By IANS
New Delhi : World's largest computer maker Dell Inc. Thursday said its first manufacturing unit in India, which is coming up near Chennai, will start operating by the end of this year.
"Our manufacturing unit will be up and running by the end of this year," Sameer Garde, general manager, sales, Dell India, said on the sidelines of a press conference here.
The US-based firm will initially produce desktop computers that constitute almost 75 percent of the company's India business and then progress onto making other products.
The manufacturing plant will help the company leverage its efforts in scouting for the number one position in India and reduce costs and delivery time for its customers substantially, officials said.
"The company has recorded sales of over $500 million in India, which now forms one of the most important and challenging markets for Dell," emphasised Garde.
Officials said, the company's shipments to India have increased by 82 percent and its revenue over 65 percent during financial year 2005-06, even though its chief executive Michael Dell, who visited India two months back, complained of higher tariffs compared to China and Vietnam.
"India is an important market for us having huge opportunities. Today in India we are selling all the global products that we have in our portfolio," said Garde.
According to him, Dell will also launch a series of products on an on-going basis throughout the year.
The company Thursday launched three models of notebooks called Latitude D630, D830 and D531 within the price range of Rs.52,618 and Rs.63,769.