Priced at Rs. 1900, Upgraded Aakash 2 comes with Skype app

NEW DELHI, INDIA: The price of Aakash tablet will soon come down to $35 (about Rs 1,900 approximately) from $49 at present, said Telecom and IT Minister, Kapil Sibal.

"Aakash is a tablet which at the moment costs $49. It will come down to $35 very soon. It has all the amenities of any modern tablet," Sibal said at Reverse Buyer Seller Meet (RBSM) organised by Telecom Equipment and Service Export Promotion Council.

The next version of Aakash will also have Skype application in it. "It performs the same function as a $150 tablet," Sibal said.

"Aakash is kind of product that two-third population of world needs as they don't have enough resources to buy tablet costing $150." On being asked about the reason behind the price drop, Sibal explained, "The capacitive (touch) screen is imported at a cost of $22 or around $20. The manufacturing cost is $2. If you were to set up that manufacturing unit in India, the cost will come down automatically from $49 to $29."

The government is yet to get a Cabinet approval for manufacturing of 50 lakh units of Aakash tablet in India, after which it will float a global tender for its production in the country, said the Minister.

"In fact it (Aakash tablet) will be game changer for the world. Consumer in Europe, consumer in Japan, consumer in the United States of America would be looking for those solutions because he will be getting the same solution at a much lower cost and a very high quality solution," Sibal said.

Going by the last tender, Aakash tablet costed government Rs. 2,263 per unit. After the announcement of 50 percent subsidy on the tablet for students, its final cost was Rs. 1,130.

While emphasizing on the Research and Development (R&D) for the cheapest tablet in the world, Sibal said, "We are going to create an R&D fund in which the government will contribute. We are setting up fab so that (electronic) chip manufacturing can be done India."