Old ways prove the best as Dell goes into India

Dell Inc, maligned by analysts in the US for relying too long on selling personal computers over the Internet, is making headway with that old strategy in what may prove a more important market: India.

PC purchases are rising more than three times faster in India than the US, and Dell's market share there has more than doubled in the past three years, researcher IDC said. That probably helped drive a 7.9 percent sales gain at Dell last quarter to $15.9 billion, according to the average estimate in a Bloomberg survey.

Dell is gaining market share because much of the demand in India comes from corporations, which are increasingly bypassing resellers and buying directly over the phone or the Internet and from sales staff. Focusing on developing countries may help Round Rock, Texas-based Dell surmount an economic slump in the US, which has pinched technology budgets.