The combined printer, copier and multifunctional product (MFP) market in India totalled nearly 0.7 million units in the fourth quarter of 2009, which represents 34.7 per cent growth over the fourth quarter of 2008 and 18 per cent growth compared to the third quarter in 2009, according to Gartner, Inc.

 “This strong growth is the result of improving buyer confidence in the market,” said Mr. Vishal Tripathi, principal research analyst at Gartner. “Smaller towns and cities outside of the major metropolitan cities, and small and medium businesses, were the growth drivers.”

Most vendors experienced significant growth in shipments year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2009. Canon led with a 120 per cent increase, followed by Samsung with 55 per cent and HP with 29 per cent growth (see Table 1). Other than Toshiba and Xerox, all others vendors registered growth in the Indian Market in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Canon, with 23 per cent market share, again emerged as the No.1 in Page A3 Flatbed Copier/MFP in the fourth quarter of 2009, followed by Ricoh with 18 per cent market share.

HP with 35 percent market share, was the leader in Page A4 Flatbed category followed by Samsung, with 28 per cent market share.

Sales of page printers grew 53 per cent year-on-year. Canon experienced 182 per cent growth year-on-year. Samsung experienced 51 per cent growth year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2009 and HP with 28 percent increase in shipments contributed to this healthy growth of single function page devices. HP’s market share declined from 56 percent share in the fourth quarter of 2008 to 47 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009. Canon’s market share grew from 18 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 to 33 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009. 
 
In serial Inkjet, HP grew 26 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009 in comparison to the fourth quarter of 2008. However, HP lost its market share by 2 points from 73 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 to 71 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009. Canon recorded 79 percent growth in the fourth quarter of 2009 as compared to the fourth quarter of 2008, and its market share grew from 12 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008 to 17 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009.

The serial dot matrix segment increased 12 percent year on year with Epson being the leader in the India market with 44 percent market share followed by TVSE with 39 percent and WEP with 16 percent.

India Printer, Copier and MFP Unit Shipments Estimates, 4Q09 (Thousands of Units)

Note: Totals may not add up to 100 per cent due to rounding
Source: Gartner (February 2010)