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The Indian home PC market is expected to grow at an astonishing 75 per cent in the next few years. Obviously, global PC makers like Hewlett-Packard and Compaq are slugging it out to capture a larger market share.

Actually, in the first quarter of 1999, sales of home PCs have already grown by 70 per cent, claims a survey by US based International Data Corporation.

T O D A Y

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In India, the home PC market segment is supplied by three distinct kinds of manufacturers. One; you have global companies like HP and Compaq. Two; there are the Indian brands like Wipro and HCL. And three; is the sea of kitchen tabletop PC assemblers who sell their unbranded machines and super-low prices. This last category of unbranded machines is often referred to as the 'grey market' and it has the majority share of the home PC market. It is followed by Indian brands and lastly by the multinational brands.

However, multinational brands' home PC sales grew by about 45 per cent in the first quarter. The growth potential has made these players introduce the latest models at competitive prices with Compaq introducing its Presario 4010 at below Rs 50,000 to take on HP's Pavilion 4402 launched in January.

Though HP is tight-lipped on its next move, industry insiders promise a slew of marketing initiatives and price cuts for Pavilion, the company's product for the home PC market.

Presario has the advantage of being an early entrant in the home segment. It was launched in 1995. HP, which recently broke its joint-venture agreement with HCL, launched its Pavilion range only this year.

However, the IDC survey rates HP high on brand awareness and its ability to synergise its marketing effort with its other products. For instance, HP is offering a printer free with Pavilion.

Compaq General Manager, Marketing, Schi Sarkar says, "We want to be the market leader in the MNC (multinational) segment." Compaq is offering Presario 4010 through 15 exclusive outlets and is planning 12-13 more such outlets in the next few months, she assures.

Compaq has also stepped up after-sales service with telesupport apart from appointing trained consultants in all of its exclusive stores, she said.

Both Compaq and HP are competing with Indian brands that are about 20-25 per cent cheaper and have strong after-sales support, the IDC survey says.

The multinationals claim that their products offer high quality and features other brands do not have.

Yet the unbranded assemblers remain leaders in the home PC segment with a market share of 71 per cent, followed by HCL (9.1%), Zenith (9%), Compaq (3.6%), Vintron (2.3%) and Wipro (1.9%).

According to IDC, the total PCs shipped in 1998-99 were 845,000 and 200,000 of them went into homes.

This is going to increase because the main driver for PC sales is going to be children's education and the Internet, the IDC report justifies.

HP already offers 10 hours of free Internet connectivity including registration with Pavilion while Compaq is planning promotional schemes to push e-commerce.

Though both HP and Compaq are silent about targeted sales, unless volumes are generated the brands are not likely to sustain.

According to the IDC survey, price will be an important issue, but brands will start playing an important role once the market becomes large enough.

- Compiled from the Indian media

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