About 75%-80% of Acer desktops are made in India, with a value addition of over 50%
About 75%-80% of Acer desktops are made in India, with a value addition of over 50%
Taiwan-based PC maker Acer expects the Indian market to grow by around 20% in the current year, driven by an anticipated revival of demand from the public sector, a top company official said. Hindu.
The company is looking to expand its ‘Made-in-India’ product portfolio as well as make an aggressive foray into the air-purifier segment in the country.
“The government and the public sector have now opened up completely… for the last two years the focus was on the health segment, be it building infrastructure or vaccination. Now government spending will also go to other sectors, especially education. We have already seen a lot of states talking about various education projects, so there will be more buying by the government and the public sector,” said Sudhir Goyal, Chief Business Officer, Acer India Hindu.
He said that Acer is already associated with most government departments.
In 2021, the company saw a 45-50% growth in 2020 due to strong consumer demand, while supply constraints were a challenge.
“We estimate that the market should grow by around 10-15%, but it will be skewed towards the government and the public sector… We are in a better position to capitalize on this demand and hence our growth is much higher than that of the industry. There should be more… we should be doing closer to about 20%,” he said.
Mr Goyal said that while there has been some moderation in demand in the consumer segment, it is still strong as IT companies are hiring new employees, new start-ups are coming up and education from home has become a norm. “We have observed that in the last one or two months, the demand for laptops in the consumer segment has slackened globally. In India, however, demand is still good and we feel that mainstream notebooks will continue to drive growth especially this year as there were serious supply issues for the last six quarters.
When asked about manufacturing in India, he said that around 75%-80% of Acer desktops are made in India, with a value addition of over 50%. The tablets are also made in India. He said that for laptops, the manufacturing process is a bit more complicated, and the company began manufacturing them locally in November last year. “Right now, there are two ranges of laptops made in India…we should add a few more models this year.”
On the new products to be introduced by the company, he said, the company has tested the market for air purifiers in the country and will make “serious efforts” in this segment. “Air purifier is a lifestyle product. We think this is the right time to enter this market. We will widen the road map a little more… What we have realized is that there is a demand for hospitals as well as homes. The company has also performed for a few hospitals including Manipal Hospital and Apollo Hospital.