A boy plays a 'FIFA World Cup Game' by EA Sports on a computer. Sales of personal computers in India are expected to be flat this financial year as consumers hold back on purchases due to a slowing economy, an industry group has said.

Sales of personal computers in India are expected to be flat this financial year as consumers hold back on purchases due to a slowing economy, an industry group said Tuesday.

Sales of laptop and desktop computers rose 12 percent to 3.7 million units in the six months ended September 30, the Manufacturer's Association for Information Technology (MAIT) said.

But the outlook was far more grim for the second half of the fiscal year to March 2009, the group said.

"Given current macroeconomic conditions and conservative buying sentiment in the market, PC sales are expected to remain at the same levels as in the last fiscal year, at 7.3 million units," MAIT Executive Director Vinnie Mehta said.

"The global economic downturn has started reflecting on the domestic information technology market," Mehta said in a statement. "We expect a flat market for PCs for fiscal 2008-09."

The association added that government and public sector spending was expected to be the mainstay of domestic IT consumption and appealed to the government to give interest-free loans to employees wishing to buy computers.

The PC industry had seen double-digit annual growth as falling prices boosted demand and companies accelerated computerisation.

Desktop computers took the biggest share of the market in the first six months of the year, totalling 2.91 million units, MAIT said in the statement.

© 2009 AFP