Lanco plans IT foray via $100m funds
lancogroup.com
03/17/00
R Srinivasan in Hyderabad
The Rs 350-crore Lanco Group, engaged in infrastructure development, is making a foray into the information technology segment, investing over $100 million over the next one year.
Last year, the company started information technology operations in the US through its subsidiary, Lanco Solutions Inc, which has already notched revenues worth $10 million with a target to cross the $50-million mark next year.
The company has set up two domestic subsidiaries, Lanco Global Systems Ltd (LGS) with focus on providing software services, products and solutions, and Lanco Net Ltd (LNL), an Internet service provider.
According to Lanco chairman L Rajagopal, the information technology group has already established premium partnerships with world leaders like IBM and Sun, and set up operations in the US, UK and India.
Plans are now on the anvil to rapidly expand in the high growth markets of Japan, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and New Zealand within one year.
"No efforts are being spared to bring into India the best technologies that are available worldwide. The fact that we will be investing over $100 million in the information technology business within the next one year demonstrates the commitment of the organisation to be a major player in the various segments that we would be operating in," he said yesterday.
Rajagopal said bulk of the funds for the fresh investment will come from the various subsidiaries of Lanco Group. LGS, with an equity of Rs 10 crore, will offer 25 per cent equity to the public. The offer would open on April 20.
He indicated that LNL will go for a public issue sometime in June, while the US subsidiary, Lanco Solutions, may follow suit sometime in mid-2001. "We are keen that Lanco Solutions should cross the $50-million mark before getting listed on the Nasdaq," he said.
LGS chief executive officer P V Subramanyam said the subsidiary's technology focus will be in the areas of e-commerce, Internet programming, embedded systems, communication technologies including wireless applications, software testing and client server computing.
LGS will initially have a full-fledged development center at Hyderabad and will, over a period of time, open development centers in Bangalore and Chennai. A team of over 500 professionals will be built up in the next one year with a business goal of achieving a turnover of $10 million by putting in the market three products, and establishing relationships with three Fortune 500 companies. It was also planning development centers in Malaysia and Vietnam.
He announced that LGS has already tied up with an Australian company, Hexasoft, for operations in that country and New Zealand, while it was talking to a Malaysian telecom major for operations in that country's multimedia corridor.
Lanco Net vice-president Shekar V Patanker announced that ISP services will be launched in the next two months in the four metros and Hyderabad, Bangalore, Ahmedabad and Pune. It will reach another 20 cities in six months time.
-BS |
