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Strategies & Market Trends : India Coffee House -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mohan Marette who wrote (9199)	10/31/1999 10:12:00 AM
From: JPR	Respond to of 12475

DO YOGA OR YOU GO Naidu mandates YOGA courses for the High and the Low HYDERABAD, India (AP) - A reform-minded politician, trying to turn his state into India's technology powerhouse, is relying on yoga to provide a ``physically and spiritually balanced' government. Chandrababu Naidu, the highest elected official in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh, is known to work 18 hours a day and live on a frugal diet. In a move to boost the alertness and improve the performance of his government ministers and officials, Naidu on Friday organized a mandatory three-day course in yoga. ``Your health is precious not only for you but also for the entire state,' he told participants. The course includes yoga exercises, meditation and stress reduction techniques and nutrition counseling. The course was organized by Prajapita Brahmakumari Eshwariya Vishwa Vidyalaya, a voluntary organization promoting spiritual well-being. Naidu's tips to his ministers for improving efficiency at work: Wake up early in the morning, drink 1 1/2 gallons of water a day, practice yoga and meditation and eat light non-spicy food. All lawmakers in Andhra Pradesh will have to undergo the yoga classes. Naidu made the decision after many lawmakers were unable to take part in his Motherland program, which involves voluntary physical work. ``The program requires people to dig, clean and do other physical work. They are unable to do it,' he said. In other efforts to improve efficiency, Naidu has computerized many public records, held videoconferences with remote villages and introduced greater accountability of public officials. The measures have won him praise from such people as Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, who invested several million dollars in a computer software facility in Andhra Pradesh.

To: Mohan Marette who wrote (9199)	10/31/1999 10:12:00 AM
From: Mohan Marette	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12475

MAARS Software - Marching Ahead maars-soft.com 10/30/99 The past year has been tough for the software companies that focused on ERP. ERP was the buzzword just two years back. However, the craze dwindled as the Y2K bug threatened. This resulted in the shift of IT budgets from implementation of ERP to exterminating the Y2K bug across the world. While the software companies catering to Y2K problem enjoyed the ride, ERP companies witnessed a lull in their operations. Secunderabad-based Maars Software International (Maars), into ERP implementation and IT consulting, has however succeeded in overcoming this trend and has reported an impressive performance last year. In the current year too, the company has announced an 'excellent' performance in the first half apart from the announcement of bonus issue in the ratio 1:1. Maars currently trades at a cum-bonus price of Rs410 with a 52-week high of Rs549 and low of Rs131. Background: Focused on manufacturing Maars, incorporated in 1995, is an integrated player in the software industry with expertise in software consultancy and development. The company primarily provides turnkey solutions to the manufacturing industry. Its other activities include onsite consultancy, offshore development, product development, and training and consultancy. Maars commenced commercial operations in 1996. Maars offered a Rs1.75 crore public issue at par in January 1996 to finance its hardware requirement and the cost of software for development of customized applications. Out of the total cost of Rs2.35 crore earmarked for plant and machinery, the company intended to purchase SAP software for Rs1.35 crore, whereas the rest was for hardware purchases. The equity capital of the company has increased in the current year, from Rs5.10 crore to Rs7.14 crore due to placement of shares on preferential basis. The company has also announced bonus shares in the ratio of 1:1 after the preferential allotment. Out of the current equity, the promoters hold 36%, FIIs hold 8%, Mutual Funds, NRIs and others hold 31% and the public holds the balance 25%. Maars was promoted by T Varadharajan and R Rajagopalan. Varadharajan, a Mechanical Engineer from the Madras University has over 30 years of experience in manufacturing systems, IT, corporate management services and project management. Rajagopalan also holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Madras University apart from a PGDPE from IIT Madras. Prior to the formation of Maars, he worked with Sundaram Clayton, TVS Whirlpool and Alcast India. He has since resigned from the board. In 1997, the company's revenues touched Rs16.49 crore showing an annualized growth of 218%. The company reported