Kochi, April 10: The Bangalore-based Diode Information Technologies Private Limited is contemplating a Web portal division operating out of Kochi even as it has launched its medical transcription business here. The company expects to employ 500 people in the IT-enable medical transcription industry taking advantage of the trained manpower in Kerala.Louis Padamadan of Diode told reporters here that by 2003, the company expects a turnover of Rs 35 crore from the medical transcription business alone and that it will be the leader in the business. What Diode plans in the third phase of its operations is a business-to-business Web portal on an e-com platform to serve as a shopping mall, said Padamadan. These portals are expected to be India-specific. Padamadan did not divulge the details of the portal plans as they are still in the nascent stage.
Diode is being promoted by a group of trained and seasoned professional with worldwide experience in the IT industry, Padamadan claimed. The total investment in the company is expected to be Rs 20 crore and the phase in Ernakulam is being floated at an investment of Rs 5 crore.
The Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation has given the venture a term loan of Rs 2.5 crore and the promoters have invested an equal amount in the operations out of Kochi, Padamadan said. He said that the medical transcription business has grown rapidly and opportunities are booming.
According to him, the medical transcription business will be worth about $15 billion within two years and is expected to grow further. He discounted fears that the new regulations coming up in the US regulating the health sector will adversely affect transcription business going out of the US. Diode has entered into a strategic alliance with the US-based Mediscription which has promised Diode an input of about 1,00,000 lines per day. This will enable Diode to keep up the volume required for making profits in this business. Padamadan said that medical transcription is a volume-driven business and that only sufficient work can keep the engine going.
Diode aims at being the best in the business of medical transcription, said Padamadan as he pointed to the heavy investments the company is making in the technical facilities available at Kochi. "We are prepared to give the best quality and quantity transcription from India," he said. Diode is also training personnel to meet these requirements.
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