A presence in niche areas of aviation software and an ability to develop products should hold the company in good stead.

Sankhya Infotech was incorporated in Jul.'97 by promoters Nadupalli Srinivas and Nadupalli Sridhar to carry out software development projects for the aviation industry. Sankhya plans to raise Rs 1.67 cr through an issue of 16.7 lakh shares of Rs 10 each at par. In Jun.'99 and Jan. 2000, the company had raised Rs 6.18 cr through an issue of 24.7 lakh shares at a price of Rs 25 each to promoters, associates and friends (including NH Securities controlled by Ketan Parekh).

The funds raised will be used to set up development centres at Bangalore, Bhubaneswar and Vishakhapatnam and to upgrade the existing centre at Hyderabad. Rs 1.27 cr will also be invested for setting up overseas offices in the US and France.

For the 8-month period ended Mar.'98, the company recorded a turnover of Rs.11.7 lakh and a net profit of Rs.1.3 lakh. The same grew to Rs 4.3 cr and Rs 0.22 cr respectively for the year ended Mar.'99. For 1999-2000, the company expects to clock a turnover of Rs 4.5 cr with exports contributing Rs 1.95 cr. Domestic sales revenues are expected to decline by 35% in 1999-2000, while export revenues will rise substantially and help Sankhya to record marginal growth in overall revenues. The company has clocked a turnover of Rs 2.2 cr and a net profit of Rs 25.8 lakh for the nine months ended Dec.'99. Profit for the full year has not been projected.

Sankhya has orders in hand worth Rs 6.68 cr. It includes an order from Adept Consulting Inc, US, for US $ 1 mln (Rs 4.32 cr) and an order from Lloyds Global for US $ 0.5 mln (Rs 2.16 cr). The company has also received an order from Airbus, France, for development of software for A-320 technical maintenance. Indian Airlines is also a major client. Sankhya expects to clock a turnover of Rs 9.5 cr and 12.2 cr in 2000-01 and 2000-02 respectively. Operating profit margin is expected to be around 30% and the company expects to post a net profit of Rs 1.2 cr and Rs 1.8 cr in 2000-01 and 2001-02 respectively.

Sankhya has developed products like IRMAO (Integrated Resource Manager for Airline Operations) consisting of (a) fleet management, (b) flight scheduling, (c) crew scheduling and (d)flight planning and simulation and computer-based training for A-320 Aircraft, IAMS(Integrated Aircraft Maintenance System), Entirety (The Enterprise Wide Resource Planning Software (ERP)) for hotel operations, Autobank (the automation tool for specific bank functions) and Creditplus(a credit management tool). Sankhya is one of the three companies in the world to have developed complete simulation and computer-based training software for the aviation industry.

Growth in exports and current orders in hand are encouraging. While the initial focus of the company will be to generate export revenues by carrying out contract work (off-shore project work), later, the company is likely to aggressively market its software products through its own marketing offices and strategic marketing alliances.