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NIIT's Malaysia unit bags $6 m. orders

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CIOL Bureau
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KUALA LUMPUR: Indian software and computer education company NIIT Ltd. said

on Friday its new Malaysian multimedia unit has received orders worth 23 million

ringgit ($6 million), of which 15 million will be deliverable in the next 12

months.

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"We open this coming new financial year with a confirmed order book of

23 million ringgit of business for the center to work on," said NIIT Asia

Pacific head Rahul Patwardhan.

NIIT's financial year starts on October 1. "For the first financial

year, we expect a minimum of 15 million ringgit of business to be actually

invoiced," Patwardhan said. "This is a conservative estimate."

NIIT's multimedia and software development center at Malaysia's high-tech

zone of Cyberjaya is expected to have up to 250 software developers by 2003.

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Patwardhan said the company planned to divert some of its software

development in India to the Malaysian unit.

The Cyberjaya center will also become the company's Southeast Asian

headquarters.

NIIT chairman Rajendra Pawar, on a visit to Malaysia, said the company would

continue to expand both its software solutions business and its computer

training business.

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This was despite the fact that NIIT had recently crossed 50 per cent of sales

from the software business, giving rise to speculations that it would focus less

on education. "The education business and software business are independent

business units," he told reporters. "They grow at the maximum pace

they can cope."

"From the company's perspective, there are no priorities...We have to

respond to the market's needs," he said.

NIIT said in July the share of its software solutions business rose to 53 per

cent of total revenue in the nine months to June from 50 per cent a year

earlier.

NIIT shares were down Rs 78.80 at Rs 1,483 at 1041 GMT.

(C) Reuters Limited 2000.

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