The market research and analysis firm specializing in information technology, telecommunications and consumer technology – International Data Corporation (IDC) said on Wednesday that the shipments personal computer (PCs), in India, declined 19 percent in the first quarter of the current year. The economic slowdown was the major reason for the decline in PC shipments, said the IDC in its new study.

According to the IDC study, in the first quarter ended in March, the client PC sales dropped to 1.67 million units from 2.07 million in 2008, and the desktop PC sales dropped 18 percent to 1.21 million units, while notebook PCs sales declined 21 percent to 466,000 units.

Sumanta Mukherjee, the lead analyst, computing products research, IDC India, said, "Though the year-on-year growth rate of client PC shipments dropped 19 percent, this was an improvement over the previous quarter, indicating market has perhaps already bottomed out.”

The IDC study revealed that the PC shipments in the first quarter were 7 percent up from 1.56 million units in December quarter – the surge in the shipments was due to demand from government, education and banking sectors. The IDC study found that total number of installed PC base in India crossed 36 million units – which means that one computer for every 30 Indians.

The IDC study predicts that the newly formed Congress-led coalition government at the centre is expected to spend more money in PC segment. IDC said, "With a number of significant government-funded education and e-governance projects lined up in the coming quarters, a lot will hinge on how quickly the new government settles down to business.”