Simputer penetrates overseas market

R Ravichandran , Hyderabad,
October 14, 2002

Finally things have started working in favour of Encore Software Ltd, the inventor of much acclaimed hand-held computer - Simputer.

The company has succeeded in its efforts to penetrate into the overseas countries, considered to be the immediate potential market. It has set an ambitious target to sell millions of Simputers in the next three years' time.

"We have started exporting Simputers to countries like Singapore, France, Germany, Italy and Africa in small quantities," said Encore Software chairman and chief executive officer Vinay Deshpande.

Deshpande, who was in Hyderabad in connection with the just concluded Technology Summit, said, "We have started shipping nearly 2000 units (Simputers), mostly high-end version, to these countries last week. And this is a positive signal for the company." The company is confident of selling anywhere between 50,000 to 100,000 units in the next 12 months' time, including in the domestic markets, said Deshpande.

Following the encouraging response from the overseas markets, Encore is seriously considering manufacturing Simputer abroad to enable it to market and sell easily.

"We feel it is wiser to have collaborations to manufacture the Simputer in America, Africa and European countries," he said. The company has identified a few companies in those countries, he added.

In order to tap the domestic market, Encore is discussing with two leading software companies in India to take up the retailing and distribution of Simputer. "We expect to finalise the deals in the next two to three months," he said.

To achieve the said sales target, the company is currently holding talks with various state governments for a possible usage in e-governance and e-education projects, where Simputer suits well.

"Encore is working on a skeleton model (a low-end model), to cost around Rs 5,000, to enable the states to use in meter reading, data collections, billing system, census, etc," Deshpande said.

Encore is also talking with postal department, public sector and cooperative banks for money order transactions and banking services respectively, he said.

"We are waiting for the RBI's sub-committee report, which expects to allow usage of Simputer like things in banking transaction," he explained.

"The Simputer is being tested by a few cooperative banks in Karnataka on a trial basis.

The banks expect to announce their views in the near future," he said. The company is also tapping universities, schools, NGOs, development agencies to sell the Simputers.

Source: The Financial Express