies, with its shipment marginally behind Dell but with 14.6 per cent market share.

Asus was fifth with a 9.7 per cent share and experienced 22.3 per cent YoY decline largely due to a leaner inventory compared to last year.