Telecom Lead India: DataWind CEO Suneet Singh Tuli has admitted about delays in delivering the much-hyped tablets — Aakash2 devices — to IIT-Bombay.
He said in a statement that the delay was caused by the verifications process that Customs needed to conduct on the Exemption Certificates for certain components issued by IIT-Bombay.
“We are pleased with how our manufacturing has scaled over the last few months. We are currently delivering between 2,500 to 3,000 units per day to our customers commercially and have been recognized among the top 3 tablet manufacturers in India for the last two quarters in a row,” he added.
DataWind says it so far delivered 17,100 Aakash2 tablets to IIT-Bombay and paid for.
The company, which has faced controversies for poor quality tablets and sourcing components from foreign countries, said 29,400 devices are in transit to IIT-Bombay through its logistics company and shall be delivered in the next few days.
23,500 devices are manufactured and at sub-contract manufacturers, pending shipment (upon payment for the 29,400 units).
Of the remaining 30,000 units, the mother boards including touch screens and all other components are manufactured, and final assembly is being completed, which is expected within the next couple of weeks, though all efforts are being made to deliver as many as possible by March 31.
Besides DataWind’s facilities in Amritsar, the tablet maker sources tablets from HS Chawla& Co., New Delhi; Delhi Control Devices, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, Digital Circuits, Bangalore, Karnataka; Rishabh Infrarealities, Raipur, Chhattisgarh.
In addition to the four new manufacturing partners for the Aakash2 tablets in India, DataWind has set-up India’s first touch-screen fab in Amritsar, furthering its goal to establish and grow India’s hi-tech manufacturing industry.
According to CyberMedia Research, Phablets constituted around 16.5 percent of total sales in 2012 and this trend is expected to strengthen in the coming quarters.
India sold 1.09 million units for Q4 2012, which accounted for 35.33 percent of the total shipments for the entire year. Tablet shipments for the full 2012 clocked 3.11 million units. This does not include Aakash tablets since these are sold to Government directly. CMR did not include Aakash tablets since Government numbers are consistent.
