Laptop computer gross sales stagnated in 2023, damage by tepid client demand and a broader slowdown in tech spending by corporations in a 12 months that has been one of many hardest for the home IT providers sector.
Analysts count on gross sales to enhance this 12 months, pushed by extra inexpensive merchandise and helped by the central authorities’s production-linked incentives (PLIs) for IT {hardware}. Nevertheless, challenges lie forward for India’s laptops market.
Information collated from three analysts for the non-public pc (PC) sector confirmed laptop computer gross sales in 2023 have been almost flat for a second straight 12 months, with shipments of those units seeing a really slim year-on-year (YoY) progress. General, an estimated 10.8 million laptops have been shipped in India by 2023—largely unchanged from 2022.
Web income earned by manufacturers by promoting laptops in India was round $6.5 billion final 12 months, offered at a median promoting value (ASP) of ₹50,000 per unit. Each income and ASP of laptops in 2023 remained unchanged from 2022.
HP, Lenovo and Dell are the highest three manufacturers promoting laptops in India and have a mixed market share of over 60% right here.
Trade analysts attribute the muted laptop computer gross sales to weak demand from enterprises. “Huge enterprises will not be shopping for a lot, due to which the business demand for laptops has fallen. It’s because corporations are decreasing IT spending to chop prices as a result of macroeconomic issues,” stated Bharat Shenoy, senior market analyst at market researcher IDC India.
The enterprise market, to make sure, is a bulk quantity contributor to the general laptop computer gross sales in India, and is seen as a key driver of incremental gross sales of laptops yearly—with the next shopping for frequency than particular person customers. Nevertheless, 2023 has been a tricky 12 months for India’s largest IT providers companies—Tata Consultancy Companies, Infosys, HCL Applied sciences and Wipro. Put collectively, the 4 corporations, which employed almost 1.4 million folks as of 31 December, diminished their general headcount by 3.5%, or almost 50,000 folks, between April and December. Whereas this is because of a slowdown in tech providers companies globally as a result of inflationary and geopolitical issues, the marketplace for laptops is seeing a ripple impact.
Shenoy added that the enterprise section for laptops has seen a mid-single digit annualized decline in shipments, which additional contributed to the weak marketplace for laptops. “Mixed with this, the primary half of the 12 months noticed low shipments since manufacturers have been consolidating leftover stock of merchandise. This led to a cargo decline within the first half of the 12 months, which revived within the second half because of the festive interval,” he stated.
Harmeet Singh Walia, senior analyst at Counterpoint India, stated that the pandemic had fuelled a dramatic progress in demand for laptops and different units in 2020 and 2021, as distant work grew to become the norm. As soon as the pandemic ebbed, demand for laptops, notably the pricier ones, subdued. “Should you have a look at varied value brackets, solely the worth ranges of sub-$200 and $600-800 in laptops noticed marginal progress in shipments. Different classes, which embrace $200-400, $400-600 and above $800 remained virtually the identical when it comes to shipments. This reveals that there’s no important natural progress in laptops, and that the pandemic-induced slowdown in laptop computer demand is persistent,” he stated.
Going ahead, a revival in enterprise demand for laptops, in addition to the the PLI scheme for laptops to localize meeting of those merchandise could assist usher in incremental progress over the subsequent couple of years. “PLI-driven demand is tough to gauge proper now, and additionally it is not clear as to how localization could have an effect on model margins and prices. However, a revival of enterprise demand is more likely to enhance progress for laptops by 2024 and 2025,” IDC’s Shenoy stated.
As of the September quarter, HP remained the long-term chief in laptop computer shipments, with an general PC market share of 29.4% throughout the quarter. Lenovo and Dell continued to be within the second and third spots, with 17% and 14.6% market share, respectively.
Supply: Live Mint