HCL Infosystems Ltd, the information enabling and ICT system integration company, is eyeing the untapped markets to take IT to the masses. After recently launching its new low-cost ultra laptops, the company plans to tap the market potential in rural areas and smaller cities across the country. HCL already started shipping the new product from January 26.
Talking to FE, chairman and CEO HCL Infosystems Ajai Chowdhry said, “The personal computer penetration in our country is still very low. Only 20 out of 1,000 people own a PC. About 6 mn PCs are bought in India per year whereas in China the number escalates to 30 mn per year. So we conducted research, along with Intel and other partners, and created a next generation product. There are two models available costing between Rs 14,000 to Rs 30,000 and are expandable. Our aim is to take personal computing to the remotest level possible. This low cost laptop is called MiLeap and has all the functions as well as can be modified further.”
HCL stepped in to the laptop business a year and half ago and acquired 7% market shares in the first year itself. At present, the products are manufactured at its Pondicherry unit that has a capacity to produce about one million units per year. “We have recently opened a new unit in Uttarakhand. Once it is fully operational, our production capacity will be doubled.,” added Chowdhry.
We further plan to expand the range of the new ultra laptops by moving from Linux to Microsoft.
The model priced at Rs 30,000 will also have new added features like the optical disk drive. We are also conducting research for bringing a pocket computer into the market by 2009. Our objective is to reduce the size of personal computers and make them affordable for all,” .