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Ashok Leyland Information enters three overseas tie-ups

ALIT Chairman Yashpal Sahni said "our infrastructure should be in place by the end of the year''.

Bangalore-based ALIT is a joint venture among the Hinduja Group, Ashok Leyland and Iveco of Italy.

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The company's recently appointed Executive Chairman Yashpal Sahni has put in place a blueprint to make the company a global software export house in three years.

According to Sahni "The process has worked well. We have already started work in some countries before the joint ventures are in place.'' The latest MoU to be signed is with Universal Business Information (M) SDNBHN, Malaysia. Negotiations are now on to finalise details.

Similarly, the company is talking to Fiat and Iveco for a joint venture. "Iveco has plans to outsource huge amounts of software work in addition to Y2K conversions. We have started work with them,'' says Sahni. "Our partner in Indonesia moved fast, he wanted to incorporate the joint venture immediately. We decided to wait because the tax angle has to be checked. In Germany, the company is talking to Lufthansa. In Japan Sumitomo is likely to be the partner.''

"We have a local company in the US with about 90 people there. Plenty of work is flowing in,'' says Sahni. "The infrastructure will go in place by early next year,'' he said, adding, "you cannot attract the right people if you do not have projects in place.''

Currently, the company has 400 employees with 320 professionals. By next year the firm expects to add another 400 professionals. By the following year it expects to have 1,000 professionals.

Eventually, the proposal is to incorporate an offshore company that will be the holding company for all the main joint ventures. India will just be one territory in the global market.

Plans include an overseas listing as well as a listing on the Indian market in the next three years.

"After the listing we will expand by acquisition, not by organic growth. The world over, IT companies only grow by mergers, acquisitions and things like that,'' said Sahni. We hope to have 22 offices worldwide."

According to Sahni, by 1997-98 the company would achieve software exports of $40 million.

Earlier: Ashok Leyland Information gets aggressive

- Compiled from the Indian media

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