NIIT guns for market share in education

NEW DELHI: Computer education and software services firm NIIT Ltd. is

aggressively seeking market share by introducing newer education products, the

firm's chairman told Reuters on Wednesday.

"For the next six months we are gunning for market share," NIIT's

chairman Rajendra Pawar told Reuters on the sidelines of a news conference.

"It's the time to invest for serious players. We're not short of funds and

have a debt-free balance sheet."

NIIT has been under a cloud since April when the firm warned investors the

global slowdown would result in a fall in operating profit for the year to

September of 30 to 40 per cent.

Pawar said he was sticking to the earlier forecast. NIIT, often referred to

as the "Mcdonald's of education" for pioneering the franchisee model

for education delivery, is India's largest computer education firm with more

than 2,228 centers including over 100 abroad.

"We will launch many more newer education products, invest heavily in

communicating to the right target audience and in retraining and retooling our

employees to improve market share," Pawar, who is also the founder of NIIT,

elaborated.

Almost half of New Delhi-based NIIT's year to September 2000 revenue of Rs

12.37 billion came from its education business whose domestic size is estimated

at 15 billion. "We should touch 3,000 centers by September," Pawar

said. Software services contribute the other half of the 19-year old NIIT's net

sales.

In May, the firm had said it planned to double the number of overseas

education centers to 200 in the next six months. NIIT had also teamed up with

US-based Microsoft Corp to offer training programs in C# (pronounced C sharp) to

Indian software developers. NIIT provides software services for clients such as

British Airways and Japan's Toshiba group.

Climbs Chinese wall

NIIT started with a measly 200 students in 1982 and has now some 600,000 on its
rolls today. The firm provides computer education in 27 countries and forayed

into China in 1999, by opening a center at Shanghai.

"Unlike India where software exports are dominant, China has a huge

domestic market," Pawar said. "We see China as a very big long-term

market for us but it's a nascent market in many ways." The number of

Chinese students studying NIIT's software education courses in Mandarin and

English as well crossed the 1,000 mark in September, Pawar said.

"They have the same kind of aspiration of going higher up in the social

strata as Indian students," Pawar added. NIIT has a joint venture with the

provincial government in Shanghai and has signed up franchisees in a few more

Chinese cities. NIIT shares closed 2.0 per cent higher at Rs 445.75 while the

30-share benchmark index ended flat.

(C) Reuters Limited 2001.