Is Wipro riding on the recovery wave?

The last two quarters were a bitter time for the computer industry in India. However, with a slight recovery seen in sales during January, Wipro Infotech wants to ride on the recovery wave in the notebook segment by launching its new series.

As per IDC reports, notebooks market will see a growth of 12% in India and with this expectation, Wipro has rolled out e.go, its new range of notebooks in India.

Talking to CXOtoday, Anand Sankaran, Chief Exclusive of Wipro Infotech said, “The industry has gone through a rough period during the last two quarters but we are seeing a sign of recovery since January 2009 and expect this trend to continue. We have launched our new range we reach out to the bold new Indian.”

This is Wipro’s second range of notebooks launched and will cater primarily to the Indian market. What more the e.go comes in three models and most unique one is the 7F3800 with a 10 inch ultra portable netbook priced at Rs 19,990 excusive of taxes. It comes in four vibrant colours including chrome red, ocean blue, racer yellow, autumn red and coral blue. “We are setting a new revolution by coming out with a netbook priced sub of Rs 20,000 that more ever comes with such high features,” said Ashok Tripathy, General Manager & Head, Computing Division, Wipro Infotech.

The notebooks have been designed integrating aerodynamics contours with advanced thermo dynamics to ensure perfect harmony of design and function.

The company plans to reach out to the enterprise as well as the consumer segment. “We have seen a negative growth in the enterprise segment but the consumers’ continue to show a positive trend in sales,’ said Sankaran.

Besides the range also comes with all ‘Green’ features that are eco-friendly and have all RoHS complaint features installed that can be recycled without causing any damage to the environment.

In fact, Wipro recorded a 60-70% jump in notebook sales during the last year but due to the present global scenario doesn’t permit similar growth this year, said Sankaran.

Wipro will target the consumers segment by selling its new desktops at Reliance Digital, Next and Pantaloon’s E Zone outlets across the country. “We expect to add more retailers in the coming months,’ said Tripathy.

Wipro has a manufacturing capacity of 1.5 million units from its two units at Pondicherry and at Uttaranchal. However, they did not disclose if the plant is utilizing its full capacity at it two units or not.

Wipro among top three in desktops segment by 2008

Computer major Wipro Infotech, a division of the $3.47-billion Wipro Limited, having rolled-out its new range of environment-friendly desktops in the Indian market, is now eyeing to be among the top three in the Enterprise and SMB desktop segment by 2008. Ashutosh Vaidya, vice-president – Personal Computing Division, Wipro Infotech in an interview with Manu Sharma, spoke on wide range of issues ranging from their foray into eco-friendly computers to future plans.

CIOL: What is Greenware range of desktops and laptops? What prompted Wipro to launch these products?
Ashutosh Vaidya: Wipro has been addressing the issue of increasing e-waste and in this connection launched eco-friendly range of products as part of its responsibility towards cleaner environment. This provides a compelling proposition to our customers to adopt eco-friendly, high performance and feature-rich computing products in their enterprise.

CIOL: Where does Wipro stand in the computer market and how does it plan to grow?
AV: After having registered sales of 150,000 units in 2006 (IDC report), Wipro is now looking to achieve a target of 225,000 units in 2007. In the Enterprise/SMB segment, the company occupied number five slot with sales of 70,000 last year and is now eyeing to reach 70,000 units in 2007, thus move up among the top three. HP leads this segment followed by HCL, Dell, Lenovo and Acer. We are targeting at state banks, government agencies to reach our target.

CIOL: What are RoHS compliance products and mention its importance?
AV: RoHS or (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) is a directive from the European Union to reduce substantial e-waste in the environment. A lot of e-waste such as Brominated Flame Retardants (BFR), PVCs and heavy metals like lead, cadmium and mercury are used by computer manufacturers. Now Wipro has set up its e-waste management process called Wipro Green Computing, which spans across its product lifecycle – from designing, manufacturing right up to the final disposal.

CIOL: How does Wipro plan to reduce e-waste in India?
AV: Wipro is among the first computer manufacturing companies to launch these products in India. We will also not procure non-RoHS components from our global vendors. Besides we will roll out only RoHS compliant products by the end of this fiscal. Presently, we have eight products including four desktops and three notebooks that are 100 per cent RoHS compliant. We also have 16 centers across the country where customers can come and surrender their old computers and we will handle the disposal.

CIOL: In what way is Greenpeace involved in this project?
AV: Greenpeace, a global NGO has been at the forefront of the campaign for clean production and safe recycling. Greenpeace wants the electronics industry to design products that are free from hazardous substances, easy to recycle, and do not expose workers to health risks during production or recycling. Greenpeace is convincing individual producer responsibility (IPR) for full take-back of their products at their end of life, and go beyond the EU RoHS directive in eliminating all hazardous chemicals.