Ringing Bells, the company that shocked the Indian mobile market by launching a phone at an unbelievably low price tag of Rs 251, has set alarm bells ringing and stoked a media storm of sorts. People are wondering how the company could so aggressively price a cellphone loaded with specs that cannot be procured for less than Rs 1,000. Some experts even gave a scathing review to the phone, Freedom 251.
Moreover, questions are being asked about the owners of Ringing Bells, the Goel family in general and Mohit Goel, the face of the company, in particular.
Ringing Bells president was quoted in a Business Standard report as saying, the Goel family has been into the agri-commodity business, with interests in UP and Haryana, and is the proprietor of Ringing Bells. The family is investing Rs 200 crore into the venture in the form of equity capital. The funds will be used to set up two plants- one in Noida and another in Uttarakhand-to manufacture handsets. In addition to the family investment, the company will raise Rs 300 crore in bank loans for the plants.
However, a news report in The Times of India says Mohit's father Rajesh Goel still has a grocery shop in Garhipukhta, a small town in Shamli district of Uttar Pradesh. And Mohit is believed to have worked with his father, assisting him at the shop. But not many people knew about it. And now, suddenly everybody is talking about their company and the big launch of the world's cheapest phone.
Rajesh Goel, who is one of the directors of the company, told TOI, "Mohit went to Noida and completed his graduation from Amity University. He had expressed his desire to open a company and I loaned him some money. Little did we know what it meant then. It's really big, is it?"
So who really is Mohit Goel?
According to International Business Times, the Goel family is claimed to have been running an agriculture-related businesses. And every precaution has been taken to keep the name of the "family-run, three-decade-old business a secret". The report says that according to Mohit's Linkedin profile, he has undertaken two graduation courses, but he does not mention when he pursued them. The account also states that Goel worked for the Canada-based Shaw Communications firm for more than nine years. IBTimes UK says it repeatedly tried to contact Mohit Goel, but he remained unavailable for comment.
Incidentally, Ringing Bells has suspended taking further pre-orders for the phone as its website was brought down with more than 600,000 visitors, wich in itself is a record for any newly launched website and a product.
Some may say this phone is face and a scam but trust me its not so.I would say this man Mohit K Goel is worth our praises as he put in his knowledge and skill to bring us such a cheap phone set that can be available to every person.
