Aptech lines up Rs 25 cr for expansion

Learning solutions provider, Aptech Limited, which has identified 2007 as the year of growth, is looking at expanding its teaching portfolio by introducing courses in hardware and networking segment, and revamping some existing courses.

Besides, the Mumbai-headquartered company, which had clocked a topline of Rs 922.67 crore in calendar 2006, has lined up Rs 25 crore during 2007 for expanding in the domestic market and entering many emerging markets.

R Krishnan, executive director, Aptech, told Business Standard that the company for the first time was going to offer courses in the hardware and networking space.

"We believe that as the number of computers in India keeps increasing, this will create enough job opportunities for networking professional," said Krishnan.

Aptech has tied up with compTIA, a global industry organisation which sets standards for competency in networking space. The courses will be offered in three different areas including server, security and networking and will be of nine months duration each.

After the successful completion of the programme, the students will be issued certification in partnership with compTIA.

Aptech is revamping the Aptech Certified Computer Professional (ACCP) course, with the latest technologies and by embedding a 100-hour language enhancement and workplace skill programme in it. Krishnan said that the additions have been made following discussions with the industry.

"The key problem facing the IT industry now-a-days is that although many students are very good in technology, most of them are poor in communication. The soft skills development programme has been added with ACCP to make the students industry-ready," he added.

In the present year, Aptech is planning to pump in Rs 25 crore towards capital expenditure, of which Rs 10 crore will go to establish a training centre for trainers.

To be known as T3 (Train The Trainer) Academy, the centre will be set up at Karjat near Mumbai to train the trainers associated with Aptech's various brands and functions.

Domestically, the company is planning to increase the number of company-owned centres to 13 in the next two months. Presently, the company has 7 company-owned centres.

Krishnan said that Aptech was planning to open the new own centres in Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore, which were growth markets for the company.

Aptech is also expecting to expand rapidly in international market by opening up more Aptech training centres and Arena Multimedia centres.

"Last year, we added about 15 new centres internationally and this year we will open 18 centres with key focus on South America and Africa," said Krishnan.

In South America, Aptech is already present in Venezuela, Peru and Mexico and in Africa, the company is present in Nigeria, Uganda , Tanzania, South Africa and Ghana.

At present, international business contributes about 55 per cent to Aptech's total systemwide revenue which includes both the retail and non retail (corporate) business. In the next twelve months, Aptech is also planning to enter countries like Syria, Jordan and Afghanistan.

Following its entry into the aviation training sector, with the acquisition of Avalon Aviation Academy in July last year, Aptech is planning to integrate the expertise is Avalon, for positioning itself as a complete training solutions provider for the hospitality sector. Presently, Avalon has training centres in Pune, Mumbai and Delhi.

The company is planning open centers in Kochi , Bangalore and to expand in Mumbai. Avalon provides training on airline cabin crew, ground staff, cargo handling, reservation & ticketing and customer interfacing.