Consumer demands and special projects drove Indian Traditional PC market in Q3 2017: IDC

According to IDC's latest Quarterly Personal Computing Devices Tracker November 2017, due to seasonality and online festive sales, the overall India traditional PC shipments for Q3 2017 stood at 3.03 million units, with a strong growth of 72.3 per cent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) and 20.5 per cent over the same period last year. Even after excluding large education projects of over 10,000 units, the market still grew 10.9 per cent year-on-year (YoY).

The consumer PC market was 1.51 million units in Q3 2017, which is 9.5 per cent higher compared to the same period last year and a growth of 85.4 per cent QoQ. "Seasonality and online festive sales drove positive consumer spending throughout the quarter despite declining consumer sentiment on the back of low employment opportunities, income and price levels," says Manish Yadav, Associate Research Manager, Client Devices, IDC India.

The commercial PC market registered 1.52 million units in Q3 2017. Large education projects improved the commercial PC market share from 45.2 per cent a year ago to 50.2 per cent in Q3 2017. "Special education projects in states like Tamil Nadu, Assam, etc, along with pumped-up demand from SMBs after the implementation of the new Goods and Services Tax (GST) has led to growth in Q3," adds Yadav.

"IDC expects the overall Indian PC market in Q4 to decline due to seasonality and reduced consumer demand after the high consumer spending in Q3. However, going forward, the excitement around gaming PCs and price drops after GST will remain important factors for the consumer segment," says Navkendar Singh, Associate Research Director, IDC India. "Additionally, a few major deals in the commercial segment, backed by education projects across different states and spending from BFSI and IT/ITeS verticals, will aid the increasing contribution of the commercial segment," adds Singh.

Highlights of Top 3 Companies:

HP Inc.:

HP Inc. maintained its leadership position in the overall Indian traditional PC market with 31.1-per cent share in Q3 2017. HP Inc. recorded a healthy 30.2-per cent growth YOY due to a state-owned education project along with strong consumer demand. HP Inc. offered partner-focussed, consultative training to address SMBs with new GST-ready solutions which was coupled with invoicing software by KPMG.

Lenovo:

Lenovo took the second spot, with a 24.1-per cent market share in the overall Indian traditional PC market in Q3 2017. The consumer PC business grew at an encouraging 30.9 per cent YOY, with a focus on expanding online and modern retail channels. Excluding special projects, the company grew by 5.4 per cent year on year, aided by GST-ready machines along with increased and spillover spending from enterprises across verticals.

Dell Inc:

Dell slipped to third position with 20-per cent market share in the overall Indian traditional PC market in Q3 2017. The company saw a growth of 226.3 per cent quarter on quarter in the overall consumer segment as it rebounded from stock unavailability during the latter half of Q2 2017. But this was still a YOY decline of 2.6 per cent in Q3 2017. Commercial volumes declined YOY by 3.5 per cent, despite spending from its key enterprise accounts along with a large number of back to back orders spilled over from the previous quarter.