"We have already grabbed five per cent marketshare in Mumbai and the USP is to make affordable sophisticated laptops," ASI managing director Hirji Patel told UNI here. With sales channels in Mumbai, Pune and Chennai, the company will go for dealership agreements in Calcutta and Bangalore.

Patel, an avionics graduate, had designed guided missiles for GEC Avionics before he established ACI (UK) Plc in 1992. The company was the first to launch modular, Pentium, multimedia and a Pentium II notebook in the UK market. In the last few months after starting ACI (India) Ltd, a division of the parent company, it has already grabbed five per cent market share.

Patel said ACI is the only company in the country that offers custom-made notebooks, with options to upgrade later. All ACI notebooks are modular and fully upgradableallowing users to buy what they need today and later upgrade to a higher specification. All the ACI models offer the latest technology in the market at most competitive price, being at least 30 per cent lower than the lowest competitors price.

ACI recently launched an internet-ready multimedia notebook, ACI Performer, retailing at merely Rs 50,000. This sort of pricing is what the market needs for a boost, he said. With the expected competition from giants like HCL, Compaq, IBM, Toshiba, Dell and Zenith, the company now claims to grow at the rate of 50 per cent every year.

Patel intends to capture over 25 per cent marketshare. The products will be supported with a warranty and facilities of servicing and upgradation. He, however, refused to divulge the key to low pricing.

The company manufactures components in UK and assembles them in India. The company offers several high-end and low-end notebooks across the globe.