sriven multi tech ltd share price Directors report

ANNUAL REPORT 2000-2001 SRIVEN MULTI-TECH LIMITED DIRECTORS REPORT TO THE MEMBERS, Your directors are pleased to present their report on the business and operations of your company for the year ended 30th June 2000. OPERATIONS Your company could start commercial production during the year, and achieved a turnover of Rs. 368 Lakhs. The net profit earned by the company was 15.95 Lakhs. The company "through this year" was in the process of expanding its activity base and building of infrastructure and established business relations in Toronto, UAE, Sydney, and USA. Presently your company has got excellent infrastructure with state of the art development and production facilities supported by the latest software and excellent workstations. AMALGAMATION WITH SRIVEN INFOTECH LIMITED As you are aware your company had proposed amalgamation of Sriven Infotech Limited with Sriven Multi-tech Limited. However, your promoters felt that their post merger holding in the company would go up considerably and with an intention to secure the support of some Fll Shareholders the scheme of Amalgamation was dropped at the meeting of the shareholders. However, your company has acquired the assets of SIL without any cash outflow or allotment of shares. THE YEAR THAT WAS. . Station X Entertainment Inc Sriven Multi-Tech caters to the 3-D and Visual Effects needs of the worldwide entertainment industry through its subsidiary in the USA, Station X Studios Entertainment, Inc. Sriven holds 51 % stake in Station X Entertainment Inc. Station Entertainment, formerly Station X Studios, is one of the West Coasts leading creators of 3D computer generated imagery for commercials, television and feature films. The artists at Station X have to their credit, path-breaking projects such as Titanic and Dodge in addition to work on various international commercials such as Budweiser. The team has also provided design solutions to Boeing and Microsoft, Walt Disney, Warner Bros, Columbia Tri-Star, Sony Pictures Imageworks, etc. it boasts of a cadre of 22 top-tier visual effects artists and production personnel who previously worked together at industry powerhouse, Digital Domain. Some of Station Xs marquee commercial and entertainment clients have included BBDO/ Detroit ("Dodge"), Illuminations/Tokyo ("Chevy Blazer"), Turner Productions ("The Hunley") ABC TV ("Tom Clancys Nefforce"), Walt Disney Productions ("My Favorite Martian") and Sony Pictures Imageworks (soon-to- be-released feature). The companys award-winning digital effects team work from a suite of 110 NT workstations as well as a newly purchased Discreet Logic Flame. Powersurfer Interactive India Limited Sriven has formed a (49:51) joint venture company called Powersurfer Interactive India Limited, with BSES Telecom (Mumbai) - a subsidiary of BSES Ltd., which supplies power to 2 million households in Mumbai. The joint venture has undertaken a massive broadband infrastructure project and is now setting up 100 E-marts in Mumbai connected through fiber-optic cables. Srivens role in this JV is to create a multimedia portal that will appear as the default on the systems of the e-marts and also to install touch-screen kiosks. This company shall primarily focus on (a) Setting up a network of touch-screen kiosk based information centers (E-Marts) across the city of Mumbai, and (b) Create a multilingual, multimedia portal with emphasis on local content This project could mark the beginning of what may aptly be called, the "Mumbai Wide Web". Realizing the fact that in India, the proportion of people who have access to technology is very low, the concept of public kiosks shall ensure that more people can gain access to the wonders of technology and information. (India has a low PC penetration of around 5 million for a population of 1 billion.). The project will also serve utility services like BSES bill payment, Railway ticketing, Buying music, Online Gamin, Video on Demand etc. Sriven has developed 18GB of content so far for the project and the initial 5 centers have been tested out. All the 50 centers will be operational by March2001. UNITED ARAB EMIRATES (UAE) Etisalat Your Company is going to partner with Etisalat in UAE in creating exclusive multimedia portal on their Broad-band network on a revenue sharing basis. MULTIMEDIA Srivens clientele in Multimedia includes Jet Airways, Bennett & Coleman & Co., ZEE Telefilms Limited, Andhra Bank. Department of Tourism, Govt. of Andhra Pradesh. presentations and walkthroughs for the Dandamudi enclave, Maha Cement, Coats India.etc. KIOSKS Rail Information Kiosks RAPIDS (Railway Passenger Information Display System) With over 11 million passengers travelling everyday on over 62,000 routes, it is no surprise that the queues at the reservation counters are unending and the enquiry counters overflowing. To make the process of train inquiry faster and more efficient, Sriven Multi-Tech has, in association with the Indian Railways, created a touch screen based passenger information kiosk. The RAPIDS kiosks let passengers make enquiries on the status of their tickets, seat availability on trains travelling between various sectors and the fare between any two points. Using a very simple and intuitive interface, the kiosks stand elegantly at the reservation complex and are thronged by enthusiastic passengers who have found the whole system so easy to use without any assistance at all. In the initial phase, 31 Kiosks have been installed at Railway reservation counters in Chennai, Bangalore, Calcutta, Pune and Secundrabad Mumbai, etc. It is proposed to install kiosks at various public places and Railway platforms while extending its applicability. In the pipeline are applications that actually allow passengers to purchase tickets directly from these kiosks by using a Credit Card, a Debit Card or a Smart Card. TouchMe! Hyderabad: This most comprehensive and unique interactive, multimedia Kiosk application software developed by us. This was done for the Dept. of AP tourism. These Touch screen kiosks are running all over Hyderabad. It contains a lot of details about the Twin Cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad both from a Tourists perspective as well as for the average citizen This project received wide spread mileage and was covered by all major dailies and news channels. Thrilled at the creative elements and overwhelming success of Touch Me!, AP Tourism has shown its interest in the outright purchase of our solution. Kiosks