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Sahara enters the big boys ring to sell its wares.

Sahara Computers came into limelight when it launched its sub-Rs 10,000 entry-level computers nine months ago. It is now taking on market goliaths like Dell, Lenovo and Compaq at the higher end of the market, and gunning for market leadership in the PC segment by 2007-08.

Sahara's bouquet now boasts of sub-Rs 50,000 notebooks, laptops for Rs 26,000 apiece and media centre PCs for about Rs 20,000. The company "" a joint venture of Sahara India Pariwar and South Africa-based Sahara Computers (of no relation to India's Sahara group) "" claims to have already notched up sales of 3,500 laptops and almost 9,000 desktops per month.

The second phase in brand strategy, according to George Van Der Merwe, chief operating officer, Sahara Computers, would involve "making consumers realise that computers... can be used by people other than information workers".

The company is therefore making its products available at departmental stores like Vishal Megamart and Pantaloons, and reaching out to the B, C and D class towns. Can the big boys of the industry be far behind?