India's PC market grew 17 percent in Q2 of 2012

New Delhi, Aug 28 (IANS) Personal computers (PC) sales in the country grew 17 percent during the second quarter of 2012 over the like period of the previous calendar year totalling nearly 2.9 million units, research firm Gartner said Tuesday.

"The combined desk-based and mobile PC market in India totalled nearly 2.9 million units in the second quarter of 2012, a 17 per cent increase over the second quarter of 2011," said Gartner in a statement.

According to Vishal Tripathi, principal research analyst at Gartner, consumer buying accounted for 50 percent of total PC sales in the second quarter of 2012.

"Consumer PC sales grew 24 percent sequentially, which emphasizes the fact that media tablets are not yet cannibalizing the PC market in India like in the West. Consumer growth is being primarily being driven by entry level products," he said.

Vendors such as HP, Lenovo, Asus and Samsung registered more than 50 percent growth in the consumer segment.

Gartner expects PC shipment growth to continue in the third quarter of 2012 owing to the festive season and education buying, coupled with some more orders from the Tamil Nadu Government.

Mobile PCs, which grew 54 percent compared to the second quarter of 2011, helped drive overall market growth, it said.