India PC market expected to see double-digit growth in 2024

India saw a sharp decline in PC and tablet shipments in 2023, with iPad shipments plummeting. The Indian market is expected to recover to double-digit growth in 2024, and locally-produced PCs and tablets are likely to increase.

According to Canalys' market tracker, 4.3 million PCs were shipped in the fourth quarter of 2023, up 4% from a year ago. Desktop shipments rose by 27%, followed by notebooks, which grew by 3%, and tablets, whose shipments fell by 9%. Overall, the Indian PC shipments fell by 11% in 2023.

HP retained its position as the leader in the desktop and notebook market, commanding a share of 33.1%. Acer emerged as the top contributor to growth among the major brands in the desktop and notebook market, exhibiting a shipment growth rate of 65%. While Samsung maintained its status as the leading brand in the tablet market, its tablet shipments experienced a decline of 22.1%. Conversely, Lenovo, Acer, and Xiaomi witnessed substantial growth in their tablet shipment rates, with some even achieving double or triple-digit increases. Apple's PC products experienced a shipment fall across categories, with iPad shipments decreasing by 65%.

Ashweej Aithal, an analyst at Canalys, said the import restriction announced in August and implemented in November led to an inventory buildup, followed by vendors prioritizing inventory adjustment due to a relaxation of these import restrictions by the Indian government.

According to Reuters, the US Trade Representative Katherine Tai met with her Indian counterpart at the end of August, expressing concerns over the PC import restrictions before the Indian government rolled back the restrictive measures to encourage local production of PCs.

Canalys foresees robust double-digit percentage growth in both the commercial and consumer segments. The PC market is projected to witness a 14% year-on-year increase in 2024, followed by a further 15% year-on-year growth in 2025. Solid commercial procurement is expected to be the primary driver of this growth.

Aithal said that AI and locally-made PCs will play a prominent role in 2024 in India. AI PCs are expected to experience significant growth during the upcoming commercial refresh cycle as the end of Windows 10 nears, and locally-made PCs are likely to mushroom in India thanks to the revised Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for IT hardware.

Hindu BusinessLine quoted sources saying that most recipients under the PLI scheme are likely to meet their production targets by the end of fiscal 2024 (April 2023 to March 2024), indicating that manufacturers have been ramping up production of PC products.

Source: Canalys, March 22

Source: Canalys, March 22