Asia Bizz: The makers of the world’s cheapest tablet Aakash, Datawind, said that they will be requesting India’s Human Resource Development Ministry to include the ‘Made In India’ clause in the proposed tender for the tablet. Sunit Singh Tuli, the CEO of Datawind, stated that they successfully made the Aakash tablet PC in India despite various pressures.
Tuli added that the company will make a request to the ministry to consider the ‘Made In India Clause’ and also encourage the indigenous production. The Datawind CEO added that the most critical components, chips and software are being designed in India and even the tablet has been manufactured in India; there is no reason that the tablet must be manufactured outside the country.
At present, the government has plans to procure large number of low-cost computing devices to leverage the benefits of the broadband connectivity in colleges and universities in a phased manner. Tuli said that the government of Assam tender has introduced the ‘Made in India’ clause and they hope that the IIT Rajasthan will also consider the clause.
The CEO also said that unless the product is manufactured here nobody would start making the products in the country. Tuli also expressed that his company will outbid competitors in the next tender even if they make tablets outside India.
