India PC Market Declines YoY for the 3rd Consecutive Quarter in 2019Q1

The India traditional PC market declined for the third consecutive quarter in 2019 as the market witnessed a year-on-year (YoY) drop of 8.3% with shipments reaching 2.15 million units in Q1, 2019.

The market remained weak outside big commercial deals due to weak consumer demand, high inventory from previous quarters, and supply issues for Intel chips, says a recent report by IDC.

The report also says that the announcement of Gentral Elections 2019 resulted in the model code of conduct coming into immediate effect further resulting in a delay in execution of government projects and impacting the commercial segment.

Notebook category contributing 61.4 percent of the overall India traditional PC market shipments witnessed a 9.8 percent YoY decline. Within Notebooks, Ultraslim category, with a 25.3% share of the market, grew by 86.5%.

The India consumer PC market witnessed a 26.5 percent dip compared to Q1, 2018. The dip in the consumer segment was mainly because of low discretionary spending and seasonality. The low discretionary was partially also because of macroeconomic factors such as shrinking industrial output and slowdown in consumer spending. 

Demand from online channel was also muted as it has been dealing with excess inventory pile up from the previous two quarters. Inventory correction from 2018Q3 stockpile up continued in 2019Q1 and is expected to be normal by Q2 end, IDC forecasts. However, the Gaming PC segment saw good traction through both online and retail as vendors decreased GPU prices resulting in a spike in demand, it added.

“Spending towards Ultraslim notebooks is increasing as owing to factors such as improved mobility due to the thinness of the product and enhanced aesthetics,” says Bharath Shenoy, Market Analyst, PCs, IDC India.

The overall commercial PC market saw a total shipment of 1.35 million units in Q1, 2019, a growth of 7.3% YoY. The growth in the commercial segment was primarily driven by ELCOT shipments of around 159000 units which got partially executed in Q1 of 2019.

“Business sentiment has been on the lower side as enterprises look to wait and watch before taking any major decision due to ongoing elections in 2019Q2; the model code of conduct came into the picture in 2019Q1, thereby delaying the Government and Education projects. Demand from BFSI and IT/ITES sector remained good in 2019Q1 but the main segment driver was ELCOT,” adds Shenoy.