Also in the offing is the launch of several DVD products in the country, said CVD International Inc. chief executive Rao Channapragada.

To be fully operational by September 1999, the plant will assemble several DVD products, most of which will be targeted at the export market, said DVD Discs India managing director H Ramesh.

The company has already tied up with Ramoji Films and Usha Kiron Film for replicating Telegu and Tamil movies into DVDs. Talks are on with several Mumbai-based studios for making Hindi movie DVDs, company officials said.In the US, CVD is in talks with Hollywood-based moviemajors including Warner Brothers and Minerva Systems, for replicating English movies in Indian languages. Given the lower labour costs in India, this will help US media companies to cut costs drastically, said the group's vice president L Pattanaik.

The company is also planning to give product-support to software companies and IT education majors. CVD hopes to export over 50 per cent of its output in the first year.

For the Indian market, in the offing is the launch of DVD players, priced at around Rs 15,000. Also in the pipeline is eBox, a digital conversion box, which combines the work of personal computer, DVD, VCD, CD players, game station, internet connectivity, six-channel speaker system and a wireless keyboard.

The Hyderabad unit will have an annual capacity of manufacturing 3.3 million units of eBox and DVD players. In the first year of operation, the company plans to assemble about a lakh units for the export market and about 25,000 for the domestic market.

The company is in the process ofputting in place a marketing and service network, said company officials. CVD plans to target its products at the middle class homes and educational institutions.

Six-in-one ebox to be priced at Rs 6 lakh

Come September and eBox, a digital conversion box, will hit several Indian metros across the country. Priced competitively at around Rs 6 lakh, eBox is a multifunctional convergence product which enables e-commerce, e-communication, web browsing and online multimedia education.

eBox can act as a full featured multimedia PC, a digital video disk player, a audio CD system and allows for video conferencing. eBox has use in offices and homes alike, said company officials.

The product is expected to take on the likes of home theatre systems launched by several consumer electronic majors which come with a price tag of over Rs 1 lakh. The response to the product in the US has been very positive, said company officials. The company has already booked orders for 1,500 units per month, officials added.