To be called eVentures India, the company will have equal equity stake from PK Mittal's Ispat group, Softbank and News Corp-promoted ePartners, a $400 million internet, e-commerce and media venture capital fund.

Both Softbank and ePartners have a 50:50 stake in eVentures globally and it is eVentures which will put the money in the Indian venture. Ispat group finance director Vivek Seth declined to reveal Mittal's monetary involvement, or the size of the initial corpus that eVentures India will begin with, saying that the size was "not very important."

Describing Mittal's foray into Internet as a logical move, Seth said: "Internet and e-commerce are a thing of the present and the future. Having seen a big opportunity in this field, we have tied up with the top names in the field."

In a written statement, News Corp chairman and chief executive Rupert Murdoch said, "We want to help support the emerging entrepreneurial community in India, which is showing an uncommon touch for the new economy sweeping the world." The statement also said that eVentures India will focus on taking high-profile ventures to their full potential in India and globally, indicating that it will make strategic investments in the existing companies, including some Internet-service providers.

At the same time, it will look at bringing to India at least half-a-dozen Internet companies owned by Softbank and News Corp overseas. While ePartners is headed by Mark Booth, one of the most recognised names in Internet world, Softbank is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Softbank Corporation of Japan in the US. It is the world's largest internet investor, having funded over 100 Internet companies globally, including Yahoo, e-trade, ZDnet. It also has joint ventures with Microsoft, Cisco, Nasdaq and Vivendi. "By bringing key US companies into the Indian Internet market, we are laying the infrastructure for its future growth," said Softbank Corp chairman Masayoshi Son in a statement. eVentures India will be managed by the partners of Acquavit, an Internet incubator company focusing on start-ups. While Acquavit has been merged in eVentures, its three partners, Neeraj Bhargava, Rajesh Jog and Sandeep Singhal, will get a stock option at a later stage, according to Seth.

Acquavit managing partner Neeraj Bhargava told The Financial Express that the recently-floated company had decided to forego all the money it was trying to raise to fund incubation services between the US-India corridor. The equity investment made by Acquavit in three ventures so far, Manish Modi's Netacross, Netpilgrim (a JV with rediff.com) and a yet-to-be-announced venture will be honoured by eVentures India, he said.

eVentures India will provide incubation, venture capital and operational help to internet start-ups with a heavy orientation towards e-commerce, Bhargava said. "The focus will be to assist Netprenuers to develop their ideas and ventures into full-blown, successful entities," he said.