India compnter sales bounce back after year of declines

Computer sales jumped for the first time in the December quarter after a year of declines, thanks a low base and signs of economic recovery, market research firm IDC India said. The quarter also saw Dell displace HP as the top selling notebook brand in the country.

The quarter saw a total of 1.97 million PCs sold in the country, 25.7% higher than the same quarter in 2008. Laptops upped share to 35.3% from 29% of PC sales in the preceding year.

As expected, sales to consumers grew faster at 38% compared to the 26% overall increase. Despite the comparatively poor performance of the corporate sector, sales to large and very large businesses did even better than consumers, clocking a growth of 57% year-on-year.

Dell, which is not a Top 3 player in desktops, displaced long-reigning champion HP to take the notebook crown with a marketshare of 26.3%.