Matching the trend in Asia-Pacific PC market, India witnessed a 16.3 per cent rise in personal computer shipments in the first quarter of 2003 with the shipments touching 615,000 units, according to the latest study by Gartner.

"While corporates showed renewed signs of buying, the government and the education sector contributed healthily and corporate purchases at the end of the fiscal helped achieve the strong growth rate this quarter," Vinod Nair, analyst, Gartner India said.

Branded players like HCL Infosystems crossed the 50,000 mark in the quarter, a first for any vendor in India, the Gartner release said, adding HCL Info led the vendor table with 9.2 per cent overall market share.

White-box market share declined marginally to 62.4 per cent in Q1 while mobile PCs recorded 56 per cent growth with Hewlett Packard claiming the top slot followed by IBM.

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

The Asia Pacific PC shipments in Q1 increased five per cent totalling 54 lakh (5.4 million) units with China leading the table at 21 lakh (2.1 million) units and South Korea at 716,000 units.

Commenting on the outlook, Gartner said, "The market suffered a drastic decline in demand from South Korea, the second largest market in Asia Pacific, which fell by over 22 per cent in Q1."