The first in the line of Googles Android One initiative aimed at getting more smartphones into the hands of users in emerging markets, Karbonns A50S has been released in India for Rs. 2,790 (£27.32).

The phone has a touchscreen display, front and rear cameras and a dual phone number function, and comes with a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, 256MB of RAM and 512MB internal storage.

The Android One initiative was announced during Googles I/O keynote speech, and involved Google working with hardware manufacturers to produce a set of hardware reference points for affordable phones that were able to run a stock Android OS, with automatic updates and auto-installs of software and apps that are appropriate for the given market.

According to the IDC, India has one of the fastest growing smartphone markets, with year-on-year growth of 186 per cent in Q1 2014, the highest in the Asia Pacific region. While smartphone penetration is only at around 10 per cent, that is expected to grow rapidly as more and more low-cost devices enter the market.