The $3 million Intratech, which is offering e-commerce solutions, will be the marketing arm of Sun Infoways. Sun Infoways Ltd director Hozefa Vohra confirmed the takeover of the marketing outfit. However, Vohra declined to comment on the size of investment for the purpose.

The company is also in the process of offering about a 15 per cent stake to a leading US-based software company to raise $5 million. As per the proposed deal, Sun Infoways will be offering products and services on behalf of the $200 million American firm. The foreign firm has business interests in chip marketing and hardware.

Sun will also invest a part of the funds thus raised in its research and development (R&D) centre in Noida. Sun will deploy about 45 employees in its R&D unit which will focus on the latest telecom technologies including GPRS, Edge, 3G and Bluetooth.

"Initially, we will utilise our expertise to cater to the overseas market and later we will concentrate on the domestic market. We have clinched orders worth $12 million from overseas clients for WAP software services and WAP migration," Sun Infoways e-Strategist Umesh Gowda said.

"We will also develop front and back-end capabilities in the development of various technologies by interacting with telecom operators, manufacturers and end-users in the wireless technology market. The R&D centre will help Sun in implementing e-commerce, m-commerce and wireless technologies," Gowda said here on Wednesday.

Sun Infoways is looking at a revenue of Rs 50 crore and a net profit of Rs 15 crore during the current fiscal. The company had reported a turnover of Rs 10.96 crore and a profit after tax of Rs 3.59 crore during the first quarter-ended June 30, 2000.

At present, the promoters hold a 54 per cent equity stake in Sun Infoways with the public and financial institutions holding the remaining. The company is also planning a private placement shortly. Following the disinvestment of a 15 per cent stake to the US software firm, the promoters' stake will come down to 39 per cent, Vohra said.

With a manpower strength of 225 employees, Sun Infoways has software development centres in Bangalore and Mumbai. Its representative offices are located in Australia, Singapore and the UK.