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NIIT draws almost half of its $160 million global revenues through its 19 oversees subsidiaries in Asia, Europe and the United States.

T O D A Y

• Geocentricity • IDLX's India centre • Compaq servers

The objectives of its globalisation strategy include stepping up growth in its overseas geographies through introducing NIIT solutions for e-commerce based software products and solutions.

The strategy would build upon the success of the first phase of globalisation that started in 1992 with the setting up of NIIT's first subsidiary in the United States of America.

In the first seven years of its globalisation, NIIT's global revenues recorded exponential growth. Between 1992 and 1999, NIIT's global revenues increased from about 7 per cent to nearly half of its revenues.

NIIT Founder Rajendra S Pawar explains each one of the company's overseas geographies as having been conceived as and acting as "a local company with a global reach".

"Being close to the customer has paid off handsomely," says Pawar.

"As part of the next globalisation phase, NIIT is organising directors on its board close to NIIT customers in important cities. The extension of our 'Geocentricity' concept will ultimately go towards operationalising a global board. The Internet, teleconferencing and virtual team experience of NIIT will allow us to move this concept forward," Pawar is sure.

Already two of the five full-time directors of NIIT are operating from outside India. NIIT has an eight-member board including chairman and two external directors.

NIIT operates in over 30 countries with wholly owned subsidiaries and 3 joint ventures.

To implement this strategy NIIT posted one of the five working board members of NIIT, Gopal Chakravarthy, in Europe in mid-1998. It was for the first time since NIIT's inception that a director had been moved to an international location.

NIIT Co-Founder and CEO Vijay K Thadani moved base to Atlanta in USA in August 1999 to oversee NIIT's USA operations.

The cornerstone of this thrust would be forging strategic alliances with US based software companies for which it has already identified Goldman Sachs as the investment banker.

Thadani would help the NIIT USA Inc COO Jim G Gionfriddo create a powerful senior management team.

NIIT's global revenues comprise half of NIIT's Rs 6.33 billion recorded in the nine-month period ending June 30, 1999.

UNI

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