Hindujas To Play Incubator Role

The Hinduja group, as part of its focus on the ICE (information technology, communications, entertainment) sector, has decided to turn incubators.

The group has decided to invest in start-up internet ventures that have synergy and will go towards expanding and broadbasing its present activities in the sector, senior group officials said.

The Hindujas could route these investments through Hinduja Finance, which is the new holding company for the ICE sector. Group officials said they were also toying with the idea starting a new company _ Hinduja Innovation Corporation - for the purpose.

They, however, declined from divulging the sum the group will keep aside for the purpose. As part of its Internet foray, the group plans to set up a series of portals, including those for e-commerce, finance, healthcare, among others.

 

"We will have to see which start-ups fit into our business plan and, accordingly, we will act as angel investors," the officials said. Hinduja Finance is issuing 5 crore fresh equity shares on a privately placement basis, part of which will be used to incubate start-ups, they added.

The group, which had last month said it will list Hinduja Finance on the Nasdaq, has also drawn up plans to list two more of its companies on the American technology exchange.

These are IndusInd Media & Communications (IMC), the broadband operator that owns the INCableNet brand, and Cable Video India, that owns the movie channel CVO and has a movie library of over 1,600 Hindi feature films.

Confirming the move, the officials added that no definite time frame have been fixed for the listing. "The funds requirement of the two companies is around Rs 1,000 crore, but because of the crash of tech stocks, we will have to wait and watch," they said.

Intel Capital has last month picked up a 3.3 per cent stake in IMC for $49 million, that has given the company a valuation of $1.5 billion ahead of the proposed Nasdaq listing.

Having built significant marketshare, IMC now plans to increase revenues by introducing premium tiered television services over and above its existing cable services through introduction of control technologies at the subscriber level - the pay TV route - thereby enabling the company to charge subscribers for such services.