Choksey, who will be the new chairman of Infoway Solutions, is expected to invest around Rs 10 crore to Rs 12 crore in the venture, a spokeperson for Choksey said. Choksey is, at present, the chairman of Apcotex Lattices, a rubber chemicals company in which he is the majority shareholder. The quantum of initial investment made by Choksey has, however, been kept under wraps.

Choksey had quit Asian Paints last August following major differences with the three other promoters - the Danis, the Choksis and the Vakils - and sold 9.1 per cent of his stake to Kotak Mahindra Capital Company for Rs 128 crore.

Corporate India has been rife with rumours over the past 10months of what Choksey is likely to do with the huge pile of cash he has been sitting on.

The former managing director of Asian Paints still has a minor stake of around 0.4 per cent in India's largest paints company, which he has held on for `sentimental reasons.'

"Software is the business of the future and it provides enormous opportunities for growth. This foray in information technology hence fits in perfectly with the overall game plan of our group which will see us concentrating on high growth, high technology areas," Choksey said in a release.

Infoway Solutions has its corporate headquarters and primary development facilities in Bangalore and expects to reach a strength of around 100 software engineers by March 1999. Infoway's main focus will be in the development of software exports business, concentrating primarily in the US, Europe, Singapore and Japanese markets. It will opening its offices in these regions shortly.

Key areas to be addressed include client/server application development, Y2Kand euro conversion services and on-site consultancy.