Datawind to set up new assembling units

The proposed first unit would commence production within 90 days from now and other two units will be ready by the end of this fiscal

Datawind, which is into low-cost tablet and smart phones business, has decided to set up facilities in three locations across the country, including in Andhra Pradesh, said Suneet Singh Tuli, its chief executive officer.

The move comes on the back of Centre announcing duty relaxation on imported parts. The company imports tablets and phones from China and other countries and sells them here. Tuli said they now wanted to assemble them here and for this purpose were looking at setting up their facilities.

The company is aiming to sell 5 million phones and 1 million tablets a year, and accordingly wants to set up units to meet this capacity. Tuli said of the three units, one would come up in Visakhapatnam or Vijayawada, one in Chandigarh and the third in central India. Each unit would require 50,000 sft space.

The first unit would commence production within 90 days from now and other two units will be ready by the end of this fiscal, he added.

He said they had tied up with 1,000 retailers in AP to sell their phones and tablets. "Datawind has been marketing low cost tablets (UBI Slate) in the country, and has acquired a 55 per cent market share in this segment. There is not much scope now to grow in this market, hence we have entered into the low-cost smart phone market in association with Reliance Communication," he told reporters here today.