New Delhi October 23 2012: A study commissioned by the Manufacturers' Association for Information Technology (MAIT) and conducted by Indian Market Research Bureau (IMRB) says the Indian tablet PC market is poised to touch 7.3 million units by 2015-16 , up from 1.7 million units this year – a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of around 40 percent. This presumes significant sales to government and its agencies. Without this fillip, the consumer tablet market is expected to grow from 0.35 million in 2011-12 to 1.89 million in 2015-16.
A key factor in the growth of tablets has been the encouragement from the government in adopting and developing low-cost options for villages in the rural hinterland. States like Uttar Pradesh and Goa are expected to distribute 2.6 million and 150,000 tablets respectively to students. Defence and military forces, education and healthcare services are other fast tracks for tablet usage. Corporate sectors like insurance, pharmaceuticals, market research, aviation, logistics and school education are also seen as early adopters
The study involved 700 tablet consumers and 17 manufacturers like Samsung, Micromax, Lava, Olive and Beetel., he said.
The study finds that Apple's iOS (operating system) was most prevelant at 57 per cent in 2011-12, it is expected to reduce to 48 per cent, as more low-cost devices based on the Android OS are launched. Some 43 per cent of tablets in 2012-13 are expected to run on Android , compared to 35 per cent in 2011-12. This might change once Windows-based tablet PCs more plentiful.
The market is flooded by tablet PCs with prices starting as low as Rs 3,000. However average selling prices of tablets are expected to come down from Rs 24,025 today to about 10,000 in 2015-16