Given this, India's computer demand is clearly in growth mode. The main reasons are seen as computer price declines, increasing individual and corporate demand for computers, and the Indian government's e-Government policy. In particular, as computer demand in the second half of the year has shown rapid growth rates on a year-on-year basis, Indian computer sales this year are expected to reach 3.8 million units.
According to a survey by IMRB, a research institute, in 2003 Indian corporate computer demand grew 26 percent, accounting for 77 percent of the entire market, whereas general household demand has grown 60 percent and household as well as office demand has grown 71 percent. The potential increase rate for the general household market therefore appears most promising.
From the policy standpoint, the demand increase among central and state governments, under the e-Government initiative, and tax reductions, are contributing greatly to enlarging the demand base. The Indian government reduced commodity tax on desktop computer sfrom the previous 16 percent to 8 percent last January; customs duties also were lowered from 15 percent to 10 percent. These factors, in addition to the government's abolition of special additional duties of 4 percent, are contributing to computer price reductions, and are pushing demand north.
As India's computer prices declined greatly last year, entrylevel purchases have fallen to 13,000-15,000 rupees (roughly $290-$330). Notebooks and servers are less than 40,000 rupees (roughly $890) and 100,000 rupees (roughly $2,200), respectively. Fifty-three percent of PCs sold were branded, pre-assembled units. Among these, Indian brands took 21 percent of the market, while multinational brands took up 26 percent.
Increasing Internet subscribers are becoming another driver of the increasing demand for computers: In 2003, active subscribers increased 64 percent compared with the previous year, or 2.30 million persons, according a survey by MALT.
Source: The Economic Times; MALT