Govt plans to give Aakash 2 tablet made-in-India tag

The government is planning to give the made-in-India tag to the next version of the low cost tablet PC Aakash rather than diversifying its production base. This is expected to create significant opportunities for R&D organisations, developers and manufacturing companies, Union Minister for IT, Communications and HRD Kapil Sibal said here on Monday.

"We are now going to diversify the production base and make Aakash tablet indigenously. We are planning to create ecosystem for end-to-end development of Aakash in India," Sibal said addressing the annual event of the India Semiconductor Association. He added that the government was going to soon launch the Aakash 2, which will be much faster and efficient than its predecessor.

Asked if the next tender will have 'made in India' clause in it, Sibal said, "We want to make sure that it is 100 per cent done locally." At present, several components including the processor are procured from outside the country.