InfoTech opens new center, to boost hiring

BANGALORE: Indian digital mapping software firm InfoTech Enterprises Ltd,
which says it has bucked a technology slowdown, announced on Thursday the
opening of a new center in Bangalore and plans to boost hiring.

The company, which serves customers such as the London Police Department and
aeroengine firm Pratt & Whitney, said it would hire about 200 engineers at
its new Bangalore engineering center in 2001/02 (April-March) and 300 in
Hyderabad, where it is headquartered.

The company has seen its shares jump and volumes rise in recent weeks.
InfoTech currently has 1,500 engineers in Hyderabad. It is also in the process
of building a separate facility in the city that is expected to start work by in
the middle of 2002.

It has about 300 engineers working in Mumbai, London, California and Germany.
"We propose to additional 2,000 (engineers) in the next two financial
years," InfoTech chairman Mohan Reddy told a news conference here.

The Bangalore center involves an investment of Rs120 million ($2.5 million),
and the company hopes to tap talent from large research organizations in
aeronautics in the area, InfoTech said in a statement. Reddy told Reuters
earlier this week that his firm expects to beat average growth in the industry
in India, which is expected at 40-50 per cent in the current fiscal year.

InfoTech says its bucking the slowdown rests on its specialization, higher
volumes and long-term contracts. InfoTech shares closed 1.15 per cent down at
Rs168 while Bombay's main index fell 0.4 percent on Thursday. The stock has
jumped 211 percent from the year's low of 54.0 rupees, with nearly 654,000
shares traded on Thursday. It figured among the top 20 actively traded stocks.

It has, however, lost 91 per cent from a record Rs 1,860 in January 2000
before the global crash in technology stocks. Infotech, which offers services
linked to engineering and geography-related work, posted a 72 per cent rise in
sales to Rs 582.1 million ($12.3 million) in the year to March, while net profit
rose 67 per cent to Rs172.3 million.

(C) Reuters Limited 2001.