Not only ‘Make in India’, but also ‘Use Swadeshi’ will help produce low cost devices in bulk
CEO, DataWind
On India Market Penetration:
We are the first ones to set up a facility for manufacturing ‘touch panels’ in India. It opened its second assembly facility in Amritsar for manufacturing smartphones and tablets.
Another focus area for DataWind in India has always been to break the affordability barrier and provide internet access to empower the billions of people globally that are left out of the digital age. The patented technology allows for a fast, rich and affordable experience on existing networks without any new infrastructure.
The range of products starts from as low as Rs 1,999 and provide free one year of browsing through Reliance connection.
The company has joined hands with Telenor which was earlier known as Uninor, to provide free internet browsing in six circles of Maharashtra, Gujarat, Bihar and Jharkhand, UP (East), UP (West), Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Buyers of DataWind device in these circles stand to get this offer from DataWind.
The company expanded its retail distribution in India by partnering with Iris Computers. Through this partnership, DataWind’s entire range of tablets and smartphones will be sold throughout Iris Computers’ network of over 2,500 channel partners.
The agreement expands DataWind’s growing distribution network, which will total over 7,500 retail locations upon completion of the current phase.
On Investments:
At present, it already has manufacturing facilities in India and that is our main manufacturing unit. It is planning to open another manufacturing facility in India. Not only ‘Make in India’ but also ‘Use Swadeshi’ will help produce low cost devices in bulk here. We are looking at opening another manufacturing facility in India, which will be DataWind’s largest manufacturing unit. We are very hopeful of generating good dividends for all our stakeholders.
On Government Role:
The opportunity for ‘Make in India’ is a positive step by the Government. Equalization of excise duty and import duty is the first step. Issues related to VAT need be sorted out early. There are advantages attached to the government’s ‘Make in India’ manufacturing push. Incentives like cash back on investments in the sector, and tax exemptions along with preference for domestically manufactured electronic products for government procurements are encouraging signals.
All these conditions are good enough for the companies to be more than interested. Incentives in the right quantum need to be added to encourage domestic production. No wonder most Indian mobile phone ‘manufacturers’, who make the bulk of their phones in China, as well as their multinational rivals, are queuing up to move their assembly lines to India.
The provision of infrastructure further needs to be supported by an awareness campaigns that enthuses the disconnected to leverage the inherent benefits. Government needs to create policies, which help to improve the awareness to realize the dream of a Make in India.
On Importing Components & Manufacturing:
We import components come from all over the world including from the US, Korea, Taiwan and China. Some key components are manufactured in India like the touch panels are made in our own fab in Amritsar, the first touch manufacturing facility in India. This manufacturing was initiated in India, in fact two years back.
DataWind has always been very vocal about ‘Made in India’ products. From the very beginning we have been propagating the cause and requesting to make manufacturing process easier for those who want to set up their fabs here for computing devices.
It is our commitment to ‘Made in India’ thought that we became the first one, in fact the only one so far, to set up a facility to manufacture ‘touch panels’ in India. Also, we have opened our second