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Archana Venkat

Chennai, Oct. 12 Info Edge (India), the Internet company known for its online job site Naukri.com, has earmarked about Rs 50 crore to fund the expansion of its other portals and launch a new portal in the education space. This is part of the about Rs 170 crore raised by the company in its IPO last year.

According to Mr Hitesh Oberoi, Chief Operating Officer and Director, Info Edge (India), the company plans to launch a portal that will bring together colleges and students seeking college admission. Without sharing other details, he said the portal would be launched in the next six months. “We may also invest in e-learning and overseas education initiatives of other internet companies,” he said.

The company is also open to acquiring online businesses to diversify its portfolio. However, no budget or time frame has been allotted for acquisitions at present, Mr Oberoi told Business Line.

Two months ago, the company launched ‘asknaukri.com’, a career guidance Web site that has so far registered about 6,000 queries. “When the number of queries reaches the 25,000 mark, we will have a good data base that can contribute to our education portal,” said Mr Oberoi.

Other portals owned by the company such as Jeevansathi.com (matrimonial site), 99acres.com (real estate site) and NaukriGulf.com (recruitment portal catering to the Gulf countries) would continue to see investments until these businesses breakeven. Jeevansathi.com is expected to breakeven in March 2008 and 99acres.com after that, Mr Oberoi said.

To expand the Dubai based Naukrigulf.com business, the company is setting up offices in Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. The site currently hosts about 3,500 resumes from African and West Asian countries seeking jobs in the Gulf countries.

Info Edge (India) has also earmarked about Rs 60 crore to procure land in Noida and build premises to consolidate its operations in the New Delhi and NCR region. Currently its 700–odd employees work out of about five offices.

The company has about 1,350 employees across India and plans to increase headcount to about 1,600 by March. It reported revenues of about Rs 52 crore and profit after tax of Rs 10 crore for the first quarter of the current fiscal.

Mr Oberoi did not share future targets but said that industry reports forecasted the company to grow by about 50 per cent. The company’s share price closed at Rs 1,109.60 a share on September 28.

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