"The company to be acquired must have a strong client base," he added. Three companies are currently being evaluated in this respect. Saxena said STG is looking at an inorganic growth strategy to strengthen its presence internationally. STG already has a office in United States and has just set up a fully-owned subsidiary in Australia (Sidney). Plans are afoot to set up subsidiary in the United Kingdom over the next couple of months.

An ISO 9000 company, STG had a turnover of Rs 32 crore in 1999-2000, with a net profit of around Rs 8 crore. STG is into offering high-end training, software development and solutions. Its operations are spread across several countries including United States, West-Asia and Sri Lanka. STG on Wednesday announced the launch of a business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce portal as part of its strategy to expand its software development business. Targeted at small and medium enterprises, the portal www.digitaltradeb2b.com, is part of the company's e-commerce strategy to roll out solutions involving enterprise resource planning, Web-enabled applications, B2B solutions and integration with Wireless Application Protocol technology-based applications. Saxena said the portal would be WAP-enabled over the next two months.

Saxena said the portal would target both manufacturers and distributors and would offer a platform for electronic exchange for procurement. The portal will have several industry segments, including electronics and consumer appliances, consumer durables, machinery parts and accessories, pharmaceuticals and automobiles. Saxena said the company plans to put in Rs 1.5 crore over the next one year in developing the portal. An electronic payment gateway is also in the pipeline. Commenting on the revenue model, Saxena said participants in the B2B space would have to give a one-time registration fee of Rs 25,000. Transaction fee, based on a frequency slab, in the range of Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 will also be charged. The portal will provide complete end-to-end solutions, covering the entire cycle of manufacturer-distributor-dealer transactions. It would enable manufacturers to appoint virtual dealers for procurement and distribution, he added. STG has entered into a relationship with ICICI Bank for payment settlement.