Changing Facets of India’s PC Industry Ecosystem

When was the last time you went into the market and got your Computer custom made. Its ages…Right ? (Unless you are a Gamer)

When was the last time you saw an advertisement of a Computer in your daily newspaper ?

And Do you know the PC industry was one of the biggest proponents of “Make in India” but lost steam because of our own hostile policies and import duty structures.

India’s Hardware IT industry has kept reinventing itself to stay relevant to the times.

Mid 90’s – DIY Era

This was the time when the DIY (do it yourself) or White box PC’s were very popular. The industry had many many small Assembled PC sellers and they were given the status of small scale industry and tax benefits were passed on if their annual revenue was within a certain bracket. This was the time when large Indian corporates  like Wipro and HCL acquired land and built up Manufacturing/Assembly lines in Tax free zones like Pondicherry in South and Baddi & Parwanoo in North. There was competition from Regional players like Zenith & Patni computers(yes the same Patni which got acquired by igate in software side) who set up their assembly lines in Goa and Daman respectively. Of course not be left behind there were MNC OEM’s like IBM(subsequently sold its PC business to Lenovo) and HP who were flexing their muscles.

The consumer was the King(as always) and had the Good(Assembled PC), Better (Indian OEM PC) and Best (MNC OEM PC) in Price points and the industry was growing in healthy double digit growth.

This was also the time when the PC assemblers were the most pampered lot with Industry leaders like Intel , Samsung & Logitech doling out various incentives to get the most out of them.

Mid 2000’s – Retail Era

This was the time when Retail started picking up. Laptops were fashionable. The price gap between Assembled PC and Branded PC started reducing. The 3 way fight between Assembled PC, Indian PC and MNC PC  started hotting up with margins declining. The industry was still growing in healthy double digits but the entire growth was coming from Laptops.

The Assembled PC partners were opening Retail stores which was the Front face for attracting consumers. This was also the time when Large Format Retailing started and the Assembled PC ecosystem got threatened by the hype and hoopla of Large Format Retailing.

Now 2015 – E-tail Era

The PC industry ecosystem has reinvented itself and have developed competencies to sell online.The so called Indian OEM’s of the likes of Wipro’s and HCL’s have shut all the manufacturing/assembly units and have shut their PC businesses.

The industry growth is in single digits being threatened by Tablets. Industry players are looking for "that one form factor" which will again get this industry into healthy double digit growth.

Two Pertinent questions to be asked:

• Will India’s IT Hardware industry ever see “Make in India” Again ?
• Where does this industry go from here ?

Watch out this space for more !