Technology major Lenovo does not see any impact of the government’s recent restrictions on imports of laptops, personal computers (PCs), tablets, and servers, Ajay Sehgal, executive director of India’s commercial business told FE.
Reason for Lenovo not being affected by the government’s restrictions, which will be applicable from November 1, is due to the fact that the company has its own PC manufacturing unit in Puducherry. Besides, the company also locally manufactures its tablet computers, in partnership with Wingtech Technology, at a plant in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh.
“We are in discussions with the government with regard to escalating our Make in India plans. The recent decision by the government is in accordance with increasing the manufacturing base in India and we are already doing that,” Sehgal said.
“These manufacturing units as well as a strong supply chain ecosystem in India will also help Lenovo to leverage its ‘pocket to cloud’ strategy which is providing a complete infrastructure portfolio to companies including the data center services, servers, storage, as well as managing their devices and other digital requirements,” Sehgal added.
Lenovo’s Puducherry plant has been in operation since 1999. Apart from the Lenovo’s popular IdeaPad notebook computers, the facility also manufactures products across Lenovo’s full consumer and commercial range, including desktops, notebooks, and workstations.
On its plans to leverage benefits under the revised IT Hardware, the company said it is yet to make a decision on that. “While we are yet to take decision on Lenovo’s plans to leverage PLI 2.0, it offers us the opportunity to scale our PC manufacturing capacity in India, contributing to our global manufacturing footprint,” Shailendra Katyal, managing director of Lenovo India said in response to a query by FE.
“We made significant strides with the previously existing PLI program – starting with self-reliance to domestic value addition, producing components and sub-assemblies, and setting our sights on exports. We have come a long way,” Katyal added.
In the smartphone business, the company owns the Motorola brand, and has tied-up with Dixon Technologies for its manufacturing in India. “100% of Motorola’s smartphones for India are made in India with a significant proportion being exported around the world,” the company said.
In India, Lenovo has the second-largest market share of 16% in the traditional PC market, which includes desktops, notebooks, and workstations, as of March end, according to data by IDC. The company shipped around 470,000 units of PCs in the January-March quarter, a fall of 38% year-on-year owing to weak demand, according to IDC.
“We are no more only a PC company. We are a service provider — meaning that we will access the digital requirements of companies and take care of all the devices from an end to end basis,” Sehgal said — adding that about 40% of Lenovo’s global is now coming from the non-PC side so it’s no more only devices.
When asked about the falling revenues from the PC business, Sehgal said the demand for devices or PCs is cyclic in nature. “When during a quarter people buy devices, in subsequent quarters the demand decreases. Further, owing to global macroeconomic situations, there are some quarters when the demand went down as compared to the previous quarters, but it is still high as compared to pre-Covid level,” he said.
According to Sehgal, an expanded portfolio with value addition and seamless integration of multiple devices is the element which the company is getting traction for, apart from its ‘as-a-service’ IT infrastructure solutions.
Besides, the PCs, tablets, etc, Lenovo under its infrastructure solutions group as well as solutions and services group vertical, provides AI-powered servers, edge to cloud services including hardware, as well as provides all its IT solutions and services portfolio as bundled services, based on the needs of the organisation.
In India, Lenovo is bullish on the banking sector and the retail sector, which are actually reaching out to the company for its digital transformation needs.
“What we want and what we are doing is letting our customers across all verticals and segments, focus on their core and taking the responsibility of managing their overall IT infrastructure,” Sehgal said.
“Companies are finding it cost effective if they outsource their IT infrastructure requirement to a subject matter expert like Lenovo,” Sehgal said, adding that a large chunk of CIOs (chief information officers) are looking at looping in at least one IT infrastructure partner in the next two years and Lenovo will benefit from that.
On Tuesday, Lenovo launched its latest trio of unconventional desktop workstations, the ThinkStation PX, P7, and P5.
