Indian PC brands and unbranded PCs assembled locally together dominated the country’s price-sensitive PC market, according to data released Thursday by the Manufacturers Association of Information Technology (MAIT), an association in Delhi of vendors of computers and other hardware.

Local PC brands had a market share of 28 percent, while assemblers of unbranded PCs had a share of 37 percent of the Indian PC market in the year up to March 31.

The Indian PC market, which includes both desktops and notebook PCs, grew by 32 percent to 5.04 million units in the year to March 31, according to MAIT. Desktop sales totaled 4.6 million units, registering an annual growth of 27 percent, while notebook shipments totaled 430,000 units, growing 144 percent compared to a year earlier.

PC shipments are expected to cross 6 million units in the year to March 31, 2007, because of increased buying by some industries, and also because more homes are buying PCs as their prices drop, MAIT said. Increased sales of PCs in smaller cities and towns is also contributing to market growth, according to MAIT.

Current estimates put India’s population at about 1.3 billion.

Garage PC assemblers have traditionally dominated India’s PC market because of their low prices and user hand-holding, and in the 1990s accounted for more than 58 percent of the PC market. Recognizing the potential for delivering products to industry and the consumers through this channel, Intel set up a Genuine Intel Dealer program that gave the assemblers credibility and access to its latest technology.

Aggressive pricing by both Indian and multinational brands whittled down the share of the unbranded PCs to 37 percent from 41 percent a year earlier, although this segment continued to grow unit sales by 14 percent, according to MAIT. The Indian PC brands grew their share from 24 percent to 28 percent as their sales grew by 48 percent. Multinational PC brands grew sales by 27 percent, but their market share remained steady at 35 percent from a year earlier.

Among the branded PCs, both Indian and multinational, Hewlett-Packard (HP) had the largest market share on account of high growth in notebook sales, according to data released in May by research firm IDC (India). HP had an 18 percent market share of shipments, followed by an Indian vendor, HCL Infosystems, with 14 percent share, and the Lenovo Group with 9 percent share, according to IDC (India) in Gurgaon. MAIT does not break down PC shipments by vendor.