— PHOTO: R. V. MOORTHY

UPBEAT: Dell Chairman, Michael Dell (left), calling on Information Technology Minister, Dayanidhi Maran, at Electronics Niketan in New Delhi on Tuesday.

NEW DELHI: Dell Chairman and CEO Michael Dell on Tuesday said the company's upcoming manufacturing plant at Sriperumbudur near Chennai would start production in July with an initial annual capacity of four lakh personal computers.

Stating that Dell would invest $30 million in the next five years in the plant to boost production that would cater to the domestic market, Mr. Dell said the company's India operations were growing fast and its revenue would soon touch the $1 billion mark.

The founder of Dell said the company's revenues in India grew 70 per cent year-on-year last year to $500 million.

"We have already become the number-one player in the commercial market, while in the server and storage business, we have grown our market share to 19 per cent from nine per cent,'' he added.

Talking about the company's strategy in India, Mr. Dell said the company was looking at alternative models to grow the market, including greater focus on the consumer segment besides planning to introduce low-cost personal computers and machines suited to Indian conditions. The research centre in India that had been designing systems for the world market would also work on India-specific systems, he added.

Stating that India was one of the centres of the world's technology transformation, Mr. Dell said the company's most comprehensive presence in the world outside the U.S. would be in India. The company was looking at opening display centres in India to reach out to customers in a big way.

In India, 25 per cent of the costs of technology products was accounted for by taxes. If high taxes were taken care of, the Indian market could grow at a faster pace and many more manufacturers could set up their units here, he said.

"India has now about 50 million people online, which is less than five per cent of the population. Internet use in the country has increased manifold since the year 2000. For companies like Dell, it is important to help the second billion people worldwide, many from India, to get online so that they can participate and compete in the economy today and tomorrow,'' he added.

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