Will make profit of Rs 31 on each Rs 251 Smartphone: Mohit Goel

February 22, 2016

New Delhi, Feb 22: Since he announced the launch of a mobile phone for Rs 251, Mohit Goel has faced widespread scepticism, along with visits by police and income tax officials at his rented two-storey office in Noida. However, the Amity University graduate insists that he will not only deliver the phones at the stunning price he has quoted, but also make a profit of Rs 31 on each handset sold.

mohith1"Why am I being hounded? What wrong have I done?" Goel asked in the course of an exclusive interview with TOI. The director of Ringing Bells insists that his new venture is not a fly-by-night operation and will begin customer deliveries from April 15. "Has there ever been a case of income-tax evasion against me or my company, or has there been an FIR filed against me in any police station? Why am I being called a 'bhagora' (who'll run away with the money)? I intend to do a valid business, just like any other startup, and I have a business plan ready."

The company claims it has received over 7 crore registrations on its website since it started accepting applications on February 18. "We are taking online bookings for only 25 lakh units in the first batch due to limited supplies, while giving another 25 lakh through offline distributors. I will deliver the handsets before June 30. All the money that we receive from customers through the payment gateway will be kept in an escrow account and we will touch it only when we deliver the devices." The company has an account with ICICI Bank.

Goel, and his much-older confidant Ashok Chadha, who is the president of the company, insists that there have not been any infringements on design and other matters. "Some of the devices had the Adcom branding as we sourced panel (screen) from them. However, the final device will have our branding and the phone will have the same features and design that we had showcased."

The dual SIM Freedom 251 device carries a 4-inch display, 1 GB RAM, 8GB internal memory with a 1.3 GHZ quad-core processor, dual cameras and comes with a charger, headphone and one-year warranty.

The duo say that they have a carefully laid-out business model to manage the disruptive price for the device "The price that works out per device is roughly around Rs 1,500," Chadha says. insists, though significantly lowering it down from the Rs 2,500 he had announced on the day of the unveiling of the device. "We will source the devices from a supplier in Noida, who will be assembling the units for us after getting components from Taiwan." And while we do this, we also start the work to identify land and suppliers for setting up our manufacturing locations. For this, we have identified Noida while also looking at locations in Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Bihar and Punjab," Chadha says.

And just how does he bring down the cost to Rs 251, and also earn a profit? "Economies of scale gets it down to around Rs 1,200, and thereafter an online sales model cuts down marketing and sales expenses, giving us further savings," he says. And to this we will add marketing piggybacks from companies whose applications we load on the devices. We will save around Rs 300 per device more through this," Chadha says.

The unveiling of the phone on February 17 had created quite a flutter among existing handset suppliers, prompting industry body Indian Cellular Association to file a complaint with the government. (ICA) - which has members such as Samsung, Apple, Sony, Lava, Micromax, Karbonn, Motorola and HTC - ICA president Pankaj Mohindroo wrote a letter to telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, expressing doubts about the intentions of Ringing Bells, saying it is not possible to supply a phone for Rs 251. Also, there were allegations that the company had ripped off the design of the prototype from American phone major Apple's iPhone, while also giving out devices sourced from a local electronics importer Adcom.

The company is also talking to large e-commerce companies, such as travel website Goibibo, to get their apps on the devices. "We will also monetize from the heavy traffic on our website and will make it into a marketplace for other brands to hop on. This will also help us to bring down the cost."

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rampa
 - 
Monday, 22 Feb 2016

I think battery only original.

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News Network
March 24,2020

Mangaluru, Mar 24: Seven people were arrested on Tuesday for violating prohibitory orders imposed under Section 144 of CrPC in Mangaluru during the lockdown in Karnataka, Commissioner of Police PS Harsha said.
Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Monday had announced a complete lockdown in the state till April 1.
"In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, the entire state will be locked down from 12 am of March 23 to April 1. People are requested to strictly follow it to contain the coronavirus spread," he said.
Earlier, the state government had ordered the suspending of all public and private transport services.
According to the data compiled by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the total number of the infection-related death toll in the country rose to nine on Tuesday, while the total number of active cases reached 482.

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News Network
April 3,2020

Bengaluru, Apr 3: Four people, including three who attended the Tablighi Jamat meet in Delhi, tested positive for coronavirus on Friday, taking the total number of the affected in the state to 128, the Health department said here.

The three men from Belagavi had attended the Tablighi- Jamaat congregation from March 13 to 18 at Delhi, while the other case was that of a 75-year-old man, who is a resident of Bagalkote.

A detailed investigation was underway to ascertain how he got infected, the department said in a bulletin.

