1.5 percent growth recorded in the first quarter of the year despite slowdown of consumer segment.
Times of India reported on the slight growth of India’s HCP market in 1Q2014 compared to the previous quarter, noting that government procurement had helped the market to grow 1.5 percent in the period between January and March 2014.
According to data from IDC, the consumer market had seen a slowdown, but it had not stopped the HCP market growing 1.5 percent to 800,100 units. IDC said that the growth was “primarily driven by government procurement and supported by medium and large enterprises in India”; with government buying in the laser segment seeing a “significant sequential growth of 12.8 percent”.
The laser printer market grew 9.3 percent in terms of unit shipments during the quarter compared to 4Q2013 “driven by [a] surge in government business and stable channel business”; while the laser copier-based market witnessed a “very high sequential growth of 68.4 percent”.
The inkjet segment, however, was negatively affected by “low consumer demand across all price band segments” as well as “marginally high inventory”, therefore performing “weakly” with a decline of 15.5 percent.
In terms of vendor performance, HP led the market with a 48.3 percent share, followed by Canon with a 16.4 percent share, Epson with a 10.5 percent share, Ricoh with a 5.7 percent share and Samsung with a 5.3 percent share. All of the leading vendors experienced a sequential decline, with Canon declining the most.
Mohit Raizada, Senior Market Analyst at IDC India, said: “All the leading vendors had a bit of inventory issues earlier. But later in the second half of the quarter, a lot of new campaigns and marketing activities were seen in the Inkjet HCP market.”
He added that IDC expects the HCP market will recover in the next quarter as the vendors target the back to school season.
“[The] printer industry in India is moving to the next level where vendors are mapping and targeting key accounts and industries with the solutions and services approach and are modifying and building their portfolio accordingly,” Raizada said.