"Aakash" Tablet made in China?

The much-vaunted launch of India’s low-priced tablet computer, Aakash, has lost its sheen due to reports doing the round that some of the most updated versions of the tablet, Aakash-2, have been designed and manufactured by the Chinese companies.

However, Suneet Singh Tuli, CEO, DataWind, the Canada-based company that won a government contract to produce the first 100,000 Aakash tablets to be distributed to the students, has refuted the allegation by saying that some of Aakash’s components were made in China, but the Chinese companies are not responsible for the assembly and product design.

According to Suneet Singh Tuli, “The touchscreen of the tablet has been manufactured by DataWind’s facility in Montreal in Canada. The software, mechanical parts and motherboard of the Akash tablet have been designed by his company.”

In the light of the controversy, India’s image as a prospective world leader in cheap innovation may take a beating.