Modular Infotech scripts route to success

Holding an impressive collection of 2,200 font types in all local languages, Modular Infotech claims to possess the largest library of fonts in India. The demand for regional language software and the current e-governance wave have opened up new windows of opportunity for the company. Chitra Padmanabhan looks at the growth triggers and the future plans of the company

Though there is vast scope for the use of language solutions in e-governance, the market is far from being a major source of revenues, says Dr M N Cooper

Despite the rapid growth in software exports and proliferation of BPO outfits there are many small towns and villages in India that are unaffected by India’s information technology prowess. This Digital Divide is partly due to concentration of wealth and education in bigger cities and also due to the unviability of information technology projects in the rural areas. However, reality is that technology can be used in umpteen ways even in a rural set-up. The key to improving computer proliferation in semi-urban and rural areas is the use of local language software. This software could be developed for applications catering to the rural community. These applications make for good potential for companies specialising in local language software, at least in theory.

Of the companies that have done significant work in this area, Modular Infotech claims to have the largest font library consisting of more than 2,200 fonts in local languages. Another feather on its cap is the development of a mail system for the Dalai Lama, built in the Tibetan language.

The beginning

The company started operations back in 1983 by building phototypesetters, widely used in the printing business. A phototypesetter is a machine that helps produce photographic images used for printing. “In those days all phototypesetters were imported and did not offer a wide variety of Indian language scripts. We saw good potential in this area and became the first company in India to design a completely indigenous phototypesetter. This was our first exposure to Indian scripts,” says Dr M N Cooper, who is the chairman and joint managing director of Modular Infotech. In the process of designing the phototypesetter, Modular Infotech gained specialisation in various other technologies like font digitising, language composing, data entry terminals, page composing systems and proofing tools.

Building a client base

Since Modular Infotech was the first company to design this equipment in India, the company was unsure about its acceptance in the printing market. “Companies were using imported phototypesetters. In this scenario it was difficult for an Indian vendor sell its equipment. We customised our machines for the Indian printing environment,” says Dr Cooper. Fortunately the equipment found good acceptance in the market. “In the initial phase, companies were slightly wary of experimenting with new equipment since their entire business depended on it. But gradually our business started picking up,” says Dr Cooper.

The company’s first client for such equipment was Kalpana Press of Pune, which for the first time used digitised fonts from an Indian company. “In those days font digitisation was only done in countries like Germany, UK and the US, among others,” says Dr Cooper. The company got a break when the Chennai-based Dinamalar group purchased phototypesetters and till date remains the company’s biggest client.

Bringing Indian fonts to the IT environment

Around 1985-87, laser printers began to be used extensively in the Indian printing environment. So the company ported language software on IBM PCs in the DOS environment and built a software product called ‘Scriptmaster’. “We had poured in profits to develop more and more Indian language fonts and give better functionality to our software,” says Dr Cooper. The company experienced steady growth till the early 90s, when Windows became popular. In order to keep up the utility value of its application, Modular decided to port their software to the Windows platform and call it ‘Shree-Lipi’. This product gained ready acceptance in the market and today is the flagship product of the company. “We have done a significant amount of work in localisation of this software and are currently running the sixth version of this product. Today, we are positioned among the topmost players in language solutions,” says Dr Cooper.

Market scenario

To gauge the business potential of Modular Infotech in the language solutions space, one needs to look at various avenues where language solutions are widely used. Currently, a major portion of the company’s business comes from desktop publishing companies and general purpose printing companies. This business is expected to give the company a steady flow of income. “There is a healthy demand for language solutions from printing companies all over the country. Though there is enough scope for use of language solutions in e-governance projects, etc, they are far from being our prime sources of revenue,” says Dr Cooper.

When we look at pure-play language solutions companies, it is observed that they get a very minuscule percentage of all language-related and e-governance projects that are happening in the country. These companies usually provide third-party language tools to be integrated with applications for big companies undertaking these projects. “Recently, we supplied Microsoft with Indian language Open Type Fonts and keyboard handlers. We are also working with them on localisation of Microsoft Office and Windows XP. In the past, we have worked with Sun Microsystems on language conversion utilities,” says Dr Cooper. However, supplying language tools for third-party applications forms a very small portion of the company’s total revenues.

The company also has a huge clientele of semi-government organisations all over the country where all documents are presented in a regional language. With computerisation of semi-government entities, the demand for language solutions has received a considerable response.

Challenges

The company has about 70 people working on various R&D initiatives. “Local language software is still in its development phase and margins are very low. Because of this, the company needs to ensure that resources that are consumed by R&D yield definite results,” says Dr Cooper. Currently, the company is investing its resources in developing Web applications and office applications within the language domain.

The government needs to give priority to Indian companies dealing in this space to boost the sector. There are many reasons why the development of language applications has not been satisfactory. Researchers say that India has not invested in its lexical resources and there have been many instances where e-governance projects initiated by the government failed due to lax timelines for projects. All these instances eat into the business of companies like Modular Infotech, which specifically cater to this segment.

Another major challenge faced by the company is the problem of piracy. Piracy has a major impact on the company’s profits and potential business opportunities. To counter the same, the company has set up an anti-piracy cell that constantly monitors illegal use of software in advertising agencies and various other design and printing-related companies.

As a new growth path, the company is now planning to look beyond the Indian language domain and explore markets abroad. Even though India prides itself for being a country with multiple languages, the IT infrastructure has not developed enough to be a lucrative proposition for language software players. Though the personal computer has been around for many years in India, its usage is still limited to the English-speaking population of the country.

Local language applications market worth $64 million

According to a survey conducted by hardware industry association MAIT and research agency Frost & Sullivan, revenues from local language applications are likely to touch $64 million by 2005. It also pegged the total market at $11 million in 2002 and has estimated the growth rate to be around 79 percent for 2002-2005. The study carried out by MAIT and Frost & Sullivan says that in the last three years the market has been driven by off-the-shelf applications for end-users such as publications and the government sector. Future growth for Indic languages will come from e-governance applications developed for various government departments. E-governance applications will also drive demand in the consulting area. By 2005, sales from consulting will account for 67 percent of total revenues in this segment.

chitra@expresscomputeronline.com