After shipping only 10K Aakash tablets, Datawind stops supplies

Tablet-maker denies any news that it will not be associated with the Aakash project any more; demands payment for the tablets already shipped

February 22, 2012 Mihir Patkar

The saga of Datawind, IIT Rajasthan and the Aakash tablet is quickly going from tragic to tragicomic. Just two days ago, HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, who is heading the Aakash project, said Datawind would no longer be part of it.

Now, Datawind released an official statement saying it has received no word from the government about this: “We deny the news which says that Datawind will not be associated with the product any more. Datawind would like to state that we’ve not been informed officially or unofficially by the Ministry of HRD of anything restricting us to participate in the next tender.”

Following this, the company has now said it won’t supply any more tablets to IIT Rajasthan till they release payments for the tablets shipped so far. “There is no question of supplying more tablets unless we get the payments for the previously supplied tablets,” said Suneet Singh Tuli, CEO of Datawind.

But here’s the kicker: So far, Datawind has supplied only 10,000 tablets at a cost of Rs. 2,276 to IIT Rajasthan. The Letter of Credit for supply of tablets has been extended till March 31, but Datawind wants the money before it ships a single tablet more.

And as always, the public and the taxpayer is the loser in this fiasco.

More information about the Aakash tablet:

-Datawind kicked off Aakash project!

-Aakash 2 tablet announced: better features, same price

-Datawind starts UbiSlate 7+ orders, Aakash 2 pricing gets confusing

-Loss-making public sector company ITI roped in to make Aakash 2

-Govt chooses sides: IIT Rajasthan kicked off Aakash 2, Datawind gets extension

-OLPC head rips into Aakash, calls it ‘pre-beta’ and questions its Indian-ness

-A ‘Made in India’ controversy: Datawind, ICA and IIT slugfest may delay Aakash tablet

-Move over, iPad & iBooks! India’s $50 Aakash tablet is headed to USA

-Govt tells IIT to drop ‘military-grade’ demands on Aakash tablet

-Aakash 2 coming in April, Datawind CEO slams IIT Rajasthan tender