India is the fastest growing IT hardware products market in the Asia Pacific region. Most of the prominent global as well as local vendors are showing increased interest to operate in the competitive Indian market. Though India is a diverse country with a huge population base and a significant enterprise universe, it has one of the lowest PC penetrations. The hardware industry can cash in on this greatest opportunity in the future. This makes India one of the most exciting markets for IT hardware players. However, they need to cope with the challenges of understanding the typical marketing structure and conquering the geographical diversities. Potential areas of growth include: low-cost network access devices, transaction printers, point-of-sale systems, and digital home access devices.
India is emerging as the fastest growing hub of software industry. The visions are that it will lead the market in the coming years, the main driving force being the software services and solutions. If reports and experts are to be believed, then India will see a tremendous rise in hardware industry too, but the last year's statistics do not show the same facts. Last year, Indian hardware industry witnessed a decline of 11%, which is shaky news for the hardware industry. The hardware industry is a manufacturing-oriented industry, and our governmental policies do not favor their growth. This is the foremost reason for the decline in hardware business in India. While the reviewers opine that the policies are very harsh, the government, as always, is ready with a cheesy excuse that it is still in the process of learning the nuances of this complex business. The second obstacle is the lack of uniform policy all across the country. The government has a common interest of having the maximum tax, but lacks unified and good regulations. There is no coordination between the Central and state governments with regard to policy formulations. For example, even if the Central government announces relaxations on taxes or duties, it is offset by a rise in taxes at the state level.
Market for transaction printers, non-impact printers, point-of-sale systems followed by servers and UPS systems looks extremely promising, especially with the advent of retail industry segment in India. Some conclusions of a recent study paint a rosy future for Indian Hardware Inc. By 2010, the Indian hardware industry has the potential to grow 12 times its existing market size, with the domestic market accounting for $37 bn and exports accounting for another $37 bn. The study has identified major export opportunities in the areas of innovative new devices, contract manufacturing and design services. The study says that component exports offer an opportunity worth $5 bn, while that of design and related services in embedded systems and wireless telecommunication services can bring in another $7 bn by 2010. Further, ambitious projections have been made in the area of contract manufacturing, which represents a $11 bn opportunity if India succeeds in capturing a share of only 2.2% of the global pie by 2010.
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