Canalys forecast India’s PC and tablet market to grow 14% in 2024
Date: 31/03/2024
The Indian PC market (including desktops, notebooks and tablets) grew 4% year on year in Q4 2023, with 4.3 million units shipped. This growth was primarily driven by a 27% increase in desktop shipments, which reached 884,000 units. Notebooks grew more modestly, by 3% to 2.3 million units, while tablet shipments suffered a 9% decline, with 1.1 million units shipped. Despite this quarterly growth, PC shipments fell by 11% overall in 2023. But we anticipate a strong rebound in 2024, with all three categories expected to see robust growth. Tablets are predicted to be the main driver of this growth, with an impressive 24% year-on-year increase.
“At the tail end of 2023, India’s PC market faced high inventory levels in the channel, driven by a supply push due to fears of import restrictions,” said Canalys Analyst Ashweej Aithal. “With the government subsequently easing these restrictions, vendors focused primarily on inventory correction. Successful efforts here helped support a second consecutive quarter of shipment growth. But there is now strong optimism for market recovery in 2024 across all customer segments. The 2023 holiday season already showed positive signs related to consumer sentiment toward discretionary spending. In the commercial space, the specter of recession had led to subdued IT procurement by both enterprises and SMBs in the first half of 2023, but these delayed deployments are starting to take place and will accelerate this year. Finally, public sector tenders have been experiencing delays, with the majority being put on hold due to the upcoming general elections in Q2 2024. Despite these challenges, a notable highlight was the government’s ‘Make in India’ initiative, which spurred many OEMs to ramp up local manufacturing efforts to their fullest capacity.”
Looking ahead, Canalys predicts robust double-digit percentage growth in both the commercial and consumer segments. In 2024, the PC market is expected to see a 14% year-on-year increase, followed by further year-on-year growth of 15% in 2025. Solid commercial procurement is anticipated to be the driving force behind this growth.
“Both AI and locally manufactured PCs will take center stage in 2024,” added Aithal. “AI-capable PCs are expected to experience a substantial boost in the coming commercial refresh cycle as the end of Windows 10 approaches. With these devices commanding relatively high prices in the short term, commercial uptake, especially by large enterprises, is expected to be stronger initially.”
In terms of production, most OEMs have shifted their focus to local assembly, in line with government initiatives. “With nearly 27 manufacturing firms approved under the PLI 2.0 scheme, there’s anticipation of a substantial increase in devices manufactured in India,” said Aithal. “This aligns with broader efforts to strengthen domestic manufacturing capabilities and promote self-reliance in the technology sector.”
Source: Canalys
