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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March 31,2020

Mar 30: the UAE Cabinet approved a series of new initiatives, foremost among which was the automatic extension of residence permits expiring from March 1.

The residence visas would be extended for a renewable period of three months without any fees to ease the economic impact of the Covid-19 crisis on residents, official news agency WAM reported.

The Cabinet has also waived the administrative fines associated with infractions on the services provided by the Federal Authority of Identity and Citizenship, starting April 1 and lasting for a renewable period of three months.

The initiatives also entail granting a temporary license to use digital solutions for remotely notarising and completing judicial transactions.

Government services expiring from March 1 will also be extended from April 1 for a renewable period of three months. The decision applies to all federal government services, including documents, permits, licenses and commercial registers.

The UAE has introduced a slew of initiatives to control the spread of the Covid-19 virus, including the online renewal of driving licences and vehicle’s registration cards.

The country’s telecom regulator, Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), also issued a directive that no mobile service with expired ID documents will be disconnected or suspended in the UAE.

The UAE has reported a total of 611 Covid-19 infections and five related deaths in the country.

A national sterilisation programme is underway that will continue until Saturday April 4, concluding on the morning of Sunday, April 5.

Carried out daily from 8pm until 6am the following morning, the programme will include the disinfection of private and public facilities.

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News Network
June 28,2020

Bengaluru,  Jun 28: Sixteen deaths due to COVID-19 and 1,267 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in Karnataka, according to information provided by the State Health Department.

The total number of COVID-19 cases in Karnataka has reached 13,190, including 783 cases from Bengaluru Urban. While 7,507 patients have been discharged after treatment, 207 deaths have been reported, said the health department.

With 19,906 new cases, the highest single-day spike so far, India's COVID-19 count touched 5,28,859 including 2,03,051 active cases, 3,09,713 cured/discharged/migrated, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. 410 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours and the cumulative toll reached 16,095 deaths. 

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June 29,2020

Mangaluru, Jun 29: Senior IPS officer Vikash Kumar Vikash today took over as the new commissioner of police of Mangaluru city.

He replaced Dr P S Harsha, who was recently transferred and posted as the Deputy Inspector General and Commissioner of Information and Public Relations.

Before coming to Mangaluru as city police chief, Vikash Kumar was the Deputy Inspector General of Police and Commander of Anti Naxal Force.

He had also served as the superintendent of police of Chikkamagaluru district.

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