The companies being considered would augment the vertical niches in whichMphasis-BFL currently has a presence. He indicated that one of the possibleacquisitions would augment the company's business in the telecom sector. Raoalso said that Mphasis-BFL was currently in the process of promoting anindependent company to function in the area of Web designing.

Explaining the company's intent to list on the Nasdaq, Rao said "it makesrecruitment abroad that much easier, besides it gives you great marketingstrengths".

The company is currently in the process of recasting its board of directorsfollowing its recent merger. The board is likely to comprise the followingnames among others - Jerry Rao, Jeroen Tas (who heads marketing for thecompany), Subramanian N and Rahul Bhasin (representatives of the BaringsEquity India Fund) and Jose Delatorre among othersMphasis-BFL specializes in the area of interactive architecture andexecution for industries like finance, logistics, technology and media andtelecom.

The company's combined client list includes names like Chase Manhattan Bank,ABN Amro, Citibank and Stanchart among others from the Mphasis stable andFedex, Compaq and Eton Corporation from the BFL stable. "We intend tocapture considerbale market share in the arena of Interactive Architectureand implementation" says Jeroen Tas, director, marketing, Mphasis-BFL, "weplan to service a cluster of clients for whom we bring considerable value tothe table in the long run, which will also ensure that we keep moving up thevalue chain" he adds.