Datawind tries to meet Akash 2 deadline

Amidst reports over Datawind , the maker of the Aakash tablet incapability to meet its March 31st, to provide 1 lakh Akash 2 tablet the company has announced that it has delivered 17,100 devices to IIT-Bombay and has received payment for the same.

Apart from this, there are 29,400 devices in transit to the institution through their logistics company, which is slated to get delivered in next few weeks.

Clearing air in response to a number of inexact stories that have been published in the media in the last 24 hours, Suneet Singh Tuli has completely denied the reports stating the capability of the United Kingdom's company to supply adequate number of Aakash 2 tablets because of delay in the production.

Tuli has ensured that out of the remaining, 23,500 devices have been manufactured and are with sub-contract manufacturers, pending for shipment.

Moreover, the remaining of the 30,000 units have been claimed to be manufactured and would be delivered within the next couple of weeks.

Tuli further clarified that the delay was caused by the verifications process that Customs needed to conduct on the Exemption Certificates for certain components issued by IIT-Bombay.

The company is trying to deliver as many units as possible by March 31. The 30,000 units are being manufactured at New Delhi based H. S. Chawla and Co., UP based Delhi Control Devices Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore's Digital Circuits Pvt. Ltd. Raipur's RishabhInfrarealities Pvt. Ltd. and at DataWind's facilities in Amritsar.

The controversy arose amidst reports quoting HRD minister, Pallam Raju's as stating 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.