Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Friday, Mar 21, 2003
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Friday, Mar 21, 2003 |
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Info-Tech
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Internet Batchmates.com plans tie-ups Ambar Singh Roy
KOLKATA, March 20 BATCHMATES.COM, an Allindia Technologies Ltd's portal has firmed up plans to partner with MSN, Rediff and Sify to provide value-added services and enhance online communications among the Batchmates.com fraternity. The portal aims to emerge as the "largest database for Indians living across the globe". Stating this during an interface with Business Line, Mr Abhijan Nandy, Director of Allindia Technologies Ltd, said talks were under way with other portals for similar tie-ups. The portal has nearly 600,000 registered members and it is expected to touch the one million-mark by the end of the current calendar year. Mr Nandy said that while registration at Batchmates.com is free and for life, members have the option to avail themselves of value-added services and facilities that are offered by the Batchmates club on payment of an annual fee of Rs 250. The paid services were launched in August 2002 and, since then, over 2,100 members have opted for these services. According to him, Batchmates would go "global" in the days ahead. "When we started, our focus was on mapping India to facilitate the process of alumni reunion on the Internet. Having done that, we have now mapped places and institutions in 115 countries globally. Anyone from any institution in the world can register with us. One can now find not just schools and universities but intrinsic divisions that mark a variety of professional lives from, for example, the armed forces, civil services, non-governmental organisations and companies, among others". Already, matrimonial and dating services and a section on gifting have been added. Over time, these two services, along with the subscription fee, would form the main revenue generators for Batchmates.com. The initiatives veering round revenue generation follows acquisition of 85 per cent of the equity stake in the company by the Singapore-based Kawamin Pacific Pte. Ltd in 2001. Incidentally, since last month, Batchmates.com has achieved breakeven in its operations.
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