Dell displaces HP as India’s top PC seller in first quarter

Dell Inc overtook Hewlett-Packard Co (HP) as the top personal computer vendor in India in the first quarter of 2014 with a market share of 23.1 per cent.

HP's market share was reduced to 20.4 per cent after having dominated the Indian PC market in 2013 across all product categories, a report by the International Data Corporation (IDC) said on Friday.

Dell responded by saying that its new "go to market" strategy had worked well for the company.

"We changed our distribution and channel strategy starting January as we reached out to tap commercial clients in tier II, tier III cities," said Indrajit Belgundi, director and general manager of end user computing at Dell's India unit. "Consolidation is happening in the Indian PC market, so even if the overall market is declining, we see this as an opportunity to expand our reach and coverage."

The company said around 40 per cent of demand for its products was coming from tier II and tier III cities, especially in the commercial segment.

Belgundi said Dell was looking at promoting products under the PC category, which includes desktops, workstations and notebooks, with end-to-end solutions.

"We are also in the process of making new partners for strengthening our distribution network so that the turnaround time for servicing consumers' requests can be shortened," he said.

Manish Yadav, market analyst of client devices at IDC India, said: "Dell is doing well in re-energizing their channel focus in both consumer and commercial business. Renewed approach in their go-to-market strategy, product refresh on their commercial portfolio, and deeper penetration in the upcountry markets have been their driving forces in Q1 2014."

Lenovo Group Ltd took the third spot with a 14.9 per cent market share.

India's PC market saw a 25.2 per cent decline in the first quarter of 2014 from a year earlier owing to poor end-user demand. Overall, India PC shipments for the three months fell to 2.03 million units, as consumers increasingly switch to hand-held gadgets.