From being a $10-million company, Datawind, better known as the manufacturer of low-cost tablet, Aakash, is now aspiring to become a half-a-billion-dollar company in just 12 months. Datawind CEO Suneet Singh Tuli shares how, riding on Aakash, the company's valuation has tripled and how it is planning to raise more capital to fund expansion in 2012.
Not in my wildest dream I could have imagined this. Six months ago, the expectation for the tablet market was 2.5 lakh units a year. While talking to distributors, we would say we want to produce one lakh units in India, and they told us that if we were to sell 2,000 units a month, we should be happy. Now, we are looking at producing over four lakh units a month.
In pre-booking, where did most demand come from?
It was from individual buyers across the country, the profile of whom are similar to that of Internet users' in the nation. Among them, 75 per cent were males and 25 per cent women, and 80 per cent of them were below the age of 35. So, it is the young male who is keen on buying our product.
Based on the initial success, what is your revenue target?
We are looking to close the year (by December 2012) with revenues of $400-500 million.
As you grow from $10 million to $400 million in a year, the capital requirements would be huge. What kind of investment are you looking at?
We are looking at investing $100
PHOTOS: Hotel suite in India among world's most expensive
COLUMN: Fault lines in the Indian IPO market
Video: Kingfisher's HOTTEST girl; Sensual Sonakshi
Rewind: BEST images in the last 24 hours
At Rs 2,999, tablet PC Aakash 2 is now up for grabs!