Lenovo Beats Samsung in Indian Tablet Market Shipments: IDC

Lenovo beat Samsung to capture the top position in the tablet market in India with 21.8 percent market share in the second quarter of 2017, a report said on Thursday.

According to the report by research firm International Data Corporation (IDC), the company's tablet shipments marked an overall growth of 12.6 percent, primarily contributed by its healthy growth in the commercial segment.

Over 80 percent of its shipments were driven by specific commercial projects delivered to government, education and large enterprises.

"Digital projects across government and education sectors are the key driving verticals for the growth of the commercial sector," said Celso Gomes, Associate Market Analyst, Client Devices, IDC India, in a statement.

IDC observes the calendar year as the financial year in its reports.

Samsung slipped to the second place but maintained the shipments volume of the previous quarter with a market share of 20.6 percent.

The report said that a total of 7,22,000 tablets across all brands were shipped in the country in the quarter, marking a marginal growth of 2.9 percent from the previous quarter, despite the healthy growth in the commercial segment.

This was attributed to the decline of 13.8 percent in the consumer segment, resulting in a steep 26.8 percent year-on-year (YoY) drop in the total shipments.

The implementation of the Goods and Service Tax (GST) inhibited the growth of tablet shipments in the consumer segment, the report added.

"Uncertainty about the levy of the new tax structure restricted the stocking of inventory and in turn lead to limited sell-in of tablets in the country," noted Gomes.

Datawind stood at the third position with a market share of 18.2 percent, followed by iBall at 15.2 percent.

With 49.6 percent quarter-on-quarter growth and 7.7 percent market share, Apple remained at the fifth position.