a 70% jump in total revenues in 1998, which touched Rs35.10 crore. The net profit jumped 103% in the same period. ======================= Fact Sheet Maars Software Limited 106/12 Habibullah Road T.Nagar Chennai 600017 Tel.: +91 44 8241902/23, 8257361/62 Fax: +91 44 8241895 maars-soft.com Offices: Chennai, Bangalore, Baroda, Coimbatore, Vijayawada (all in India) Singapore, Maidenhead (UK), Charlotte , Chicago, Atlanta (all in USA) and Sydney (Australia) Current Market Price (BSE): 400 52 Week High: 549 52 Week Low: 131 Listing (Stock Exchanges): Bombay Stock Exchange, National Stock Exchange and Madras Stock Exchange BSE Code: 31528 NSE Code: MAARSOFTW ========================== Operations: Moving towards products Maars focuses mainly on providing consultancy in implementation of SAP and its own ERP product. It has developed an ERP package called Maarsman with the current installation base being 56 clients. It has also established a SAP center of excellence. It employs about 250 ERP consultants with about 100 professionals in SAP R/3 providing consultancy services to companies like IBM in US, HCL Perot and KPMG in Singapore. Maars has implemented SAP at Saudi Cables, Saudi Steel, Singapore Power, Sony (Singapore), Pratt & Whitney, Adidas, Malayala Manorama, Colourchem (Mumbai) and Essar Steel. Some of the recently completed SAP projects in India include Eicher and Anil Starch Limited. A center of manufacturing excellence provides consultancy in the area of business process re-engineering, Supply Chain Management, workflow, ERP, EDI, TOC (Theory of Constraints), and e-business. Its current focus is on the domestic market, wherein the companies are increasingly trying to adopt IT as a measure to improve operational efficiency. The ERP and manufacturing consultancy division was the biggest contributor to its turnover and managed to chip in Rs24.10 crore in 1998 out of which Rs15.10 crore was achieved from through exports. On the project front, the company has substantial experience in executing projects on client-server and mainframe platforms. The company has implemented projects for Vizag Steel Plant, Hindustan Motors, Rane Brakes Lining and Nagarjuna Fertilizers and Chemicals. The company also has a subsidiary in the US -Hi-Tech Software-to cater to clients in the US. Hi-tech undertakes onsite projects on IBM mainframes. It provides project and consultancy services to US companies and has also been working with other system integrators and service providers. The project division employed 30 professionals and the turnover from project execution stood at Rs11 crore in 1998 against Rs6 crore in 1997. The company is also into the ERP products segment and has developed - Maarsman, a manufacturing solution for SMEs. The product has been developed in Visual Basic front end with capability to handle back databases like Oracle SQL Server and DB2 among others. The company had sold 32 licenses till December 1998 including 22 licenses for the product in 1998. The package covers the entire manufacturing activity of an SME. The product is priced between Rs6 lakhs to Rs10 lakhs per unit, including customization, depending on customer requirements. The company's infrastructure in Chennai includes 20,000 sq ft of owned space and 10,000 sq ft of leased space. During the current year, the company has setup new e-business centers in Chennai, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Baroda and Vijayawada with an investment of around Rs2.5 crore. The centers have a size of approximately 3,000 sq ft each. Maars company was awarded ISO 9001 certification in 1997. Future: Globalizing operations Maars has created a definite presence in consultancy and turnkey services, and product and project execution in the past few years. It has reported excellent growth in the consultancy division and now has its focus on the product division, which has been a modest performer until now. Maars expects the ERP segment to rebound from the first quarter of next year. It foresees a growing market for ERP markets and expects new markets to emerge around CRM and eommerce applications. With the tie-up with SIEBEL,the leader in CRM solutions, Maars hopes to continue reporting solid growth. It is planning to train ERP consultants in these emerging areas-providing an advantage to the company. However, Maars does not have major expansion plans in this segment. Though it plans to increase the employee strength from 250 to 300 by the end of the current year, no further growth in employee strength is projected in the next year. In the manufacturing excellence divsion, Maars plans to increase the employee strength to 30 professionals by December 2000. In the product division, Maarsman has witnessed substantial growth in the past two years. Despite increasing competition, Maars has managed to increase its clients from 10 to 56 in the past 18 months. Maars