March 15, 1999
|
|
|
|
PENTAFOUR SOFTWARE: V CHANDRASEKARAN Sindbad Story " We take pride in creating and distributing wealth. Even our drivers clear over Rs 1 lakh a year".
A graduate in electrical engineering, and an employee of public-sector behemoth BHEL for nine years, Chandrasekaran had neither software in his dreams nor business in his blood. However he packed his bag and left for the US to work with Systems and Applied Sciences Corporation in Washington DC. There he learnt to design software systems for radio and TV stations and multimedia applications. He returned to India to assist in his brothers' business but promptly branched off to computers. Pentafour Software today is India's only software company with a leading edge in computer animation. Its on-the-make three-dimensional animated movie Sindbad uses computer-generated images to flesh out characters. But "Penta" is no less smart where the gravy is. Its turnover has grown at 80 per cent annually in the past five years and profit after tax has risen by 88 per cent. "At Pentafour," says Chandrasekaran, "we provide a unique mix of entertainment and business." |
|
Issue Contents | Write to us | Subscriptions | Syndication BUSINESS TODAY | INDIA TODAY PLUS | COMPUTERS TODAY © Living Media India Ltd |
At the stockmarket, people call the scrip
"Penta". Three years ago, only the market cognoscenti had heard about it. Not
the greenhorns. They were quite unaware of the Chennai-based Venkataramana
Chandrasekaran's Pentafour Software going public in 1992, before any other software
company. Investors woke up in 1997 when the price of the stock touched Rs 1,115. The share
has now moved to the forward list of the Bombay Stock Exchange, surprising investors once
again. "We take pride in creating wealth and distributing it. Even our drivers clear
well over a lakh of rupees a year," he grins, reclining comfortably in the executive
suite of the spacious Pentafour Building in the film city of Kodambakkam. Right across the
building is the Pentafour talent-scouting centre which trains 300-400 software engineers
every year and is the company's catchment area for software professionals. 
