Bangalore: The Indian Personal Computer (PC) shipments rose by 16.3 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2003 to reach 615,466 units from 529,308, according to global research and advisory firm Gartner Inc.

Branded players fared well, especially with HCL Infosystems crossing the 50,000 PCs mark this quarter, a first for any vendor in India, a Garter release said on May 7.

HCL Infosystems led the vendor table with 9.2 per cent overall market share. On the other hand, the white-box market share declined marginally to 62.4 per cent this quarter.

Mobile PCs recorded 56 per cent annual growth with Hewlett-Packard (HP) claiming the top spot followed by IBM.

Commenting on the growth, Research Analyst – Hardware Platforms, Gartner India, Vinod Nair said, "With the corporate showing renewed signs of buying, the government and education sectors contributed healthily. End fiscal buying by corporate helped achieve the strong growth rate this quarter."

While the future indications are positive, the transport strike during April and resultant shortage of stock could impact the traditionally weak second quarter, he said.

PTI