Despite recessionary fears PC sales grew 18% in India in 2009-10

Personal computers (PC) sales in India grew by 18 per cent to cross 8 million units in 2009-10 driven by purchase from households and businesses as spending recovered in the second half of the year, said MAIT, the apex body representing the country's IT industry.

The total PC sales between April 2009 and March 2010, with desktop computers, notebooks and netbooks taken together, were 8.03 million (80.3 lakh) units, registering a growth of 18 per cent over the last fiscal.

The sales of desktops stood at 5.52 million (55.2 lakh) units registering a growth of five per cent. Notebooks and Netbooks taken together recorded a consumption of 2.5 million (25 lakh) units, growing 65 per cent over the last year.

Given the current macro-economic conditions and conservative buying sentiment in the market, MAIT estimates that PC sales are expected to cross 9.35 million (93.5 lakh) units in FY 2010-11, growing by about 16 per cent.

''The impact of the global economic recession is now well behind us and the IT hardware industry in India is once again on a revival path. The year 2009-10 has indeed witnessed an excellent comeback by the Indian IT hardware market.

Easing of the Economic slowdown and improved sentiments among both the consumer and business segment are the reasons behind the impressive growth of the PC market, especially during the second half of the year 2009-10,'' said Ravi Aggarwal, president of MAIT.

''Almost all segments of the IT hardware registered a healthy growth. The industry is hopeful that the overall PC sales for 2010-11 will cross 9.35 million units in FY 2010-11, registering a 16 per cent annual growth,'' he added.

The number of active internet users crossed the ten million mark in March 2010. The overall internet users increased to 10.06 million (106 lakh) units in March 2010, a growth of 17 per cent over March 2009.

Internet penetration in the 17 cities was 53 per cent among businesses and 21 per cent among households. The business segment now accounts for twenty-six per cent of India's total active Internet entities and households account for the remaining 74 per cent.

DSL/cable remains the most commonly used means of Internet connectivity among businesses as 62 per cent of businesses were found using DSL/cable, while 10 per cent used dial-up connections, 11 per cent ISDN services, 9 per cent used leased-lines, 5 per cent used data cards and 3 per cent used VSATs or other type of connections.