Sahara to set up computer facility in Uttarakhand

Sahara Computers and Electronics Ltd (SCEL), an associate of Sahara Computers Ltd, South Africa (SSA), is set to start its new facility in Uttarakhand by next year. The company also has big plans for Uttar Pradesh.

The new plant, spread across 300,000 square metres, will be located in Roorkee. "The new facility is expected to have a capacity about 3,000 units a day. This will help us to cater the increasing demand of our products in the country," said George Van Der Merwe, chief operating officer, SCEL.

The company has a manufacturing unit of in Noida.

"Viewing the trend of computer and IT companies moving towards south, we at SCEL have made north our focus area," he added.

Elaborating on it further, Merwe said the public in the north are becoming more and more computer literate. "In addition, the improved number of education institutions present here directly implies to an increased supply chain for computers."

Of late, the company has inclined its focus towards smaller cities of the country. It lays emphasis on building a strong dealer network. Wide range demonstrations, physical usage of PCs and distributing sales kit is the vehicle that the company undertakes to make a way into smaller cities.

"The computers today are no longer treated as those being a niche product; instead they have now acquired a status of being one like a FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) product. It's a product used by many at present and will be used by all in coming years," he said, adding that their major focus now was on the laptop segment as it was the product of tomorrow.

"In fact few years down the line it will be a notebook market all together."

Sahara Computers entered India about one-and-a-half year back and it has managed to acquire 4.8 per cent share in the personal computer (PC) market. According to the latest IDC report, SCEL has acquired the second position in local brands segment.