Personal computers (PCs) sales touched 20 lakh units by the end of 2002-03, registering a growth of 20 per cent on the back of strong demand from telecom, banking and financial sectors.“Banking and finance, telecom and a good purchase from the government sector in the last quarter has helped the industry to post a 20 per cent rise in the PC sales during the 2002-03 period,” Vinni Mehta, Executive Director, Manufacturers Association of Information Technology (MAIT) said, adding in volume terms it would be 20 lakh units.The current PC base in India is 16 lakh and MAIT had earlier projected that by the end of 2002-03, PC sales would touch 19 lakh units.The first-half of 2002-03 fiscal saw PC sales crossing 9.5 lakh units and the growth projection was revised from 15 to 20 per cent; in terms of units, the forecast was for 20 lakh units of PCs.In the third quarter, however, PC sales were flat at 4.31 lakh units with sales dropping by 2 per cent sequentially but it was 50 per cent higher on a year-on-year basis.With the first three quarters of the 2002-03 seeing increased sales and the traditionally strong Q4, the annual PC sales touched 20 lakh units, Mehta said. Analyst firm Gartner had stated that PC shipments rose 16 per cent in Q1 of 2003 calender year in India, touching 6.15 lakh units.
