India tablet sales crash by 16% in Jan-March quarter

Sales of tablet PCs fell by 16 per cent year-on-year to around 7.6 lakh units during January-March, hurt by lack of any promotional activity by device makers, says a report.

The tablet shipments in the March quarter were also down by 6 per cent compared to the previous October-December quarter, the report by research firm CMR said.

Datawind continued to hold the top spot with 34 per cent market share, followed iBall with 16 per cent share, the report said. Samsung had 15 per cent share while homegrown Micromax had 8 per cent share.

"The continuous decline in the tablet space could be attributed to the lack of promotional activities in the space. Aadhaar has, of course, provided a lot of impetus to the market (as it increases orders from government sector)," CMR Lead-Analyst (Tablets) Menka Kumari said. However, at the same time, B2C consumption entirely depends on the promotional activities and some exciting features, she added.

CMR said upcoming GST regime is also going to affect the tablet market, but the magnitude can be gauged only later as a lot of clarity is expected to come on the implementation front.