Ringing Bells to launch India's cheapest smartphone at Rs 251

Booking for the phone open on February 18 at 6am and close on 21 February at 8pm

Domestic handset maker Ringing Bells will launch India's most affordable smartphone for Rs 251 today evening, a move that is set to disrupt the growing handset market in the country.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikkar will launch the smartphone 'Freedom 251' in an event presided over by Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi.

Important specifications of the Freedom 251 include a 4-inch display, 1.3GHz quad-core processor, 1GB RAM, 8GB internal storage (expandable up to 32GB), 3.2-megapixel back camera, 0.3-megapixel front camera, and a 1450mAh battery.

Bookings for the Freedom 251 open on February 18 at 6am and close on 21 February at 8pm. The company says deliveries will be completed by 30th June 2016.

The launch is in line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision for "empowering India to the last person, transforming India's growth story", the Noida-based company said.

Established last year, Ringing Bells will start with the assembly of handsets in Phase-I and aims at full indigenous development of the feature-rich smartphones, it said.

It did not disclose any other details about manufacturing, products and pricing.

A new entrant in the Indian mobile phone market, Ringing Bells had launched one of India's cheapest 4G smartphone at Rs 2,999, recently. It has launched two other feature phones in the market.

India, one of the fastest growing smartphone markets globally, is poised to overtake the US as the second-largest market in next few years.

In the last few months, global smartphone makers, including the likes of Xiaomi, Motorola and Gionee have commenced assembling their handsets in India, where the government is pushing local manufacturing through its Make in India initiative.