Freedom 251 Officially Launched |
At an event presided by BJP MP Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi in New Delhi on Wednesday evening, India’s Rs. 251 smartphone the Ringing Bell Freedom 251 was officially launched. The themes of Digital India, Skill India, and Make in India were given a lot of importance at the launch event, as the potential use cases of the phone to empower citizens in rural and semi-urban areas were highlighted.The company did not share too many details, but stated the although the chipset will be imported from Taiwan at present, the rest of Freedom 251 would be made in India; the goal is to make up to 75 percent of the hardware in India by the end of one year, and to raise this to 100 percent over time, said Ringing Bells President Ashok Chadha. To accomplish this, the company is looking at investing in two manufacturing plants – in Noida and Uttaranchal – immediately as a pilot project at an estimated cost of Rs. 500 crore, with a targeted capacity of 5 lakh units each per month, with a goal of having five manufacturing centres in total over time. He also confirmed that there is no government subsidy for the phone, and nor is there any involvement from the government, beyond a long time friendship with MP Murli Manohar Joshi, who provided “vision and guidance” for the Freedom 251 project.The eventual goalis to sell over 10 million units per month.
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