Bangalore: State-owned Karnataka State Electronics Development Corporation Limited (KEONICS) would foray into IT training in areas such as business process outsourcing (BPO), call centre business, hardware and networking both in urban and rural areas, a top company official said on October 26.

KEONICS managing director Bhaskar Rao said in Bangalore the company proposed to set up a lab at Bangalore in January offering training in call centre and BPO business.

Rao said the government has directed various departments to set aside budget for IT and step up spending in this regard, adding, the company is taking steps to associate with them to implement e-governance, as well as in web hosting.

KEONICS also planned to take up management of networks and maintenance of hardware in government departments, he said.

Responding to a question, he said KEONICS had borrowed a Rs 7.35 crore loan from the government and it has grown to around Rs 19 crore with interest burden. Barring that accumulated loss, KEONICS has been a profit-making company, he said.

For 2001-2002, KEONICS clocked a turnover Rs 15.51 crore and a net profit of over Rs 80 lakh. For the current financial year, the target is Rs 17.76 crore, he added.

He said KEONICS has already started training students in medical transcription through its own training centres in the state.

He said KEONICS is the co-ordinator for "student Internet world" programme from October 28 to November 1, organised as part of Bangalore IT.com.

PTI