Tuesday March 3, 5:43 am Eastern Time
Compaq guns for top PC slot in India
NEW DELHI, March 3 (Reuters) - U.S-based Compaq Computer Corp said on Tuesday it wanted to
become the largest personal computer (PC) company in India in calendar 1998.
''We want to be the number one PC supplier in India in 1998,'' said Abhishek Mukherjee, managing
director of Compaq's wholly owned India unit, Compaq Computer (India) Pvt Ltd.
He said in 1997 Compaq stood behind India's HCL group (HCLL.BO), which sold some 58,000 PCs.
''We were second, but now we have advanced the target date to get to number one to 1998 from 2000,''
he added.
India's PC market topped 800,000 PCs in 1997, according to the Manufacturers' Association of
Information Technology (MAIT). More than half of these were non-branded, locally assembled machines
which normally cost 20 to 25 percent less than similar brand-name PCs.
Mukherjee was speaking at a press conference to announce the launch of Compaq's cheapest commercial
desktop PC, the 39,990-rupee ($1,110) Deskpro 1000. Compaq's cheapest home computer costs 55,000
rupees.
He declined to give the number of PCs that Compaq sold in India in calendar 1997. Dataquest magazine
estimates the firm sold some 33,500 PCs in 1996/97 (April-March).
Mukherjee had earlier told Reuters that Compaq hoped to sell between 40,000 and 50,000 PCs in 1997/98
(April-March).
Paul Blinkhorn, Compaq Asia Pacific's director for the PC products group, said the two bright spots in
Asia were India and greater China, where growth would continue to be strong.
''We are extremely optimistic about our fortunes in the Indian marketplace. Compaq is looking to India for
strong growth and strong market gain,'' he said.
Blinkhorn said the new low-price PC would also be sold in Southeast Asia, and eastern Europe. ''We think
the Deskpro 1000 will do well in markets such as Indonesia, Philippines and Indochina,'' he added.
Compaq converted its four-year old liaison office in India into a subsidiary last November.
At that time, Compaq Asia Pacific's managing director Paul Chan said the firm could double its investment
in India by 2002, if the market grew 30 percent annually.
Compaq's cumulative investment in India was close to $20 million, Chan had said.
MAIT estimates India's PC market will top three million units by 2000, fuelled by the growth of local
language software and the penetration of the Internet.
($1 equals 39.5 rupees) |
