Allied Computers International (Asia) Pvt Ltd is all set to rollout a laptop with a seven inch screen for Rs 15,000 by May/June 2008.
According to its promoter, Hirji Kanji Patel, this would be equivalent to the Pentium 4 technology but will be ultra low on voltage. The company also plans to start 20 level 3 multi-brand chip-level laptop service centres across India by April 2008.
According to Patel, who is an NRI from UK, there is a huge market for the repair of laptops and ACi's centres would act as vertically integrated service outlets for all leading laptop brands.
Currently, the company has 4 centres. He said that most of the centres would be opened in metros and would be run on lease-hold basis.
An investment of Rs 2.5 crore (Rs 25 million) would be made for assets and Rs 1.5 crore (Rs 15 million) would be pumped in for acquiring equipment for the centres.
The company has invested Rs 12 crore (Rs 120 million) at Gandhinagar to set up a global hub for sourcing of laptop motherboards for installing the country's first chip-level laptop motherboards and also a recycling plant to address the demand and supply problem of the industry.
ACi is working on developing an LCD television that would be as cheap as Rs 1,000 for one inch, he said.
ACi sold about 11,000 units of laptop in 2006 and recorded a turnover of Rs 35 crore (Rs 350 million). It expects to do a business of Rs 75 crore (Rs 750 million) this year.
According to Patel, the company has got acknowledgement for borrowing Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) through FCCB (foreign currency convertible bonds) by the second quarter of next year that would be used to fund 80 service centres and manufacturing facilities.
The company also envisages to develop laptops for Rs 10,000 and Rs 8,000 through its extensive research and development in the near future.
