Dell expects $1 bln revenue from India next year

New Delhi, Aug 13 (UNI) World's second largest personal-computer maker Dell Inc today said it expects its revenue from the country to cross the one-billion-dollar mark next year from the current 800 million dollars.

''With a 50 per cent growth in revenue in the last few quarters, I expect that we will be able to break the one-billion dollar mark next year,'' company President (APACS) Paul-Henri Ferrand told reporters here on the sidelines of the launch of its Latitude E-series notebooks here.

Mr Ferrand said the company has seen a 99 per cent growth in volumes as well in the first quarter of this year.

Dell has been bullish on the Indian market seeing the rising demand from consumer, small and medium business, government, financial services and education sectors from being an essentially ''corporate-driven''.

About 82 per cent of Dell's 16.1 billion dollars in global sales last quarter came from business customers, with consumers accounting for the rest. Corporate sales increased 6.9 per cent, compared with a 21 per cent gain in the consumer business.

''We are seeing the increasing business in new categories of consumer and SMBs and segments of government, banking, financial services and insurance and education,'' company CEO Michael Dell said.

The Texas-based company, which has a plant in Tamil Nadu, stands third in the market with a 7.6 per cent market share and continues to be number one in large corporates segments.

Dell refused to comment on whether it was planning to launch its low-cost PCs in the country.

Reports suggest that Dell might be looking at entering into sales pacts with educational institutions and government departments.

According to IDC reports, there are about 7.6 million SMBs in the country that spend 3.25 billion dollars on IT hardware.

UNI SR SBA AS1835