Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) has manufactured a tablet PC which costs Rs. 3000 and is completely Made in India in BEL’s plant in Bangalore. The amazing thing about this tablet is, it was designed, manufactured and 2000 sample tablets were shipped in just 4.5 months.
BEL’s tablet runs Android 2.2 and is solar powered for the power back up. The tablet will send the data back to the central server relying on the solar powered battery. Other specifications are not known but this tablet with the leather pouch, keyboard connected with a cable seems like a practical approach for low cost computing. Asus Transformer has a similar but much sexier approach a tablet.
BEL which manufactures radars and communication devices for defence department has received an order from Ministry of Rural development. This was BEL’s first significant civilian order. Rural Development ministry will be using this tablet for poverty survey. BEL will supply 6 lakh tablets as early as this November. The order is worth Rs. 1000 crores and will contribute to 15% of this year’s revenues for BEL. Guess what? This isn’t BEL’s main business but depending on the demand and growth, BEL wouldn’t mind making it a strategic business venture.
BEL has spent 7 crores in building an additional facility for tablet manufacturing in Bangalore. Depending on future orders and growth it will spend Rs. 20 crores to set-up two additional facilities in Ghaziabad and Panchkula. BEL plans to come up with a different tablet version for students. Depending on the demand, BEL will open it up for retail too.
Across the world the tablet prices are falling down and the cheapest tablet we have come across was the simple tablet called Noteslate which costs $99. India’s HRD ministry has boasted of a $35 tablet which is subsidized to the core, manufactured in Taiwan and needs an order of million tablets to just break even. The tablet isn’t all that attractive and looks like oversized transistor of yesteryears. But that is a tablet nevertheless and it will come out. Spending money (as subsidies) on devices which will help students is much better than letting the politicians swindle money to overseas banks. In fact, the money spent on these tablets is chump change when compared with the magnanimity and audacity of the scams we have seen in the last 2 years.
Despite the obvious advantages $35 tablet from HRD enjoys, it would be unfair for us to not compare that tablet with $75 tablet from BEL. Isn’t it amazing that BEL has designed, developed and shipped the tablets in less than 5 months? It is now ready to ship 6 lakh more tablets by November. HRD ministry took more than 2 years to and we are still waiting. What was the difference between the two projects?
Is it the ‘Make it large’ bug which has bitten Harbhajan Singh too?
If $35 is too cheap to be practical and if $200 OLPC is expensive for the low-cost computing needs, isn’t a $75 tablet a more practical approach?
Via BusinessLine
28 Responses to “Bharat Electronics $75 Android tablet is ‘Made in India’ and solar powered”
August 9, 2011
AbhishekCool one . . . Where can i buy one of theses
August 11, 2011
A Self-charging Smartphone, what an idea sirjee[...] is no shortage of products which can be charged using solar energy. We have seen a tablet from India’s BEL, Umeox Apollo, Toshiba eReader and iSlate. What separates the UCLA concept from the rest is its [...]
August 15, 2011
Gaurav2nd paragraph:
6lakh tablets x 3000Rs = 180 crore, not 1000 crore….
so is this 1 of the place where our money is getting wasted, due to lack of basic math skills…???
August 24, 2011
Would you buy a tablet just because it is made in India? | Asian Correspondent[...] tablet which was manufactured in China. India’s Bharat Electricals Limited have made a tablet completely in India in its Bangalore manufacturing [...]
August 25, 2011
3 tablets you can buy for $99[...] see that and even if we did, it will not available for retail consumption. BEL has manufactured a tablet for $75, but that too is for a special [...]
September 1, 2011
nimeshhow to buy this tablets in india
plz give me replay in my email id
i hope you are understand
September 16, 2011
Alok GuptaWe would like to buy these tablets in whole sale !
kindly contact us for more details
09254187271
October 28, 2011
yogeshfrom where i can purchase this tablet i am living in ahmedabad
November 19, 2011
MadhuhaReally it is affordable price i want to buy one can you send the details to my mail id:
November 22, 2011
bharathPlanning to buy the tablet…
Where can i get it in Hyderabad.
Any details?
November 22, 2011
Sriram VadlamaniThis is not for retail.
November 25, 2011
Ave: A Made in India Android tablet[...] started with Notion Ink’s Adam which was followed by the Aakash tablet. BEL has its own tablet and now we have Ave. That’s where my euphoria [...]
December 8, 2011
sachinhow to bye this tablets in india plz give me reply in my email id i hope you understand
January 18, 2012
SebastianThis far by not price but the standard. I would like to purchase BEL android. Where and when can be done please do inform me. Cause others are not just reachable due to price and quality. reply me at sebsonik@gmail.com or sebsonik@yahoo.com. Advance thanks a lot.
February 2, 2012
manoj tiwariwhere to buy bhel tab in ahmedabad
February 16, 2012
rajhow to buy this tablets in india
plz give me replay in my email id
March 2, 2012
harish singhI want this pc…plz tell me.where I buy this pc…..
March 6, 2012
ashubakwas h bhai. main bahut pareshan hu isse.
May 6, 2012
flop one . Software problem n laziflop one . Softwaric problem n very lazi
May 7, 2012
NAVEENi wanted to buy BEL TABLET …how to buy it…plz tel…dis is my ID naveen.gani.14@gmail.com
May 7, 2012
Naveeni wanted to buy BEL TABLET ,how to buy it? plz reply..
May 16, 2012
Rahulis it better than the akash tablet?
May 17, 2012
Irshad m khanHow and Whare to buy this tablets in india plz give me reply in my email id
My cell no 07666161404
June 30, 2012
Rahul GWhere are availabel in this tablet? please immediatly reply
May 23, 2012
Joe Bartlett-VanderShow me where in the UK I can get an Android tablet to buy, urgently and at what price.
June 20, 2012
vickycan i place the sim in this tab
July 27, 2012
R.K. SinghHow to buy this tablet in bulk to sell in direct marketing through my concept, reply @ my email.
September 10, 2012
Laxmikant BordeI had ordered for Akaash. My money is out of my account. I dont know what's happening with this. Any news? In the mean time I bought this BASlate 7SCH tab. its just awesome. Battery life is too great. You can buy this android tablet at http://www.baslate.com