has also acquired the IPR and customer base of the Systematics range of products from a UK company. These products are in the area of Financial Accounting, Payroll, Sales and Inventory control for small organizations and have around 1,500 customers in the UK, Far East and Kenya. Other growth plans for Maars include setting up of subsidiaries in the UK and the USA. The company has plans to aggressively market its ERP consulting, e-business solutions, products and services in the European and the US market. Maars' acquisition of the IPR and customer base of the Systematics range of products would enable the company to create a presence and launch Maarsman in Europe. Its subsidiary in the USA will address the areas of ERP and Projects. Apart from organic growth, Maars plans to grow with acquisitions and JVs to create a stronger delivery mechanism and spread in different regions. In the domestic market, the company plans to set up a development center of 50,000 sq ft and a residential area of 30,000 sq ft with an investment of around Rs15 crore. In addition, the company plans to strengthen the overseas marketing and support by investing Rs45 crore. These investments will be financed by the funds generated by a public offer of 20.40 lakh equity shares at Rs268 per share amounting to Rs55 crore apart from internal resources. Financial Performance Year Ended December 31 97 98 99* 00* Sales 16.59 35.43 61.22 103.46 other Income 0.10 0.33 1.42 0.82 OPM(%) 28.26 27.26 22.86 23.63 Operating Profit 4.66 9.57 13.67 24.26 Net Profit 3.69 7.51 12.35 18.46 Equity Capital 5.10 5.10 14.36# 14.36 EPS 7.24 14.73 8.60 12.85 * Projections # Equity increased on account of private placement of shares and issue of bonus shares. Human Resources Plan Maars plans to increase its employee strength by 120 in 1999 and by 310 in 2000 in the areas of ERP, ecommerce and projects division. ESOP: The compensation committee is working out the details of an ESOP plan, which will be implemented in early 2000 after necessary approval from shareholders. Other Benefits: Apart from such benefits as medical reimbursement, LTA and PF, Maars is implementing a home loan scheme for its employees in association with housing finance agencies. Financial performance: Impressive growth Maars has been continuously producing excellent results in the past couple of years. The company has been constantly expanding its capacity, which has resulted in the falling operating profit margin (OPM). The OPM in December 1998 fell from 28% to 27%. The falling trend in the OPM is expected to continue as the company further expands its offshore capacity. During the first half ended June 1999, the company has reported turnover of Rs25.12 crore against Rs14.93 crore in the previous year. The net profit has also jumped 100% to Rs6.01 crore in the same period. The company recently announced a bonus issue in the ratio of 1:1, which will result in an increase in the equity capital, from Rs7.18 crore to Rs14.36 crore. In the next two years, Maars is expected to report a growth in turnover of atleast 70%. Higher depreciation and marketing costs due to the expansion will result in a decline in the net profit margins. Consequently, the net profit is expected to grow at less than 50% in the next two years. Investment potential: Attractive opportunity Maars is currently traded at the cum-bonus price of Rs410 discounting the projected December 1999 price by 24 times and December 2000 price by 16 times. Fundamentally, Maars is in a stronger position compared to many of its peers. Post Y2K, apart from ERP, the market for internet and related areas is also expected to show rapid growth. Maars, with its successful track record in all these areas is in a strong position to address this market and report consistently improving performance. Accumulate. (Sushanto Mitra - is a financial consultant with Technology Capital Partners.) Courtesy:Dataquest

To: Mohan Marette who wrote (9199)	10/31/1999 10:42:00 AM
From: JPR	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 12475

Amid Pakistani Poverty, Opulent Palace of Ex-Premier search.nytimes.com By CELIA W. DUGGER RAIWIND, Pakistan -- The Mogul emperor Shah Jahan had the Taj Mahal. Louis XIV had Versailles. And Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was going to have Jati Umrah -- until the Pakistani Army unceremoniously booted him out of power this month, impounding his palatial home. At the time, Sharif was tantalizingly close to moving into the lavish new 22-room mansion that had come to symbolize a man who talked like a populist but lived like a king in a land of paupers. The military has doubtless been sorely tempted to make the Sharifs sprawling estate Exhibit A in its campaign to portray him as a grasping, power-mad politician who plundered the public treasury to build an empire but they have been wary of allowing anyone