According to research firm IDC, e-learning and remote work requirements have helped the Indian PC industry record its largest quarter in seven years, with shipping rising 9.2 percent year-on-year to 3.4 million units in July-September.
In the third quarter of 2019, the shipment-which includes desktops, notebooks, and workstations-was 3.1 million units.
“(Approximately) 3.4 million units (were) shipped during the quarter, as demand for e-learning and remote work remained high, making Q3 2020 the largest quarter in India in the last seven years,” IDC said on Tuesday.
The consumer segment registered its largest quarter ever with 2 million shipments, rising 41.7 percent year-on-year and 167.2 percent from the previous quarter, it added, while the commercial segment had very few governments and education projects.
Demand for notebooks remains much higher than the current availability, which in October-December is likely to lead to another strong quarter of shipments, it said.
In the September 2020 quarter, with a share of 28.2 percent, HP Inc held the top spot in the overall PC market, followed by Lenovo (21.7 percent), Dell Technologies (21.3 percent), Acer Group (9.5 percent), and Asus (7.5 percent).
IDC reported that schools and colleges continued to operate digitally, leading to an increase in consumer notebook demand, especially in large cities. Despite the production problems, manufacturers were able to stock up for the next online festivals.
New entrants such as Xiaomi and Avita were able to exploit this opportunity but stayed outside the market segment’s top five firms.
As it ended its largest quarter of shipments in the country, Apple shipments also grew 19.4 percent year-on-year, IDC noted.
“If and when the schools and colleges are going to return to physical classrooms at full power, there is still a lot of confusion. This forces students to digitally handle all their learning. As India remains under-penetrated in PCs, this demand is expected to remain high,” said Bharath Shenoy, market analyst for PC Devices at IDC India.
He added that the country’s will broadband connectivity makes it easier for students to learn online, and this opportunity will therefore continue to be important for PC vendors for at least a few more quarters.
Businesses continued to invest in PCs in the commercial sector under their business continuity planning to handle their remote working requirements.
In this second wave of business buying, however, the volume of main major deals has decreased compared to initial orders in the June 2020 quarter.
This led to marginal growth of 3.1 percent year-on-year in the overall market segment, IDC said.
