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Journalism of Courage
With 20 per cent of the world PC market share, Dell Inc is well on its way to consolidate its position as the biggest PC vendor worldwide. But in India, the US PC maker is playing it safe until retail trade opens up to FDI, so that its internet-based retail purchase system can go live.
‘‘We can set up an online payment system in India in a day. What’s stopping us is the FDI rules, according to which internet-based sales are considered retail trade, whereas phone-based sales are not,’’ Romi Malhotra, MD, Dell International Services, said on Wednesday.
This paradox has Dell straggling behind competitors in India, with less than 4 per cent of the PC market share, even as it positions itself in neighbouring Asian nations as a PC and consumer electronics force.
Dell only sells to retail customers through the online mode or tele-calls. It grabs enterprise customers through dedicated teams of ‘‘relationship managers,’’ who, it says, have yielded it an 80 per cent market share in the top-end segment in India.
‘‘It’s not that India is unimportant for us. But Dell is focussed on the top 10 markets and India is not one of them. India is not a location where we want to be on top, like we do in the US, UK, France, Germany, Japan and China,’’ he said.
Dell has joined the clamour of other foreign firms asking for retail trade to be opened up to FDI.
