New Delhi: India’s imports of personal computers surged to a record 4.5 million units in the July to September quarter, recording an increase of 14% year-over-year (YoY) according to data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Personal Computing Device Tracker.According to the data released on November 16, the notebook category grew by 13.1% YoY, while the desktop category grew by 19.3%.India’s traditional PC market includes desktops, notebooks, and workstations.The growth comes after the Union government’s U-turn last month on its earlier plan imposing import restrictions on laptops, tablets, and certain types of computers.The announcement on October 19, came months after the government imposed import restrictions on laptops, tablets, and certain types of computers with immediate effect, citing “security reasons” and the need to promote domestic manufacturing on August 3. The government then had also said that those wanting to import these items would need a license starting November 1. “The consumer segment saw strong traction in 3Q23 after a challenging past four quarters. In August, the government of India declared a mandatory requirement of import licenses for PCs from 30 October. Though this decision was later put on hold, vendors shipped significant channel inventory to avoid any risks of supply shortages or price hikes, not to mention ensuring sufficient supplies for festival season sales,” Bharath Shenoy, senior research analyst, IDC India was quoted as saying.According to IDC data the consumer sector saw a rise of 26.3% compared to the previous year but the commercial sector remained unchanged.In terms of personal computer companies, HP Inc. led the market with a share of 29.4% as it topped the charts in both the commercial and consumer segments with shares of 34.3% and 25.9% respectivelyAccording to the IDC the firm’s inventory pushes and positive market sentiment helped it clock its biggest ever consumer quarter.Lenovo came second with a share of 17% as its shipments fell 8.8% year on year. In the desktop category it fared well and witnessed year on year growth of 32.5% in the third quarter of 2023.Dell Technologies came third with a 14.6% market share and a year-on-year growth of 3.8%. IDC said that Lenovo had not decided not to do heavy stocking, which led to some market share loss but helped maintain healthy channel inventory.ASUS took the fourth position with a 12.5% share and achieved its most significant consumer quarter by surpassing 500,000 units in the consumer segment. According to IDC ASUS decided to do heavy stocking for festive season sales as it wanted to avoid any supply hurdles due to the import regulations. Acer took the fifth spot with 11.6% market share despite a 20.9% year-on-year growth. IDC said that the company’s focus on online channels contributed to its most substantial consumer quarter on record. The firm pushed stocks on online channels and had its biggest consumer quarter.Despite the increase in the consumer segment, IDC said that in the PC market a dearth of enterprise orders remains a concern.“In the past few months, the PC market has seen a substantial channel push in the consumer segment and to some extent in the SME segment as well,” said Navkendar Singh, Associate Vice President, Devices Research, IDC India, South Asia & ANZ.“The vendors are now focused on increasing their local assembly mix as government and education projects are expected to prefer locally assembled devices. While this might give a further boost to the government and education segments, a dearth of enterprise orders is a matter of concern as the enterprise segment is expected to decline by over 20% YoY in 2023.”