Modi Corp joins dotcom bandwagon with two US JVs

Cyber News Service

NEW DELHI: The Delhi-based Modi Corp is moving into the dotcom arena with two joint ventures with US-based companies. The two US companies, which are part of the US delegation led by President Bill Clinton, are InfoDream Corp and GeoTouch.com. Details of the JV regarding the name, business structure, revenue sharing, etc are yet to be worked out. However, both the new companies plan to go in for an IPO sometime during next year. While the American companies stand to gain from the brand equity and goodwill which the Modi Group enjoys in India, Modi Corp is looking at the JVs essentially as a means to add value to the cellular services of Spice Modicom and Modi-Telstra. The soon-to-be-launched WAP enabled services will bring in a whole new dimension to the lives of cellular phone users and the Modis are gearing up to be part of the new boom.

InfoDream is essentially a recruitment portal where resumes will be posted and candidates placed in software companies in the US. The portal–www.infodream.com–is live and will work as an interface between the client and the candidates. The role of Modi Corp will be to promote the site amongst students and job seekers and to undertake a minimum level of validation of candidates. Modi Corp will also conduct a short orientation programme for candidates. With Modi Corp in the JV, the portal will also look at placements in India. The portal will expand to become an ASP by providing services like skill management and tracking man-hours in projects. Such services will increase productivity by ensuring that the right person is slotted for projects and that there is optimum utilization of man-hours. The company has also been selling the software as a licenced product under the brand name InfoDream.

GeoTouch, on the other hand, is a travel portal providing detailed information about places of tourist interest. It will also provide information pertaining to booking tickets, reserving hotel rooms, how to get around the place and the different eateries and restaurants. The site--www.geotouch.com--also promises to provide all kinds of information related to healthcare, day-to-day consumer needs and the like. The software of the portal is GIS-based and will also support GPS (Global Positioning Systems) to enable people to find out in real-time their exact position and distance from the destination. While Modi Corp will help in forming local alliances and providing content for the places of interest in India, the technology underlying the complex navigation will be taken care of by GeoTouch. The site will be launched shortly. Both the portals will see an investment of around two and a half million dollars each which will be pooled by the companies jointly.

While acknowledging that e-commerce is yet to get fully accepted and adopted in the country for a wide range of reasons, Deepak Mohla, Managing Director, ModiCorp, is of the opinion that hi-tech ventures are always a gamble. "However, since investments are low it would not be a great loss. Besides, if the portal serves as a value-add to its cellular customers, the investment would be worth the while," he added.