Personal computer manufacturers and broadband companies are keen on expand Internet penetration in the by providing cheaper PCs that offer Net connectivity at prices as low at Rs 14,000.

American chip major Advanced Micro Devices is said to be working on a PC with Internet connectivity for about Rs 12,000 to Rs 14,000, say financial newspapers.

Meanwhile, Bharti and HCL have joined hands to offer a PC and a broadband connection for as low as Rs 999 a month to make it more affordable for the masses.

Low-cost computing is about to boom in India, a market which is said to have immense potential except that prohibitive costs are keeping it from taking off.

However, PC-makers, IT firms and telecom companies are out to rectify it by offering computing alternatives at extremely low rates.

With India said to be one of the biggest and fastest-growing telecom and IT markets in the world, IT firms are keen to offer widespread Internet access.

AMD has also launched a low-cost Internet access device -- the Personal Internet -- that will cost between Rs 8400 and Rs 11,500. AMD will sell the PIC in India in alliance with telecom major Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd.

The PIC runs on a Microsoft Windows-based operating system and forms a part of AMD's plan to provide half of the world's population with low-cost Internet connectivity and computing power by 2015.

IT Minister Dayanidhi Maran, who unveiled the new broadband on October 14, said that by the end of year 2010, the policy aims to target 20 million broadband subscribers and 40 million Internet subscribers. Low-cost PCs will go a long way in helping achieve that objective.

A young Indian woman checks out the performance of an AMD Athlon 64-bit processor based PC at the AMD stall at the 7th Edition of the Annual Bangalore IT.Com 2004. Photo: AFP/AFP/Getty Images