Mumbai, Feb 15 (IANS): India's computers market declined 6.5 percent at 2.5 million units for the quarter ended Dec 31 against the like period of the previous financial year, a study by IT research and advisory firm Gartner said Wednesday.

The devices included desk-based as well as mobile personal computers (PC).

"The hard-disk drive (HDD) shortage due to the floods in Thailand significantly impacted the desktop market which declined 18 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2011," said Vishal Tripathi, principal research analyst at Gartner.

"White boxes (including parallel import), which accounted for 45 percent of the overall desktop market, registered a 32 percent decline in the quarter compared to Q4 2010. Mobile PCs, with a 12 percent increase from the fourth quarter of 2010, were able to stop a further decline of the PC market," he added.

The sale was however led by Lenovo and Dell, who recorded 28 percent and 11 percent growth respectively while HP declined 26 percent compared to the fourth quarter of 2010.

Multinational brands contributed more than half of the total PC shipments in the quarter under review with shipments from Dell, Lenovo, HP and Acer representing 53.1 percent of the market.

Dell acquired 15.5 percent market share while Lenovo stood at 13.1 percent. HP and Acer had 12.4 percent and 12.1 percent market share respectively during the quarter under review.