Guess who is planning to give IBM, HP, Acer, Nokia and Motorola a run for their money in India? It's Subhash Chandra.
Agrani Convergence, a company belonging to Chandra's Essel group, is developing a personal computer priced less than Rs 10,000.
It is also in talks with Chinese companies to launch mobile phones with price tags less than Rs 3,000.
"We are of the view that the real convergence would happen only if you can break the price barriers. We are attempting to do this," Pankaj Mahindroo, chief executive officer, Agrani Convergence, said.
At present, an entry level personal computer would cost at least Rs 20,000, while a mobile phone at the entry level would be priced at Rs 4,500.
Agrani Convergence, according to him, is working on developing the personal computer in-house at present.
"We have a team that is working on this. We are looking at various options," he said adding that the company would contract manufacture these machines rather than set up an assembly line of its own for these machines.
The personal computers of the company would be sold under the brand 'Quasa' and would be custom-made.
"The computer would be configured as per the requirements of the customers and would be sold through the retail chain of the company," he said.
According to Mahindroo, Agrani Convergence is negotiating with Chinese companies to source mobile phones.
"The machines would be made in China and then brought to India," he said adding that the company is still deciding on the branding for the product.
He also said that Agrani Convergence is working with mobile cellular service providers to offer a cellular connection and mobile phone package to the customer for Re 1.
"The billing model would be structured in such a way that the service provider would collect the money from the customer over a period of time. We are talking to service providers at the moment," he said.
Asked about the strategy for the retail network, called Agrani Switch, Mahindroo said: "We have 30 stores at present and are looking at expanding this. These shops would be positioned as a one-stop vendor neutral shop for all telecom, IT and entertainment needs. We are also expanding this network nationwide using a franchise network."
He also said the group would also be using the Agrani Switch shops for selling services like direct-to-home.
