Sify in Forbes' six essential Indian stocks

A Forbes report said that Sify was one among the six Indian stocks that investors could look forward to as it was well-poised to benefit from the growth of India's middle class.

It recommended owning Indian companies that sell their expertise to the entire world (Infosys, Wipro and Satyam) and companies that sell services that Indian consumers want to buy (HDFC Bank, Hutchison Telecom and Sify).

R Ramaraj, managing director, Sify, told Business Standard that Sify was among the three Indian companies (HDFC Bank, Hutchison Telecom and Sify), poised to grow by selling their services in the domestic market while three other companies (Infosys, Wipro and Satyam) were posied to grow in the international market.

According to the report, Sify is a player on several forms of Internet access. The PC penetration rate in India is very low; about 70 per cent of Internet usage is done in public places. Sify runs a chain of more than 3,100 cyber cafés under the 'iWay' brand name in 150 cities across the country. In addition to the cafés, Sify has a portal business and offers broadband access for consumers and companies.

Ramaraj said the company was growing by about 42 per cent over the last five years and was well-positioned to take advantage of the boom in the internet and remote infrastructure management (RIM) business. Quoting a Forrester report, he said that RIM space alone offered a $2 billion opportunity.

With 4,781 domestic listings, the Bombay Stock Exchange has more stocks to choose from than any other single exchange on the planet. The New York Stock Exchange, by contrast, has about 1,800 domestic listings and the London Stock Exchange has 2,809, according to the report.

Of the 4,781 companies, there were only a handful with actively-traded American depositary receipt (ADR) programmes and stocks of these six Indian companies were essential stocks to work with at the moment, it added.

According to Ramaraj, Forbes has been presenting such periodical stock reports for future investments.

The number of subscribers to Sify's high-speed Internet access to homes grew to 183,000 with the service expanding to 91 cities during the fiscal 2005-06. Sify now has the largest high-speed subscriber base among private players in India, and is the most widely present private player across the country.

There are now more than 1,600 cable television operators who are Sify franchisees for broadband service delivery across these 91 cities and towns, according to a company report.

It reported a revenue of Rs 463.9 crore for the financial year ended March 31, 2006, which is 30 per cent higher than the previous financial year.