HP had a 21% share of India's PC market last year, followed by Indian vendor HCL Infosystems with 13%, and Lenovo with a 10% share, according to data released Wednesday by research firm IDC India.

India's desktop PC market is however still dominated by assemblers of unbranded PCs. Their share of the desktop market, currently at 33% of the market, has however been dwindling as branded players get aggressive on pricing, and are able to reach more small towns in the country, said Piyush Pushkal, manager for PC research at IDC India, in an interview on Wednesday. Vendors of unbranded PCs do not have a significant presence in notebook computers, he added.

India's PC market grew by 20% to 6.5 million PCs last year. Growth of sales of notebook PCs was the highest at 81%. Notebook PC sales of 1.8 million units accounted for over 25% of all PC sales last year, indicating that first-time buyers were opting for notebook PCs, IDC said.

In the notebook PC segment of the market, HP retained the top spot with a market share of 37% last year in terms of unit shipments. Lenovo was at second spot with a market share of 16%, while Acer had a market share of 10%.

HP has benefited from its strong sales in the notebook segment where it was an early entrant in the Indian market, according to industry sources.

Pushkal expects growth in PC sales by units to be sustained at around 20% this year, mainly because of larger spending by the government on e-governance projects and education, and higher spending by industry. "People realize that to be competitive they have to invest in technology," he said.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.