India HCP market posted quarterly shipments of 0.85 million units in 2019Q1, with a decline of 4.1 percent on a year-on-year (YoY) basis, as per the latest IDC’s Asia/Pacific Quarterly Hardcopy Peripherals Tracker, CY2019Q1. The decline was primarily because of the slowdown in both consumer and commercial demand.
Despite a slowdown in demand, Inkjet printer shipments grew YoY by 5.6 percent led primarily by Epson. The growth was led by Ink tank printers which recorded YoY growth of 21.2 percent, the highest growth in the last 5 quarters. While the overall laser printer market declined YoY by 11.9 percent, the copier segment grew by 19.4 percent YoY and recorded the highest shipment ever. The copier market grew on the back of strong demand from government and government’s continued tight monitoring of the refurbished copier market.
“Weak consumer demand, observed in 2018Q4, continued well up to the middle of 2019Q1 as well and this largely affected the overall Inkjet market’s health. Demand from SMBs and SOHOs was also on the lower side due to the credit issues they continue to face with banks affecting demand for laser printers. Despite the scheduled government elections, the consumption from the Government remained steady, owing to it being the last quarter of the financial year. After the election dates were announced on March 10, 2019, with the Model Code of Conduct coming into effect, government demand decreased as multiple Government deals were put on hold,” says Bani Johri, Market Analyst, IPDS, IDC India.
