The combined serial inkjet and page printer, copier and multifunction product (MFP) market in India totalled 666,859 units in the second quarter of 2011, a 0.8% decline vis-a-vis the same period of the previous calendar year, according to research firm Gartner, Inc. Some of the ripples caused by uncertainty in the global economy, primarily on account of the downgrade of the US sovereign rating and European debt crisis, found their way to the Indian economy, Gartner said, asserting that as a result, economic activities slowed down slightly and printer equipment purchases as a discretionary spend were affected.
The unprecedented high inflation in the country also affected consumer spending on print devices.
"Overall, HP, Canon, Samsung, and Epson continued to be the top four vendors, accounting for 92% of the total India printer market in the second quarter of 2011," said Gartner research analyst Amrita Choudhury.
HP maintained its leadership position in the India printer, copier and MFP market, accounting for 53.1% of shipments, followed by Canon with 22.9%, Samsung with 8.5% and Epson with a 7.7% market share.
In the A4 MFP segment also, HP was the market leader with a 58.3% share, followed by Canon with 20.7%, Samsung with 7.4% and Epson with a 5.3% share of the market in the second quarter of 2011 were the other top vendors in the segment.
In the second quarter of 2011, in the A3 flatbed copier MFP segment, Canon led the market with a 27.7% share, followed by Sharp, which accounted for 15.3% of total sales. Xerox and Toshiba commanded 13.7 and 13.4% share of the market, respectively.
Ricoh, which led the segment with a 24.2% market share in the first quarter of 2011, had only 11.8% market share in the second quarter, but it showed a growth of 13.2% year-on-year. "Overall, the Indian print market is seeing a paradigm shift from a single function to a multifunction device," Amrita Choudhury said.