Economic growth and strong offerings by computer assemblers will drive the demand for personal computers, expected to grow at 18 per cent, in the country in 2003, according to Gartner Dataquest study.

"With a population to rival China, India has lot to offer in terms of demand. The consumer segment is still very attractive considering the large population of first time buyers," Gartner India research analyst Vinod Nair said in a release quoting 'India: PC Market Outlook, 2003.'

Price and personalised services are strength of assemblers compared to branded PC vendors and the middle class population is heavily drawn to the former, Nair added.

Branded manufacturers would find it difficult to compete with white-box assemblers unless they augment their service capabilities, the release said.

While India had its share of worries due to global economic slowdown, the recent industrial uptrend suggests that organisations are easing restrictions on it budgets, Gartner said.

The demand from the small and medium business segment was expected to boost sales in 2003 as these units have been under utilising technology till date, it added.

The falling prices and narrowing of technology gap between the mobile PC and desktop PC would boost the demand for the former, it said.