With an aim to counter JioPhone, Vodafone India joined hands with mobile handset firm Micromax to launch a 4G smartphone at an 'effective price' of Rs 999. "We are delighted to partner with Micromax to democratize the 4G smartphones at a never before price of under Rs 999.

This will help fulfill the aspirations of several million phone users across the country who desire a smartphone but couldn't afford one," Vodafone India, Associate Director – Consumer Business, Avneesh Khosla, said in a joint statement with Micromax.

Under this partnership, the existing and new Vodafone customers will have to buy Micromax Bharat-2 Ultra smartphone priced at Rs 2,899 a unit and will have to recharge with least Rs 150 per month for 36 months. At the end of 18 months, users will receive a cash back of Rs 900 and after another 18 months, a cash back of Rs 1,000 respectively, in their Vodafone M-Pesa wallets, enabling them to transact digitally or withdraw cash, as per their convenience, as per the statement.

Reliance Retail is offering JioPhone in partnership with Reliance Jio against fully refundable deposit of Rs 1,500. The company will refund entire money after three years of usage of JioPhone by recharging their phone with total recharge value of Rs 125 every month.

Jio is offering Rs 500 refund if the phone is returned in after 1 year and Rs 1000 on the return of the handset after 2 years. In case of Bharat-2, Vodafone customers will have recharge their phone with minium value of Rs 150 during a month which can be spread in lower denomination value during the month.

"The recharges can be of any denomination totaling to a minimum of Rs 150 per month," the joint statement said. State-owned telecom firm BSNL has launched unlimited calling and a data plan for Rs 97 a month for the buyers of Micromax's 4G VoLTE enabled Bharat phone priced at Rs 2,200. Bharat-2 launched by Micromax on Vodafone network 512 MB RAM, 4GB internal memory, 4 inch display, 2 MP rear camera with the 0.3MP front camera and 1300 mAH. It is built on Android Marshmallow platform and supports full video viewing, social networking and chat apps, the joint statement said.

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