India shipped a record 4.49 million units of personal computers (PCs), which includes desktops, notebooks, and workstations, in the third quarter (Q3) of calendar year (CY) 2024, up a marginal 0.1 per cent year-on-year (Y-o-Y), according to a report.

       Q2 had seen 7.1 per cent growth in shipment at 3.39 million.

       In Q3, the notebook and workstation categories saw growth of 2.8 per cent and 2.4 per cent Y-o-Y, respectively, while the desktop category declined by 8.1 per cent Y-o-Y.

       Online festival sales drove the demand for premium notebooks (>$1,000), which grew by 7.6 per cent Y-o-Y, the report by the International Data Corporation (IDC) said.

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

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       Lenovo was a distant second with a share of 17.3 per cent, while both Dell and Acer came in third with a share of 14.6 per cent. Asus was fifth with a 9.7 per cent share and experienced 22.3 per cent Y-o-Y decline largely due to a leaner inventory compared to last year. However, Asus was second only to HP in the consumer segment.

       “The e-tail sales, which typically starts around the second week of October, began in late September, leading to a surge in PC shipments. Brands capitalised on e-tail sales by offering steep discounts, cashbacks, and bundled accessories,” said Bharath Shenoy, Research Manager, IDC India and South Asia.

       “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. By leveraging these diverse strategies, vendors were able to tap into different market tiers ultimately driving a significant increase in consumer PC sales,” he added.

       In the September quarter, the consumer segment declined by 2.9 per cent Y-o-Y despite vendors aggressively discounting a wide range of PCs on e-tail platforms. The demand situation was more organic this year, and unlike Q3 CY2023, vendors did not overstock, thereby leading to a marginal Y-o-Y decline. The commercial segment grew by 4.4 per cent Y-o-Y, while the enterprise segment grew by 9.6 per cent Y-o-Y.

       Navkendar Singh, Associate Vice President, Devices Research, IDC India, South Asia and ANZ said that the commercial PC market in India was on the recovery path as enterprises have slowly started refreshing their IT devices.

       “The IT/ITES buying has kick-started and is expected to pick up momentum in CY2025. Meanwhile, the growing adoption of PCs for gaming and content creation coupled with the increasing focus on AI features and tools in PCs are expected to drive the consumer segment in Q4 CY2024 and CY2025, thereby facilitating it to close off 2024 and 2025 in green,” he added.

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       Indian PC market grows 7.1% to 3.39 mn shipments in Q2 CY2024: IDC