Total PC sales in India hit 7.34 million last year, registering a growth of 16 per cent over the previous year.

According to the Industry Performance Review for Fiscal 2007-08 by the Manufacturers' Association for Information Technology (MAIT), the IT market was dominated by substantial growth in notebook sales, which grew by 114 per cent. However, desktop sales grew only slightly.

The PC market recorded maximum growth in western and southern India, at 39 per cent for both regions. Notebook consumption recorded a new landmark, with more than one million sold in the second half. According to MAIT executive director Vinnie Mehta, the market in 2007-08 was sustained by significant growth in the home market and steady consumption in small and medium enterprises. The study projected PC sales to reach 8.5 million units in fiscal 2008-09.

The review is a syndicated end-user-based study on the IT hardware market by the market research firm IMRB International, which surveyed the domestic IT market, its potential and trends. The MAIT-IMRB study involved face-to-face interviews with more than 25,000 respondents selected randomly across 22 cities in India.

The study comprised five broad product segments - computers, networking products, printers, other peripherals and internet connections. It was based entirely on data collected from users, and was designed to provide an accurate estimate of the market as well as direct imports. X