The Hindu Business Line : Dell expands TN facility to produce more products

Laptops from here: Mr Rajan Anandan, Vice-President and General Manager, Dell India, and Mr Paul- Henri Ferrand, President, Dell APACS , at a press conference at Sriperumbudur near Chennai on Tuesday. –

Our Bureau

Chennai, April 22 Computer manufacturer Dell will now produce laptops from its Sriperumbudur facility, near Chennai.

To aid this, the facility currently capable of producing four lakh units a year, will be expanded to produce about 10 lakh units over the next 12 months, according to Mr Rajan Anandan, Vice-President and General Manager - Dell India.

Investment for the expansion was not disclosed but company officials said it was part of the five-year-$30 million investment Dell had planned in India when it had set up its facility last year.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Mr Anandan said all Dell products sold in India would now be made at the Sriperumbudur facility. This includes desktops and laptops including the premium XPS models. Earlier, Dell imported laptops and a bulk of the computer components from its suppliers in China and Malaysia. Components’ import would continue but the assembly would now be done in India, Mr Anandan said.

“We are hoping to attract our suppliers to set up shop here, but India is not a competitive location,” he said stating duty structure and poor infrastructure were deterrents. On an average computer products are subject to 21 per cent duty, he said.

Product launch

The company today launched Dell 500, an entry level laptop completely assembled in India preloaded with Microsoft/ Linux software, targeted at small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and educational institutions. “There are a million SMEs in India that will acquire their first PC this year and we want to be a part of this market,” Mr Paul-Henri Ferrand, President, APAC South, Dell, Asia Pacific, said. The laptop is priced Rs 24,500 upwards.

To improve its reach, the company is tying up with channel partners and retailers, with the Tata-promoted ‘Chroma’ store in Mumbai being the first retail partner. No figures on the targeted number of such partners were shared.

For the year ending December 2007, Dell’s Asia Pacific and Japan revenues were $8.5 billion (about Rs 34,000 crore). Indian revenues were not shared.

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