Quote:The smartphone is being manufactured by a little-known Indian company named Ringing Bells, which was established only a few months ago. With its affordable price, it has the potential to disrupt India's smartphone market, which is the among the fastest-growing in the world. However, a series of questions are now being raised about just how the phone is so cheap, its uncanny iPhone-like design and website glitches.

Yesterday, the country's mobile industry body Indian Cellular Association wrote to the telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to inquire into why the price was as low as Rs 251, arguing that that it could not be below Rs 3,500 ($51) even after subsidies.

“For your kind information, the bill of material value for a product like this when sourced from the cheapest supply chain cost approximately Rs 2,700 ($40). And this, when translated into retail price after addition of applicable duties, taxes and with distribution and retail margins would be at least Rs 4,100 ($60) while the product is being sold at Rs 251,” ICA national president Pankaj Mohindroo wrote in the letter.

Running on an Android 5.1 operating system, the 3G phone comes with a 4-inch WVGA resolution display, a 1.3Ghz quadcore processor, 1GB RAM, 8GB of internal storage, and a 1450 mAh battery. It also has a 3.2-megapixel rear camera and a 0.3-megapixel front camera.

ICA further clarified that there was no visible mobile operator subisidy for the phone, and that even if the Freedom 251 was being sold at lower margins, it could not be priced below Rs.3,500-3,800 ($52-55). In addition, it suggested that senior government leadership should not be present at the launch. India's defence minister Manohar Parrikar was supposed to launch the phone, but did not turn up at the last moment.

To add to its troubles, the phone-maker's website crashed this morning, within a few hours of taking pre-orders. The company had announced that it would take online bookings from Feb. 18, but numerous customers took to Twitter to complain about problems while making the payment.