India's Aakash tablet computer partly made in China The government ordered 100,000 units of the new model last year on the understanding that it would be made in India. Datawind's chief executive Sunit Singh Tuli dismissed the allegations but admitted the first ten thousand Aakash 2 tablets had used "motherboards and kits" manufactured in China. For expediency's sake we had the motherboards and kits manufactured in our Chinese subcontractor's facilities, and then the units have been 'kitted' in China at various manufacturers for expediency, whereas the final assembly and programming has happened in India. This was well discussed and we got approval prior to shipping. The initial devices were assembled and programmed at our facilities in New Delhi and Amritsar," he said. This was no different to Apple, which also uses Chinese suppliers, he added. The claims raised concerns within India's information technology sector. Satish Babu, director of the Computer Society of India said Aakash "is expected to be an Indian product, however in view of the reports, we need authentic information to pass any judgment on the issue." Kiran Karnik former head of Nasscom, India's IT industry body, said while it was not uncommon for IT hardware to be made in China, Aakash was meant to be Indian. The main thing is the design and Research and Development. In case of Aakash, it was designed and developed in India but if it comes as a finished product, then it's an different story," he said.