inside. Sharif, an industrialist whose family made an even bigger fortune after he went into politics, has not been seen or heard from since the Oct. 12 coup, though the military says he is safe. Badgered by a press hungry for a peek, army officers on Saturday took a reporter into the compound, down the poplar-lined lanes and through farmland amassed by the Sharifs. Inside the heavily guarded compound, a watchman was present at Sharif's imposing new Mediterranean-style villa, and a back door that led into a huge and stunning kitchen was open. "Rather difficult to comprehend for a third world country," said an army officer, shaking his head in amazement as he stood in the kitchen of stainless steel and freshly varnished wood that was big enough to hold four mud huts of the poor. "There is no money like new money." On display inside the house was the kind of gaudy, eye-popping, nouveau riche opulence that would make Donald Trump smile. There were, it seemed, acres of floors in every hue of marble dusky pink and forest green and porcelain blue. There were ceilings adorned with friezes of roses hand-painted shades of apricot and mint. There were inlaid oak floors, walls paneled in silken fabrics and rococo chairs laden with so much gold leaf they looked like they belonged in the court of Louis XIV or a bordello. In a central hall with a soaring, sky-lighted atrium, two stuffed lions real lions?appeared to be stalking their prey from the small platforms where they were mounted. And all along the edges of a swirling marble staircase that swept up to the second floor, where the private rooms were locked, there were plastic bouquets of flowers in blue, red and pink affixed as ornamentation. Just across the magically smooth, four-lane highway mostly empty? that leads to the Sharif family compound is the Sharif family hospital, an immaculate state-of-the-art white elephant said to have cost $15 million and never to have had more than 50 patients in its 300 beds since it opened in December 1997. The patriarch of the family, Mian Muhammad Sharif, had 2,885 workmen labor around the clock to finish the hospital in a year. He is widely believed to be a domineering force in the lives of his sons Nawaz, the former Prime Minister, and Shahbaz, the former Chief Minister of the state of Punjab, who are both now under house arrest. Saturday there were only 15 patients for 40 doctors, 60 nurses and almost 300 other staff members to care for. The white marble corridors were deserted and the rooms filled with empty, tautly made-up beds? this in a country where almost half the 150 million people have no access to health care. Dr. Rafique Anwar, who runs the hospital for the family, conceded that it was a little off the beaten path here in Raiwind, about 12 miles from Lahore. But those concerns were dismissed by the Sharif patriarch. "The chairman overruled everything," Dr. Anwar said. "He said if you make a quality hospital, patients will come." The Sharifs' Raiwind ventures seem to have attracted more interest from investigative reporters and opposition politicians than from the sick and lame. In June of last year, the monthly magazine Newsline and the weekly newspaper Friday Times published articles about the Sharifs' accumulation of hundreds of acres of valuable farmland and use of public funds to develop their estate, named Jati Umra after their ancestral Punjabi village. That same month, after the United States imposed economic sanctions on Pakistan following its nuclear tests, the Prime Minister called on the people to drink less tea and scrimp on cooking oiland promised to confiscate more than a million acres of farmland from feudal landlords for redistribution to peasants. The seeming hypocrisy of a man who was a self-made feudal lord preaching sacrifice and land reform was irresistible to Sharif's rivals, who pounced gleefully. "He wanted to live like a king," said Ameer-ul-Azim, spokesman for Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan's main religious political party. "It is the family's ambitiousness. They are very much inspired by the Moguls." Sharif was apparently outraged by the criticism, and his Government began striking out at the journalists who had dared write and print such articles. Amir Mir, who wrote the Newsline article, said he had been harassed by the police and subjected to threatening phone calls from men who promised to break his legs. He fled the country in July. Najam Sethi, editor of The Friday Times, was abducted in the wee hours from his Lahore home by Punjab state policemen and held incommunicado for more than a month before he was released. But the questions raised by Jati Umrah refused to die. Pakistan?s military rulers are now saying corruption charges may be brought against the former Prime Minister. And the Sharifs? Raiwind estate is now back exactly where they did not want it to bein the news.