Researchers in India have come up with the world’s cheapest touch-screen computing device which costs about €27. It was unveiled this week by the country’s Human Resource Development Minister, Kapil Sibal.

Minister Kapil Sibal with the cheap and cheerful device.

Designed for students, Sibal said his department had started talks with global manufacturers to start mass production. “We have reached a (developmental) stage that today, the motherboard, its chip, the processing, connectivity, all of them cumulatively cost around $35, including memory, display, everything,” he told a news conference.

A Reuters report on the device tells how Sibal said the touchscreen gadget was packed with Internet browsers, PDF reader and video conferencing facilities but its hardware was created with sufficient flexibility to incorporate new components according to user requirement.

Sibal said the Linux based computing device was expected to be introduced to higher education institutions from 2011 but the aim was to drop the price further to $20 and ultimately to $10 (that’s €8 if you’re listening Ministers Ryan, Coughlan or O’Keefe).

The device was developed by research teams at India’s premier technological institutes, the Indian Institute of Technology and the Indian Institute of Science.