|
|
|
Laptop sales surge in India as firms empower workforce at home
|
|
|
|
Top Stories |
|
|
|
|
SME Times News Bureau | 03 Apr, 2020
While several industries reel under the COVID-19 lockdown impact in
India, PC and laptop majors like HP and Lenovo have seen a massive surge
in bulk buying from corporates and enterprises to keep their workforce
stay home, safe and connected.
Chromebooks and business laptops
started disappearing from the shelves even before the 21-day lockdown
was announced from March 24 midnight, as millions of Indians across the
spectrum began working from home as corona-positive cases began emerging
from various offices from early March.
A Lenovo spokesperson
told IANS that there has been an uptick in demand for laptops and other
accessories in the social distancing times.
"Inevitably, given
the rise in the need for remote and flexible working from businesses
around the world, we have seen an increase in demand for laptops and
supporting accessories," said the spokesperson.
Industry insiders
informed that HP Inc has also seen a huge demand and its work-from-home
products have been sold out in the country.
"Chromebooks have
seen the most demand as the data is stored on the Cloud and is safe for
the companies from the cybersecurity point of view. HP
Chromebooks/business laptops were bought in bulk across industries,
majorly by the IT giants," the industry sources told IANS.
Even
during the lockdown, PC and print majors have been given special
permission by the government to supply supporting accessories like
cartridges, toners and hard disks etc, to hospitals (to record and
maintain COVID-19 data), banks and other essential services to keep
their operations going on seamlessly.
According to Thomas George,
President, CyberMedia Research (CMR), there has been a significant
increase in the sale and renting of laptop PCs due to the work-from-home
situation.
"This trend is witnessed across the sectors.
However, large organisations are placing fresh orders as they provision
and enable an entire process or team to work remotely. For example, an
IT services major was rolling out 4,000-5,000 laptops daily to the
employees in order to work from home," George told IANS.
On the
back of its strength in managing complex supply chains, Lenovo India is
aiming to double its PC shipment volume in the financial year 2020-21
and log 15 per cent year-over-year revenue growth during that period
despite the challenges brought about by the new coronavirus (COVID-19)
pandemic, according to Rahul Agarwal, CEO and MD, Lenovo India.
"Lenovo
is leveraging its geographical balance, operational excellence and
strength in managing complex supply chains across a global manufacturing
footprint, and solid strategy execution in order to weather the
challenges," Agarwal told IANS late last month.
The PC, print and
laptop majors are now facing the supply issue as demand is still coming
from all quarters, and hope to address this as soon as the lockdown is
cleared.
"There will be supply and demand gap occurring due to
the restrictions around component import under current circumstance and
it will push the prices further up,' said George.
India's
traditional PC market saw a six-year high with 11 million shipments of
desktops, notebooks and workstations in 2019 -- an impressive 18.1 per
cent year-over-year (YoY) growth, according to the International Data
Corporation (IDC).
"In absence of any fresh mega-deal, lingering
concerns around component shortage, and supply uncertainties due to
recent novel coronavirus outbreak, it would be difficult for vendors to
maintain this level of growth in 2020," said Jaipal Singh, Associate
Research Manager, Client Devices, IDC India.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Customs Exchange Rates |
Currency |
Import |
Export |
US Dollar
|
66.20
|
64.50 |
UK Pound
|
87.50
|
84.65 |
Euro
|
78.25
|
75.65 |
Japanese
Yen |
58.85 |
56.85 |
As on 13 Aug, 2022 |
|
|
Daily Poll |
|
|
PM Modi's recent US visit to redefine India-US bilateral relations |
|
|
|
|
|
Commented Stories |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|