After a deep lull, the PC industry has reason to cheer. According to figures released by industry body Mait, total PC sales registered a growth of a whopping 42% at 20 lakh units during the quarter ending December 31, 2009 against the same period last year. The study also estimates that total PC sales for the financial year 2009-10 to grow at a rate of 7% and touch 7.3 million units.

This would mean that after a showing a dip in the last financial year, PC sales would rebound to the 2007-08 levels. Total PC sales during the fiscal year 2007-08 were 7.3 million while in 2008-09 they dipped to 6.8 million.

?The impact of the global economic recession is now well behind us and the IT hardware industry in India is once again on a growth path,? said Vinnie Mehta, executive director, Mait. He added that the corporate sector, which had displayed significant caution in IT spending over the past five quarters, led the growth in consumption. In terms of verticals, consumption was higher in telecom, banking, education, SMEs, BPO/IT-enabled services and the e-governance initiatives. Moreover, the consumer segment is also picking up.

During the quarter, while the sale of desktops stood at 13.5 lakh units?a growth of 27%, notebook sales were 6.6 lakh units, registering a jump of 90% on a year-on-year basis.

?Barring last year, notebook sales have mostly shown a growth of around 100%, so the number is not surprising. However, the netbooks (the compact, low-cost version of notebooks) as a category, which was almost non-existent a year back, is picking up fast,? said Mehta.

Though the study has not given out individual number of netbook sales, it is estimated that during the first six months of the year, around 70,000-80,000 units were sold. As per the study done in partnership with market research firm IMRB, the assembled desktops accounted for 35% of the desktop sales during the quarter, while the proportion of the branded desktops was 65%.

Multinational company brands accounted for 52% of the market, while the Indian brands accounted for the rest 13%.

The server market also grew by 35% on a year-on-year basis. Over 27,000 units of servers were consumed in the third-quarter of 2009-10, according to the study.