Lenovo remains bullish on its India business

Charts the Unstoppable India plan to sustain leadership position

New Delhi, January 30, 2013: As one of the fastest growing PC markets in the world, India continues to remain a significant contributor to the success of Lenovo in the global PC arena. As the year 2012 came to a close, Lenovo achieved the unique distinction of being the leading player in five out of the seven top PC markets (China, Japan, India, Germany and Russia), and further narrowing the lead between itself and the No. 1 PC maker globally. The company has upheld its streak of outgrowing the overall industry globally for the 14^th quarter in a row and its impressive growth in India over the last nine quarters reflects this global average.

Lenovo entered India in 2005, by acquiring IBM’s PC business and since then has grown its market share exponentially in all segments of the PC market. For the quarter ended September 30, 2012, Lenovo retained its numero uno position in the country with 16.9% market share – a position, it has maintained since Jan 2012 (as per Asia from Pacific PC shipment tracker IDC for CY Q3, 2012 - JAS quarter). Even as the final data for the OND quarter for India is awaited, preliminary estimates from IDC point out that Lenovo continues to grow faster than the overall PC market.

Commenting on the year gone by, Amar Babu, Managing Director, Lenovo India, said, “The year 2012 marked a series of milestones for us – our Protect & Attack strategy, which refers to securing our leadership in our core businesses, while attacking newer opportunities, ensured that our overall profitability was not compromised in the run for market share. I’m happy to inform you that Lenovo has continued to grow faster than the overall market for the last 9 consecutive quarters now. Incidentally, India was one of the first few markets, after China, where we made a successful foray into the smartphone category in November 2012 starting with South India and Gujarat, and we plan to make the range of smartphones available across the country. We will continue to invest in the India business, and I’m confident that we will sustain this momentum in the years to come.”

Given below are some of the key milestones and highlights from Lenovo for its India business for CY-2012.

Protecting and growing the Enterprise Business: A hallmark of its Protect business, the enterprise business continued to contribute to Lenovo’s overall success in the country. Lenovo’s Enterprise PC business leads the segment for the past five quarters consecutively, even outside of mega deals, with a current market share of 28.9%. Major account wins in the Government and Education segments led to Lenovo becoming the leading player in the education vertical with a share of 33.3%. Lenovo also celebrated two decades of the ThinkPad with the launch of the X1 Carbon in 2012.

Note: All figures as per data from IDC for CY Q3, 2012 - JAS quarter

Hyper growth in Consumer Business: With the increasing incomes of the rural consumer as well as enhanced internet connectivity solutions, the consumer PC business holds tremendous potential for growth. Subsequent to its efforts to increase its market share in this segment, Lenovo grew consistently in the consumer PC segment for the last nine quarters and is currently ranked at No. 2 with a 14.1% market share.

Note: All figures as per data from IDC for CY Q3, 2012 - JAS quarter

Tremendous potential in SMB Business: The SMB business continues to grow and in line with the unique requirements that this segment calls for, Lenovo has adopted a differentiated approach for SOHOs, SBs and MBs. With a market share of 6.3% and a ranking at No. 4, Lenovo maintains a bullish outlook on the SMB market. The company expects that 2013 will see a revival in the demand for computing solutions from local small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in the country, as they look towards technology to enable them to drive further growth. This will, fuel the demand for low-end PCs like AIOs and traditional desktops in2013.

Note: All figures as per data from IDC for CY Q3, 2012 - JAS quarter

Explosive expansion on Retail front: While Lenovo has numerous tie-ups with large format retailers, to cement its presence in the country, the company also undertook rapid retail expansion in tier III, IV and V cities by investing in exclusive stores – LES (Lenovo Exclusive Stores) and LES Lites. Today with over 1200 LES stores, Lenovo is the largest PC retailer brand in India. Considering that the next wave of growth will arise from tier III-V cities, beyond the top 75 cities of the country, Lenovo hopes to add more stores by the end of this fiscal to drive further growth.

The coming of the PC + era: India will continue to remain one of the fastest growing PC markets in the world and Lenovo believes that the future will be dominated by the presence of four screens (PC, Tablets, Smartphones, and Smart TVs). Growth in 2013 will be driven by the rapidly increasing demand for smartphones, tablets and other unique form factor computing devices like Ultra portables and Hybrids.  Lenovo is confident that it will continue to outperform and outgrow the market in India with its ‘Unstoppable Lenovo India’ plan where it wants to become the brand of choice for partners and customers. As a part of this goal, Lenovo intends to become the leading player, or be at least one of the leaders in each segment of the PC +era. Investments in R&D to fuel the need for innovative computing devices will continue, and the company will remain committed to the market to ensure that growth is sustainable and consistent.