Jetking plans 100 new centres by March 2005

Chennai: In order to cash in on the expected demand for trained computer hardware engineers in the southern region, the Mumbai-based computer hardware training company Jetking Infotrain Limited has decided to expand its footprint.

The Rs35-crore-turnover company is focussing on states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Punjab and Rajasthan.

"We plan to increase the training centres by 25 to take the total number to 100 before this fiscal," says Nandu G Bharwani, joint managing director. The company will take the franchisee route for expansion. "Out of 75 centres in the country the company owns only five centres."

Citing the growing personal computer (PC) market, Bharwani says one hardware engineer is required to maintain 50 PCs. "As per an Ernst & Young study, by 2010 the required hardware professionals will be 24 lakh. The emerging opportunities are in the networking and Wi-Fi fields."

Adds Milind Chaudhar, manager-business development, "The IT skill sets are changing. Earlier, the demand was for software professionals. Now with the entry of business process outsourcing (BPO) units who are heavily networked, there is a demand for network security professionals.

This aside, companies are increasingly outsourcing hardware maintenance.

Bharwani expects the company to close this fiscal with a turnover of Rs45 crore.