Big Blue's launch move comes a month after Hewlett-Packard began selling a Linux-based notebook in Thailand, as part of a Thai government drive to make a cheap "people's notebook" available to all.
It also follows a comment made last week by the Indian president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam in which he supported more widespread use of open-source operating systems.
IBM spokesman Vandana Rao told CNETAsia that the new PC is the first Linux desktop from the company and that the machine will "open new segments such as governments and education" in India.
"Linux is an integral part of IBM's corporate strategy and we continue to back Linux as a clear business decision," he added.
He said that the product is aimed at the large number of small-to-medium sized business and home offices in the secondary cities.
The NetVista A30 is IBM's entry model desktop in the Asia-Pacific and features an Intel Pentium 4 processor, lower-cost integrated graphics chip and a CD-ROM drive instead of a DVD or CD-RW drive.
Despite the use of the open source Linux operating system, which is cheaper to buy than a Microsoft Windows licence, the IBM Linux PC will still be priced on the high side, at about US$850 (39,000 rupees) including taxes, said a report in the news daily The Times of India.
IBM was unable to furnish more details about what sort of technical support would be given, the Linux distribution used or why the price was so high.
Another report in the Australian daily the Sydney Morning Herald had an IBM spokesman saying that the desktop is unlikely to be sold outside India.
Analysts have said that major hardware makers have been cautious about introducing desktops loaded with Linux as it opens the doors to piracy--many buyers will want to over-write the operating system with illegal copies of Windows.
Play video
There are currently no comments for this post.