LTITL chief executive AS Godbole told reporters on Tuesday that the newly set up dedicated offshore development centre (DODC) in Chennai will have a team of 100 software professionals exclusively devoted to serving the multifarious requirements of Hitachi in networking management.

Speaking at the inauguartion of the DODC, Godbole said the centre has been set up at an initial cost of Rs 3 crore. But business volumes with Hitachi are expected to grow substantially and investments too will be stepped up, he added.

Godbole said, last year Hitachi accounted for 4 per cent of the sales revenue of Rs 91 crore. This year with revenues projected to rise to Rs 162 crore, Hitachi's contribution to the sales revenue willalso go up to over 7 per cent, he added.

The DODC will be dedicated to developing network management software on an online hi-tech basis, he said. "More than business volumes we are looking to strengthen our relationship by sharing plans for future development, recruitment and training," he said.

LTITL is executing networking management software development work on behalf of Hitachi especially of a technical nature for connecting a variety of computers and generally manage their hardware and software requirements.

LTITL now employs 1,200 people and besides working on porting and development projects for Hitachi, has a strategic business focus covering several key areas including legacy systems maintenance, porting and reengineering, Y2K conversion, ERP solutions and Internet-related services.

The company has an equity capital of Rs 15 crore. Godbole said various options like opening more offices abroad, (it has one office in the US), acquisition of one or two US-based infotech companies and anemployee stock option scheme are under consideration. He, however, ruled out any joint venture as that will dilute the Indian firm's profitability. Last year the company on a turnover of Rs 91 crore made a profit of around 20 per cent. The projection this year is that on a turnover of Rs 162 crore the profit will be in excess of 35 per cent.