The company is in the process of chalking out major plans for its US operations in the coming year. Thadani, who has been spending a considerable amount of time in the US, is known to be keen to shift there full-time this year, company sources said.

Neither Thadani nor the company's official spokesperson were available for comment. "He will not be available for the next three days as he is busy in a conference," an official in hadani's office said.

Thadani, 47, is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi and co-founded NIIT along with managing director Rajendra S Pawar. He has spearheaded NIIT's globalisation efforts, led its IPO in 1993 and oversees all strategic alliances and finances.

The $160-million NIIT Ltd started the process of acquiring a US software company by short-listing three global investment bankers lastweek. It has believed to have short-listed Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and Donaldson Lufkin & Jenerette (DLJ). DLJ was also the preferred investment banker in the ADR issue of another Shiv Nadar group company, HCL Technologies.

The process will receive an impetus with Thadani visiting the US later this month. The acquisition deal is likely to be closed by June. The company has identified acquisition route as a key component of its growth strategy in the US market.

NIIT is looking for a company engaged in fixed cost, off-site software projects in the client-server, internet-centric environments, with a solid client base, strong sales network and an ability to attract value-based pricing for its services.

The company has a budget of $100 million for the deal. It hopes to fund the venture through a mix of debt and internal accruals and the purchase would be the largest in the US by an Indian software company. With this, NIIT hopes to enhance its brand name and attract projects from globalcompanies.

Meanwhile, NIIT will announce its half-yearly results here on Thursday. In the first quarter ending December 1998, the company had registered a 119 per cent growth in profit before tax at Rs 10.1 crore.

Its international revenues rose 71 per cent to touch Rs 83 crore, constituting 57 per cent of total revenues. Interestingly, the revenues from the US geography are growing at 88 per cent.

NIIT had set up base in Atlanta in 1991 with NIIT (USA), its largest foreign subsidiary employing about 150 employees. It is headed by CN Madhusudan.

The company has ambitious plans to open 200 training centres in the US. Its net income last year rose 158 per cent to $179,000 and revenue rose 72 per cent to $13 million.

The company has set up sales offices in Princeton, New Jersy, Philadelphia and New York. It plans to open more such offices in Chicago, Silicon Valley and Texas soon.

Some of its clients include IBM Corporation, Scientific Atlanta Inc, Holiday Inn Worldwide, United Parcel Service,NationsBank Corp and Lockheed Martin Corp.