Domestic software companies are expected to get $1-4 million worth of business from the euro market which is estimated to be in the region of anywhere between $20 billion and $80 billion. At a conservative estimate, Indian companies are expected to grab 5 per cent of the euro market.

Infosys, the Bangalore-based information technology major, has set up a separate service team called IN-Euro.

Satyam, VisualSoft and Mastech -- through their subsidiaries -- are also there to share the business. Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) has put up a team of software companies in association with the Indo-German Chamber of Commerce to make most of the euro projects. The plan is to make a certification matrix and methodology matrix as guidelines for the software companies which have been eying the big pie.

Software companies are, however, well aware of the fact that euro conversion issue is very different from that of Y2K. Preparations are on in full swing to grab the business. "The issue is not something similar to Y2K... It is pure re-engineering involving technical, legal and political aspects," said Rajesh Iyer, an analyst with Triumph International Finance India Ltd.

Nandan Nilekani of Infosys agreed. "It's more of a business issue than just bug reading. The strategy needs to be well worked out... We need to solve an whole array of business and related technical issues. Quality, as all software companies agree, will be a crucial factor," Nilekanai pointed out.

As the currency unification will happen in multiple stages and at various levels of trading, it becomes more complex to evolve a comprehensive IT system to tackle the transition. The planned migration to the new currency will be gradual and multi-phased, forcing the companies to constantly upgrade their software.

The euro will come into being in phases. The first phase -- which began with the naming of the 11 participants -- will come to an end on December 31 when the conversion rate will be permanently fixed. The second phase will start on January 1, 1999, and last three years during which the euro will exist as an accounting unit with the national currencies also remaining valid. The last phase will mark the end of the national currencies; all cash in circulation will be drawn and replaced with euro notes and coins. By mid-2002, the euro will become the only legal tender in the EMU.

"A whole lot of consulting, designing and development of systems will go into the entire process. It's more or less a fixed price job and these companies have their job cut out in front of them," said Iyer of Triumph International.

Issues like absence of decimels in Italian lira will add to the complex nature of euro conversion. As the D-day approaches, software companies are losing no time to pitch for the new business. "A three- to six-month period would be ideal to execute a project," Iyer said.

The conversion software business is expected to last a little more than 12 months and taper off by the second half of 2001, analysts said. Nandan of Infosys said the business would catch up in the next 12 to 18 months. Bigger software companies like Cambridge Technologies of the US has already taken the lead and started executing projects.