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The total desktop PCs sold in fiscal 1998 stood at slightly over 1 million units from 800,000 in the previous year, a growth of 29 per cent.

However, PC sales grew over 32 per cent in fiscal 1997.

T O D A Y

• PC growth slows down • Fenasoft '99 • INSAT-2E broadcast

This signals the urgency of implementing the IT Action Plan II that envisages simplification of procedures and duty reductions to boost manufacture of information technology products, MAIT President Hemant Bharat Ram has said.

Briefing reporters over the second annual performance review of the information technology industry conducted by market research firm IMRB, Bharat Ram said, ''A turnaround in the industry can only happen if the IT Action Plan II: the report of the National Taskforce on IT and Software Development is implemented immediately.''

He drew attention to the ''whopping'' 49 per cent growth in the grey assembly market, confirming the continued skewed tariff structure. ''The immediate, full and complete implementation of the it Action Plan II will induce a shift from unorganised and grey segments to organised sector.''

Besides the government gaining from increased revenue collection, the consumer will benefit to the extent of 10-20 per cent drop in PC prices following the duty reduction and procedural simplification.

Vinnie Mehta, director MAIT, said over 82 per cent of PC sales are in the corporate and government sector and the household sector has contributed 18 per cent to the overall business.

The sales in the corporate and government sector grew by 34 per cent over the previous year, the growth in the household sector was only 7.6 per cent.

The MAIT-IMRB report reveals that the sale of desktops slumped by 20 per cent to touch 22,925 in 1998-99 from 28,750 units in the previous fiscal.

The study pointed out that desktop PCs have made significant inroads into the 2.5 million to 5 million and less than 5 million population town classes with 49 per cent and 57 per cent growth respectively.

The installed base of desktops in town class with population more than 5 million is 673,000 units in fiscal 1998, representing a 19 per cent growth, in comparison with the previous fiscal.

The server market grew a whopping 41 per cent from 25,500 units in 1997-98 to 35,900 units in 1998-99, strongly reflecting the growing impact of the opening up of the Internet.

More and more companies are setting up their intranets and gearing up to meet the challenge of e-commerce, the study added.

The printer market, comprising dot matrix, laser and inkjet printers, witnessed a change in the market mix. The share of laser printers in the total installed base rose from 10.2 per cent in fiscal 1997 to 13 per cent in fiscal 1998, while that of dot matrix printer fell by 8 per cent from 55 per cent to 47 per cent.

The share of the inkjet printers grew to 39 per cent from 34 per cent. Other peripherals like keyboards, monitors and uninterrupted power supply units recorded an annual growth of 13, 9 and 47 per cent respectively, the study revealed.

The market size of information technology manufacturing in the country stands around Rs 16 billion.

UNI

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