Google is gearing up to take over the Indian smartphone market later this year with its Android One program. The company had unveiled Android One at I/O in June, where it announced it would be partnering with local Indian OEMs to provide users with smartphones costing 100$ and running stock Android. 

Now, if sources of The Economic Times are to be believed, Google and Indian OEMs will also be investing more than Rs 100 crores to market and advertize the devices released under the Android One program. The first wave of Android One devices are expected to arrive in India during the festival of Diwali, when smartphone sales usually hit an all-time high in the country. Sundar Pichai — the head of Android and ChromeOS at Google — is also expected to visit the country during that time.

The Indian smartphone market is easily the most competitive and fastest growing one out there and will play a key role in Google’s plan of making Android available to next 5 billion users. When the program was initially announced, Google had revealed Micromax, Karbonn and Spice as its hardware partners but the company has since then added Celkon and Intex as well.

Under the Android One program, Google will be giving Indian OEMs a reference low-end hardware, which they can then customize to a certain extent. The company will be solely responsible for directly updating these devices. If Google manages to execute its Android One program properly, it could very well disrupt the budget smartphone market in Indian and other Asian countries.