AFTER nearly seven months of bleak sales, the national notebook market is once again live ‘n kicking. Leading PC vendors like Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Lenovo and Acer claim the market is gradually bouncing back with month-onmonth sales picking up from May onwards. The industry is optimistic that notebook sales will grow 20-25% during May-July.

While bulk of the demand is coming from the education sector due to the admission season, the vendors claim even overall consumer sentiments are improving. Little wonder, the PC vendors are revitalising their business strategy and refreshing their notebook portfolio in India.

“The education sector is driving demand in the market. Moreover, a lot of consumers who were waiting in the wings for the general elections to get over are now going ahead with purchase decisions. We feel notebook sales will grow by 20% in April-June and thereafter upwards of 10%,” said HP India’s director (consumer product and marketing - PSG), Rajiev Grover. HP, which enjoys leadership status in the national PC turf, has just launched six new notebook models. Taiwanese vendor, Acer too has expanded its notebook portfolio in India by recently rolling out 20 new models. The likes of Dell and Lenovo too are gearing up for the act.

“Despite purchasing budgets still remaining pared down compared to last year, there is a higher uptake and we have seen good traction in segments like education. There has also been long overdue refresh cycle for both laptops and desktops in the corporate segment which is triggering demand,” Dell India country general manager Sameer Garde told ET. According to IDC, the Indian notebook market grew by 3% in the Jan-March 2009 quarter as compared to the Oct-Dec 2008 period. On a year-on-year basis, notebook sales saw a de-growth by 21% in the same period. In comparison, notebook sales in the pre-slowdown days was growing at 25-30% in India.

“In May, we saw our notebook business nearly double compared to April with equally robust business in June. The market is surely at an inflection point with the dip in sales getting arrested,” said Acer India CMO S Rajendran. Lenovo India MD Amar Babu feels the government should come up with some stimulus package to sustain the momentum.

GROWTH SPURTS Bulk of the demand is coming from the education sector due to the admission season According to IDC, the Indian notebook market grew by 3% in the Jan-March quarter as compared to the Oct-Dec 2008 period On a year-on-year basis, notebook sales saw a de-growth by 21% in the same period Notebook sales in the pre-slowdown days was growing at 25-30% in India