Madhav Sheth, the CEO of Ai+ smartphone believes that there is scope for a new brand like his, which he launched in July this year, to fill in the digital divide that India still has. Talking to The Hindu, he said that there are still 450 million feature phones active in India which the Ai+ smartphone would target and bring them onto 4G or 5G ecosystem.
“Around 50 million new 2G users are added every year and no brand wants to address this. Lower average selling price (ASP) means lower revenues and margins for brands, but someone has to take the initiative to bridge the digital divide and that was the fundamental reason I wanted to build this company,” said Mr. Sheth.
He says that Indian smartphone industry is one of the largest electronic sectors in terms of value, with more than 150 million smartphones sold every year, yet, in the last 10 years, not even one Indian brand has entered this space. “The market is worth more than five lakh crore rupees, and there’s still no Indian brand.”
I believe there are opportunities, and that’s why we decided to move forward with a new brand Ai+ smartphone, said Mr. Sheth.
(For top technology news of the day, subscribe to our tech newsletter Today’s Cache)
He also wants to work on data security with this new brand as he feels that all the agent APKs of foreign companies are based outside India, which means consumer data goes outside India, often without their knowledge. “I wanted to ensure that important telemetric data is stored only on Indian servers, to protect Indian users. Digital sovereignty is one of the most important aspects we need to build.”
Chinese companies, covering 80% of the market, don’t follow these practices because they’re not bound by compliance in India, said Mr. Sheth. He explains that as of now, the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023, has not been implemented for smartphones.
Ai+ smartphone will target the mass market first without compromising on quality. “In India, 75% of smartphones are sold below ₹15,000–20,000. Only about 20% of Indians buy a phone priced above ₹20,000–25,000,” says Mr. Sheth. The Ai+ smartphones are being manufactured at UTL facility in Noida. Recently, it started exporting to Nepal.
Since July 2025, Madhav’s new brand has only launched two phones. He believes that launching too many phones confuses customers. “Other brands just change back panels and launch the same models under different names. I don’t want to follow that approach. I want to build one strong phone at the right price point, with the right product for consumers, and sustain it over a longer period.”
The Ai+ smartphone started with two entry segment phones: Pulse (4G phone) and Nova (5G smartphone), starting at ₹4,499 and ₹7,499, respectively. Mr. Sheth said that Ai+ stands for “Applied Intelligence.”
Currently, it sells through online only, because offline acquisition costs 30–35%, he said. “Our goal is to keep the channel lean, so we can give consumers the right price.”
Apart from having smartphones, Ai+ will expand to verticals like tablets, TWS, and wearables, said Mr. Sheth.
On AI, he said that it should be ethical and compliant. For consumers, AI should simplify day-to-day life. “We plan to use India-developed LLM modules and give them a platform to integrate into the hardware ecosystem.”
Ai+ smartphone servicing is being done by a third-party provider and currently it has about 80 service centers across India.
Published – September 22, 2025 03:25 pm IST
