Datawind, a wireless web access products and services company, which became popular in India because of its “Aakash tablet” produced for MHRD in India, is now planning something on the lines of “Make in India”. This tablet was dubbed as the cheapest tablet in the world being sold at $35 each. This low-cost device maker is going to add two new manufacturing units in India within the next six months.
These manufacturing units will start supply to Indian market, as the company which was importing finished products from China has stopped that process and will now be making all the products locally.
Datawind has an assembly unit in Amritsar which also houses a manufacturing facility for touch panels. The company has shipped more than 100,000 Internet-enabled tablets and smartphones from its Amritsar plant which was opened just a month ago.
Datawind President and CEO Suneet Singh Tuli told PTI,
“The new schemes and taxes now in place have made it beneficial for mobile devices companies to Make In India and Datawind is no exception. We will add two more within six months as we have stopped importing finished products from China,”
Datawind has partnered with Reliance communications and is offering 12 months free internet with access to websites through its UbiSurfer browser. Singh mentioned that this partnership does not violate net neutrality and is perfectly net neutral.
Singh added,
“We need to set up one unit in South and another in East part of the country for quick supplies in the region,”
With the devaluation of Chinese yuan the prices of all the products might come down in few months as the sourcing components will be available at lower rates. Singh said that there is no immediate effect on the company as there is enough inventory with the company.
The exact locations of the manufacturing units in South and East part of India are not disclosed by Datawind which is a Toronto Stock Exchange company. The investment details are also not revealed, the company is evaluating, whether to manufacture mobile devices through contract manufacturers or have a captive plant.