It said that till date, 128 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, including three deaths and 11 discharges.

"With 128 cases we are in ninth position in the country in number of cases.Today four new cases were confirmed, of which three were those who attended Tablighi-Jamaat congregation," Primary and Secondary Education Minister Suresh Kumar told reporters, giving details about the bulletin.

He said 187 of the total of 288 samples collected from those who attended the congregation had tested negative and only 13 had turned positive so far.

"Out of 288 samples collected, we have got report for only 200 cases and are awaiting reports for 88," he added.

Though Kumar did not give any figures on the total number of people who went from Karnataka to attend theDelhi meet, the health department on Thursday had said nearly 1,000 people (including 19 foreigners) linked to Tablighi Jamat had been screened and swab samples of more than 200 people had been collected, while efforts are on to find out others.

Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Friday held a meeting with Muslim leaders and MLAs even as the government stepped up efforts to track those who might have travelled to the state after taking part in the meet in Delhi last month, which has turned out to be the hotbed of COVID-19 spread in the country.

After the meeting, the Chief Minister said Muslim MLAs agreed to provide details of those who attended the Jamaat's congregation to the government and also convince them to undergo COVID-19 tests, along with quarantining themselves.

Out of total of 114 active cases in the state so far, 111 patients (including 1 pregnant woman) are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable, while three are in ICU (one on oxygen and two on Ventilators).

Seven of the 128 cases detected and confirmed were transit passengers of Kerala, who landed at airports in Karnataka and are being treated in the state.

Among the 128 positive cases, 51 were reported from Bengaluru, 21 from Mysuru, 10 from Bidar, nine from Dakshina Kannada, eight from Uttara Kannada, seven from Chikkaballapur, five from Kalaburgai, four from Ballari, three each from Davangere, Belagavi and Udupi, and one each from Kodagu, Tumakuru, Bagalkote and Dharwad.

Those discharged include nine patients from Bengaluru and two from Kalaburagi and among the deceased are one each are reported from Kalaburgari, Bengaluru and Tumakuru.

The Chief Minister held a series of meetings to review the measures taken to control the spread of COVID-19 and implementation of lockdown in the state.

He asked the labour department to deposit an additional Rs 1,000 from the Construction Workers Welfare Fund to the accounts of 15 lakh labourers in the sector.

The government has already deposited Rs 1000 to their accounts (amounting about Rs 150 crore) in the first round.

During the meeting the shortage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Kits for Doctors and health care professionals was discussed.

"Work order has been issued for 1 lakh PPE kits, and the Chief Minister has issued directions for the supply of 2 lakh more PPE kits," Kumar said.

Yediyurappa also chaired a meeting with Ministers from Bengaluru on steps to be taken to control spread of COVID-19, as the city has more than half the confirmed cases in the state.

He also decided to covene a meeting of city legislators in this regard on Saturday morning.

Kumar said it was also decided not to provide food free of cost at the state run Indira Canteens as concerns were raised about the quality and misuse that was happening during the Chief Minister's meeting with ministers today.

"We have decided to stop free food supply...we are providing foodgrains to poor through ration already," he said.

However, the Canteens will continue to provide subsidized food- breakfast at Rs 5 and lunch and dinner at Rs 10.

The government last month had decided that Indira Canteens would provide food packets free of cost to the poor and needy in the wake of the lockdown.

Meanwhile, in view of COVID-19, emergency Additional Chief Secretary, H&FW Department ordered extension ofservices of Medical and Para-medical staff, Clinical and Nonclinical staff retiring in April and May this year, to June 30.

Amid reports of lack of co-ordination between Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar and Health and Family Welfare Minister B Sriramulu, Chief Minister Yediyurappa has tasked Suresh Kumar to brief the media on COVID-19 related daily bulletins, official sources said.

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August 7,2020

Mangaluru, Aug 7: A woman suffered critical injuries after a speeding car knocked down her scooter and then ran over her at Kadri Kambla Junction in the city today.

The woman identified as Vanishri Bhat (22) a resident of Kedila from Puttur. 

A CCTV footage of the accident, which went viral on social media, shows the car hitting the scooter, pushing the woman on road for a couple of meters before climbing over her.

The car stopped when she was under it. A few people including a policeman lifted the car from the front and rescued the woman. 

She was immediately taken to a private hospital in Mangaluru City MLA U T Khader’s car which was passing through that way. 

She has suffered critical injuries on her head, ribs, hands and legs, sources said. She is reportedly responding to treatment. 

It may be recalled that in December last year a lorry-auto accident at the same spot claimed life of a 56-year-old teacher while the auto driver miraculously survived. Following the accident, speed breakers were installed at the junction.

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