  Datawind, the maker of the Aakash tablet has refuted the reports putting question mark on its capability to supply adequate number of Aakash 2 tablets because of delay in the production.
Clearing the air on the issue Suneet Singh Tuli, President & CEO of DataWind Ltd accepted that there was delay in production but said that it happened due to verifications process that Customs needed to conduct on the Exemption Certificates for certain components issued by IIT-Bombay.
“To date 17,100 devices have been delivered to IIT-Bombay and paid for 29,400 devices are in transit to IIT-Bombay through our logistics company and shall be delivered in the next few days; He said
The controversy arose when some reports appeared a section of media quoting the HRD minister, Pallam Raju as saying that the government is waiting for the report by a committee set up to review Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT) for action against Datawind for the delay. Datawind was supposed to supply the tablet by December 31, 2012.
The reports said that Datawind could supply only 20,000 units of Aakash 2 as against a commitment of 1 lakh units. DataWind is to supply 100,000 units of Aakash 2 to IIT Bombay, which intends to distribute them to Engineering University and College students.
Datawind said that of the remaining 30,000 units, the mother boards including touch screens and all other components are manufactured, and final assembly is being completed, which is expected within the next couple of weeks, although all efforts are being made to deliver as many as possible by March 31st.
“We are currently delivering between 2,500 to 3,000 units per day to our customers commercially and have been recognized among the top 3 tablet manufacturers in India for the last two quarters in a row.”
Even telecom minister Kapil Sibal has tried to put an end to the controversy triggered following Pallam Raju’ comments the tablet is "alive and kicking" and work is on for its third and fourth versions.
Controversy is not new to Datawind as sometime back an English daily had reported that DataWind founders and NRI brothers Suneet and Raja Singh Tuli may have procured these devices off-the-shelf from manufacturers in China for $42 ( Rs. 2,263 then), exactly the price at which they sold these to the Indian government.
But Tuli had refuted this saying that for expediency sake it had the motherboards and kits manufactured in its Chinese subcontractor's facilities, and then the units have been 'kitted' in China at various manufacturers whereas the final assembly and programming has happened in India.
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