CG-VAK, with an expected market capitalisation of Rs 300 crore within the next two years, also plans to launch six new portals this year.

Annalakshmi.com, the first of the portals, will be launched in April, said Manickam. This portal, aimed at the more than three million Indians living in the United States, will capitalise on the NRIs' eagerness to tap their resources back home. The fully e-commerce-enabled site will be a virtual grocery shop for everything Indian for the nostalgic, said Manickam.

He said that CG-VAK has already entered into agreements with distributors in the United States to cater to the orders on Annalakshmi.com. The new portal is expected to play a big role in the life of non-resident Indians all over the world, said Manickam. He said that there were some players like namaste.com already catering to the needs of non-resident Indians."The market is very big", said Manickam as he pointed to the big business opportunity awaiting CG-VAK. He said that of the 3.2 million Indians living in the United States, 62 per cent are in the younger age group who use the Internet facilities.

CG-VAK is also planning a portal for voluntary agencies worldwide in association with a group of Netpreneurs based in California. Manickam said that the voluntary agency portal will be a non-profit one and that it will be a major source of information exchange for the voluntary agencies. He did not divulge details either about the time of launching the site or about the name of the planned portal. "The ideas about the other portals are still in the nascent stage," he said.

CG-VAK, now focusing on programming e-commerce applications for business to business and business to customer segments, also plans private placements to the tune of Rs 6-7 crore to meet its immediate expansion plans, said Manickam.

CG-VAK is also launching, by the middle of this year, a product for the software consulting industry in the United States. "We are also working on hosting large Web sites, targeted at business and home user segments with e-commerce enablement," he said.

CG-VAK is part of STP-India listed on the Mumbai, Chennai and Coimbatore stock exchanges. The company expects a turnover of Rs 6.5 crore this financial year. Currently, the company employs 250 software professionals and within two years it expects to raise its turnover to Rs 50 crore, said Manickam. CG-VAK will employ about 500 people within the next two years.The company offers software services in the US through its US subsidiary. It specialises in providing e-commerce solutions and client-server software. CG-VAK has developed an ERP systems software successful in client-server environment.

The CG-VAK Financials has 20 modules, targeting the trading, distribution, industry and marketing organisations. The company mainly focuses on the US, said Manickam.