CMC chairman SS Ghosh told eFE that the ASP foray could lead to a joint venture or a financial tie-up with some of the industry-specific players in segments where CMC may not have adequate experience. It could also provide equity positions in specific ventures to network service providers and hardware vendors.

To begin with, the company is going commercial with its own software application packages in the e-commerce related areas, ticketing, courier services, tourism and hotel management, banking and insurance and is eager to even support on its own the entire infrastructure of railway reservations all over the country, according to Ghosh.

CMC is looking at deriving benefit from the domain knowledge developed by it in the course of executing various contracts for clients like FACT, Railways, Delhi Police, Indian Oil and New India Insurance among others. It is now in the process of Web-enabling most of these software applications and building e-commerce capabilities. Later, it would also look at branding its ASP operations.

The company has already embarked on a pilot project along with the central government and the Reserve Bank of India in Hyderabad for managing bill presentment applications. ``The public utility services in the city will soon be able to put up their bills on the Internet, thereby enabling the consumers to make the payment over the Net, ensuring a secure transaction either through a credit card, or creating an e-cheque through their banker. It will have complete functionality of fully connecting the customers with the utility service and the respective banks,'' said Ghosh.

The company is betting high on banks and other government departments who, it feels may employ CMC given its pedigree and experience in this space over last several years, Ghosh pointed out. ``For instance, many of the software presently available has a trap window which means if you are using it on the network, the ASP will be able to enter into your system. How can a bank which may have to transfer a few crore rupees a day depend on an invoice which has such a window in its software and take such a great risk? Ramifications of this can be much wider. That is why we are a better bet for many applications. Obviously, banks will be a major target for secure network-based transaction applications,'' said Ghosh.

CMC has already held preliminary talks with some companies who Ghosh said want to rent its applications. Though its existing network and call centers will come in handy, it is seeking a much larger growth in infrastructure to launch the full-fledged ASP and facilities management provider operations this year.

This, of course, will require big-time investments which the cash-strafed CMC is currently not in a position to garner with the ministry of information technology (MIT) virtually gagging its attempt at raising funds from the market. Ghosh said CMC has an expansion plan of Rs 200 crore with over Rs 100 crore required within this fiscal year itself. This will go towards additions to its existing infrastructure for ASP and call center operations, building and augmenting its software development centers and setting up more offices overseas. To begin with, the company plans to open trading offices in London, Singapore and Australia which will later be turned into subsidiaries depending on the growth in business volumes.

When questioned about the fund requirement and whether it could affect the critical expansion plans of CMC, Ghosh said: ``It is not a critical handicap as we will continue to generate money from internal resources, but that will not be enough for chalking out a long-term perspective. Our equity base of Rs 15 crore has been at that level for the past 15 years as we have had no fund injection in this period. At the same time, we have added 3 lakh sq ft of office space and purchased equipment etc during the same period, all of which has been met through internal generation.''

Indicating that MIT's dilly-dallying on CMC plans could critically hamper its future, Ghosh said: ``We will, of course, continue to expand from internal generations, but look at the investments being made by our competitors. Investments are needed if you want to create infrastructure for remaining numero uno in your area. We are number one as a third-party provider right now and our service level is ranked among the top. But with the concept of ASPs and call centers coming in, the notion of service itself is changing. And all this will require big investment.''

The company is also considering developing portals, building on its domain expertise in areas like securities. ``We have the acumen to sell large technical projects, but the value chain of a portal is an area that we have never worked out. So our marketing group is taking the initiative in this regard and evaluating whether to go in for such a foray,'' said Ghosh.