The chain is being promoted by B Hari, who had earlier started the internet magazine Calcutta Online, and which was later bought over by Philadelphia-based multimedia company, Research Engineers Inc.

``We will focus on infotech and electronic products. We want to offer computers for Rs 5,000, cell phones for Rs 2,000, music systems for Rs 1,000, laser printers for around Rs 12,000-15,000, and modems for Rs 500,'' Hari said.

``We will tap the middle class and also the working class market. People who want to buy their first TV or even the second set of the house. We want to make buying seconds a fashionable exercise,'' says Hari.

The project is being floated as a subsidiary of Maiden Projects Ltd,a company floated by Hari and two associates Sanjeev Agarwal and G Jayanth.``Around Rs 10 crore will be needed for a chain of 50 showrooms within two years. We will seek venture capital funding after we have established the showroom in Calcutta as a successful prototype,'' Hari said.

At present, the plan is to have a few other showrooms in West Bengal and one in Mumbai by April-end. While some discussions are on for identifying franchisees, advertisements will soon be issued.

Microseconds will use the first showroom as proof of concept. ``We will provide the systems and guidance to our franchisees. We also plan to have centralised sourcing of goods,'' he added.

Sales at Microseconds will have a 85 per cent money-back guarantee for goods returned within a month. Further, factory rejects of Philips will be sold with an one-year warranty. Microseconds has also entered into arrangement with a Philips authorised service centre for providing service.

``We are entering into arrangements with more technicallyqualified people for ensuring a working quality of the products that we will offer,'' Hari said.

Most of the goods will be sourced from the general public and original manufacturers. In an innovative extension of the seconds concept, Microseconds will also allow people to put up goods for sale with a minimum price mentioned. ``We will try to sell at slightly higher price on the basis of a commission,'' Hari said.

Maiden Ventures also has a few other projects in hand. The company has just taken over a tri-lingual infotech magazine Computer & Telecom. There are plans for publishing it in five languages, English, Hindi, Bengali, Gujarati and Telegu.

Another project is to launch an internet magazine, Tenders. A site with the address Tendertimes.com has already been booked. This will carry details of recent tenders and have post tender reporting that will follow up on the tender notices.