New Delhi, Feb 25 (IANS): The India consumer storage market including microSD, pen drive and SD card shipments grew 59 per cent in the second half of 2020 when compared to the first half of last year, said a CyberMedia Research (CMR) report on Thursday.

However, the overall market shipments declined by 12 per cent year-over-year during the same period, said the report.

SanDisk remained the market leader with 75 per cent market share, HP stood at the second spot with 3 per cent market share followed by Samsung at third position in H2 2020.

"H1 2020 faced the major brunt of the pandemic. The significant decline in H1 encouraged brands to bounce back strongly and fulfil the pent-up demand in the second half of the year," Shipra Sinha, Lead Analyst, CyberMedia Research, said in a statement.

"By offering jaw dropping deals and discounts during the festive sale along with aggressive marketing, brands turned the table around in H2. Furthermore, increasing OTG pen drive popularity also aided the flash drive market growth in H2."

The report titled "India Consumer Storage Flash Devices Market Review Report for Q4 CY2020" revealed that 32GB capacity segment was the top contributor with 33 per cent market share and 64GB capacity captured 16 per cent market share and its shipments recorded 10 per cent year-over-year increase in H2 2020.

The overall microSD, SD cards and pen drives market is expected to register 10-12 per cent year-over-year growth by the end of 2021, according to CMR.

"With the significant rise in the smartphone market, Flash cards market will be strained. However, more connected devices in the current housebound period due to Internet of Things (IoT) technology will require proper management of the data generated," Sinha said.

"All of this encourages the need for smooth, superfast, large capacity and secure storage devices."

Brands focused on providing additional features such as memory expansion, waterproof, password protection, multi-language, and most importantly antivirus protection will gain consumer trust, she added.