L&T puts China IT project on hold

L&T Infotech has decided to put on hold its software development project in China. "We have not finalised our Chinese IT project plan yet. For the time being, we would like to focus more on our engineering and construction projects in China and around the world," said a senior L&T official.

In September 2004, after inaugurating its first representative office in Shanghai, chairman A M Naik had said L&T Infotech was planning to open a 100-seat software development centre in China by the second half of 2005. This was meant to serve south-east Asian markets.

Meanwhile, L&T has successfully finalised its plans of setting up a $11 million switch gear manufacturing unit in Wuxi New District of China.

In its annual general meeting held last week, Naik had said the company's major thrust would be expanding through engineering and construction, the domain area of the company's expertise. L&T has orders of Rs 20,400 crore for its engineering and construction activities.

L&T Infotech, the information technology solutions provider arm of L&T, has six information technology centres in India and an international centre in the US.

The company reported revenues of about Rs 600 crore for the year ended March 2005. The company's domain activities include sectors such as banking, financial services, insurance, communications and embedded systems and manufacturing.

It also makes software for major mobile phone makers. Naik said L&T would consider demerging L&T Infotech from the company and list it if it reaches a sustainable level of profitability in about three years.