Dell: Now direct from Chennai

Chennai: For Dell India Private Limited, the commencement of the construction of its Chennai plant could not have come at a more opportune moment. Last quarter, the Indian arm of the US computer major logged sales growth of 93 per cent.

It claims to be the No 1 systems provider with a 45 per cent market share in the large corporate market (over 1,000 employees) segment and the fourth largest computer seller in India, with a turnover of Rs1,800 crore ($400 million). Desktops contribute to 60 per cent of the company's revenues.

"India is the fastest growth centre for Dell worldwide," says Steve Felice, president, Dell Asia Pacific and Japan.

At the moment, it ships out the units from its plant in Penang, Malaysia. The Chennai plant will be Dell's eighth and the third in the Asia Pacific region. A plant in Chennai would reduce the supply time to Indian buyers from 12 days to just three.

In response to the query whether there would be a price reduction or would Dell India follow global pricing, Felice answers, "We have driven the prices down in every market that we have entered."

According to Rajan Anandan, vice president and general manager, Dell India, with a plant in India the company would expand into other market segments like small and medium-sized corporates, homes and the government.