The India PC market shipments for Q1 2012 (January–March) stood at 2.63 million units i.e. a sequential gain of 7.7% over the previous quarter while the year on year growth was noted to be at 3.5%.

According to Kiran Kumar, Sr. Analyst at IDC, “The growth in PC volumes are reflective of the rise in consumption levels and investment activity for PCs in the recent past. A spurt in commercial spending was backed by a revival in consumer sentiment towards March". Having said that, the White box (assembled) PC market continues to be reeling under pressure on the price front owing to a significant surge in hard disk prices and subsequent shift in consumer purchase towards Portable PCs. The White box PC market has dipped to 37.6% share of the overall Desktop PC business in Q1 2012 compared to 45.4% share as noted in Q1 2011.

In terms of driving factors, Dr. Adwaita Menon, Associate Research Director, IDC commented "Commoditization is driving growth into semi urban markets, which have shown faster growth than metros. Vendors are focusing on high margin products such as AIOs and small portables to maintain the growth momentum and margins".

Backed by one of the biggest deals in India i.e. ELCOT, Lenovo clinched the top spot in the India PC market with a 15.8% market share in Q1 2012. Dell secured the second spot with 15% share, followed very closely by HP with a 14.9% share. “Dell continues to retain the brand recall amongst customers. However, HP’s feet on street approach to pro actively engage channel partners has paid off well in the recent past. Further a good balance of product mix at attractive price bands has helped HP grow higher than the market average in Q1” comments Kiran.