The year 2006 was a wonderful year overall for the IT industry marked by government relaxing various import-export related norms, technological innovations and companies expanding their reach in the country.
The year saw India emerge as the world’s second fastest growing major global economy, after China. Apart from easing of policy norms, the industry witnessed many mergers and acquisitions. Two of the significant ones being the Seagate-Maxtor and AMD-ATI mergers. The market saw major players investing heavily in India in various forms. Cisco announced $1 billion investement, while other companies like Nokia and Dell established their manufacturing plants. This indicates the increasing confidence among global giants in the country’s IT potential.
The retail segment gained tremendous momentum this year and saw the establishment of a number of IT malls and numerous outlets. From channel partners to distributors, to manufacturers, everyone have forayed into this space to leverage upon the benefits.
On the other hand, in business the focus of a majority of the players was on the SME and SMB segments. Most of the research reports complimenting this growth indicated the potential of B&C class cities. The primary reason for this being the saturation of the markets in the metros. Also, the companies from time-to-time have devised strategies and marketing plans to reach the interiors of India.
Another fact worth mentioning is the new business trend on the channel front. Many channel partners switched from being mere box-pushers to solution providers. Apart from this, consolidation of products was also noticed across verticals.
On the technological front, it was a treat for all – as products from low-end to high-end ones saw innovation that offered the much required impetus. For instance, Intel’s quad core technology, Seagate’s perpendicular recording based storage technology, Nvidia’s further advancement into a complete new arena of graphics processing with Geforce 8 series.
Overall, 2006 will be remembered as the harbinger of an unprecedented growth and advancement on almost all fronts for the Indian IT market in the New Year.