L and T's business expected to touch $250 mn

Bangalore, May 29: The Information Technology wing of construction major Larsen and Toubro is expected to do a business of over US Dollars 250 million by the end of 2007, L and T Chairman and Managing Director A M Naik said today.

Speaking to newspersons after inaugurating its new Technology Campus at Whitefield, near here, he said the present business was around US Dollars 182 million and the profit was also likely to move upward from the present nine per cent to 11 per cent.

Replying to queries, Mr Naik said the company would work towards gaining the status of a strong middle level institution and maintaining the momentum in that direction. In all probabilities, it would go in for initial public offering in 2008. The group would ensure an overall turnover of US Dollars 7.5 billion, including one billion Dollars from the IT sector alone.

He said the new facility, built on an area of five hectares to accommodate 2,000 employees, provided best-in-class technology facility and gave an ambience of continued learning. It was part of a major expansion plan, encompassing the construction of four new Software Development Centres being built across the country with an investment of over Rs six billion, he added.

To a question, Mr Naik said the company had forayed into new areas of business such as ship building and precision components and parts manufacturing. While a shipyard would be built on the West Coast to build big ships with 150 tonne capacity, new factories would be set up in the next one year for manufacturing defence products and equipment meant for aerospace and aircraft.

He said every country in the Gulf region would have an L and T office to ensure increase in construction and project activities. A switchgear facility was also being set up in China, he added.

UNI