its big business in the us but in india does not exist at all analysts aver that there would be no more than 50000 refurbished or remanufactured personal computers pc in the country but a study done by the imrb at the behest of the manufacturers association of information technology mait suggests that there is potential for remanufacturing 2 million pc in india totalling a business of rs 1000 crore rs 1500 crore why remanufacture of personal computers which involves putting together computers from parts salvaged from old machinescould develop into a big business is easy to see as the present installed base of 45 million pc increases with market expansions in socioeconomic category sec b and c reduced prices will become a major factor in pushing sales at a price of rs 50000 or so analysts believe that personal computers are still out of the reach of the small town populace one way to offer cheaper computers will be to offer refurbished or remanufactured ones that will be half the price of a new pc the additional reason for the refurbishing business getting a boost is the rapid obsolescence that makes available a pool of personal computers that can be remanufactured and sold presently the ideal life of a pc is not more than two years analysts believe that with computers getting out of date so fast some consumers might also think of getting upgrades done on their machines by paying an amount yet if remanufacturing computers is not big business in india till now that is because of the existence of a large grey market which allows consumers to access unbranded computers at cheaper rates in that sense the demand by a consumer for a cheaper computer is satiated but analysts point out this grey market is also largely restricted to the four metros whereas the market expansion is now beginning to happen in sec b and c markets however the most important reason why remanufacturing has not really caught on is that the large manufacturers have not taken interest in the matter and why havent they india is not a manufacturing base for personal computers either whole systems are imported or parts are assembled in the country by big companies including multinationals possibly for remanufactured computers too the modus operandi of the business would remain the same the problem is that this could lead to endless rows with the customs department who are bound to assess values of old computers at levels close to that of new computers but this problem may not remain for long by 2003 the it industry will go on a zero duty mode analysts feel that it is then that the large manufacturers will start looking at the remanufacturing business however this business will not be a simple one for manufacturers an important prerequisite for this is establishment of servicing outlets this is because such remanufactured computers though much cheaper will be more vulnerable to breakdowns in the us companies