NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

An Indian handset maker is ready to launch the country’s cheapest smartphone under Rs 500 ($7), which could be a game changer in one of the world’s fastest growing smartphone markets. Called Freedom 251, it has been manufactured by a homegrown company, Ringing Bells.

With 220 million users, India is the world’s second-largest smartphone market. Since less than one-third of the population uses smartphones, it continues to attract new smartphone brands.

The company plans to import the components but assemble the phones in India, in accordance with the Indian government’s Make in India campaign, which encourages local manufacturing. In the last year, global smartphone makers such as Motorola, Gionee, Lenovo and Xiaomi have started assembling their handsets in India.