in the Indian Parliament House Kiosks have been deployed at both the houses of Indian Parliament - the Rajya Sabha (Upper House) and the Lok Sabha (Lower House). The touch screen kiosks act as electronic bulletin boards that let the MPs easily go through the days proceedings, past bulletins, members directories, debates, etc. The content itself is Internet based and is delivered to a touch-based browsing interface that allows on to access hundreds of HTML pages with ease. Oz-Power Kiosks in Australia Sriven has tied up with Athletics Australia to develop content and deploy kiosks that aim at reaching out to tourists and sport lovers. The kiosks take one through a guide of Sydney and New South Wales and showcase the tourism aspects to visitors. An elaborate Athletics section deals with various games, the Book of Rules and a gallery of Australian athletes. With breath taking graphics, racy videos and amazing Flash animation, the kiosks are planned to be deployed at hotel lobbies, malls and other public places very soon. The Oz-project provides an excellent potential for advertisement and co-promotion with the tourism and sports industry in Australia. Information Kiosks on non-conventional energy sources, Sriven is installing touch screen based multimedia kiosks for the ministry of Non- Conventional Energy Sources, across various Indian cities. These kiosks will be used for popularizing the concept of non-conventional energy sources in India. Empower - A Citizen/Parliamentarian Interactivity Kiosk The Union Minister of State for Urban Development, Sri Bandaru Dattatreya has a unique way of keeping in touch with the people in his constituency - through a touch screen kiosk developed by Sriven! This kiosk lets people record their comments and grievances through our Voicemail engine and sends it to the MPs office. It also lets people explore unknown facts about the M go through videos that reflect him as a person, a parliamentarian and a minister. The minister himself comes up on screen and addresses people on various issues. The entire kiosk has been developed in the local language that the people understand, Telugu. The project has been hailed as a unique endeavor to empower the common man through information technology to keep in touch with his elected representative. STRENGTHS AND CONTRIBUTIONS OF SRIVEN Sriven can boast of the excellent team of talented, creative and hardworking employees in its various divisions, who have been picked up from reputed institutions like NID. This team has proved their potential on various occasions and the works of one of the animation team members Mr. Prosenjit Ganguly have been recognised at various international forums. His work A Cage Study, (Producer: National Institute of Design) has been nominated to the Panda Award, Wildscreen festival 2000, UK and he has been Invited for Japan Wildlife festival 2001, Japan. His yet another work Do Flowers Fly? (Producer: C-DIT, Trivandrum) has been screened at Mumbai Intl Film Festival, 2000, South Asia 99 (Awarded Special Mention of the Jury) and Roshd Film Festival, 2000, Iran (Award for best Script, Inscription of Honour) Sriven has once again participated in the 7th HYDERABAD CHILDREN FILM FESTIVAL-2000, where several animation films were screened in the twin cities. Many children viewed these films and almost every one of them appreciated the works done and showed keen interest in the actual technique of making the animation. The Animation team of Sriven has participated actively in a unique two-day workshop for young school children organized by the Children Film society of A.P at Jawahar Bal Bhavan, Public Garden on the 15th and 16th of November 2000. At the workshop children have been taught the techniques involved in the making of animation and your company was awarded a "Certificate of Appreciation" by the Honorable Home Minister, Government of Andhra Pradesh. Sriven, has been presented the "JUDGES CHOICE AWARD" by "CHIP MAG" for the "BEST CORPORATE PRESENTATION" made for "Webtoons Media" THE BUSINESS MODEL & STRATEGY Sriven has grown & matured in terms of its technical skill levels. Sriven envisages being in a position of strength in the next two to three years in the fields of animation and Converging technologies. The objective therefore is to propel the company into a prominent market position by intensifying and accelerating marketing and sales activities, services expansion, distribution and customer service. In order to sustain this growth, Sriven plans to invest more into the development of infrastructure, hire highly trained professionals, and diversity into related fields of expertise in an effort to globally compete with similar businesses. An industry analysis says broadband is changing the way we consume media. In the coming years the front end of all software is going to be broadband enabled. Multimedia and Animation are going to play a crucial role to take care of this business covergence. In the animation industry, strategically, Sriven looks at partnering with renowned studios in US for co-production deals leveraging its 2D animation expertise through Webtoons. Because co-production not only increases the brand equity of the company but also has a potential to generate revenue for a relatively longer period (through direct commercialization of the serials and merchandising of the characters through various platforms over a period of time). Sriven looks at bringing in the quality and expertise of Station X into the Indian Entertainment industry,which has been growing at more than 25% per annum over the past last two years. To establish itself as a rich media, eService and content company of choice Sriven has taken strategic steps to develop broadband compatible multimedia content globally. While leveraging its expertise through its Joint Venture Company, Powersurfer, Sriven is partnering with ETISALAT in UAE to develop rich media, broadband content. Strategically, through this relationship Sriven looks at establishing its brand equity as a premium multimedia content provider not only in the GCC but also in the neighboring African countries, because UAE is the fastest growing technological superpower in GCC and ETISALAT is technologically advanced and the role model for communication for rest of the gulf countries and neighboring African countries. As a pioneer of Kiosk technology in India, Sriven now looks at promoting eCommerce and bCommerce through its proprietary kiosk engines. With this vision Sriven has developed BrowsEasy, a multimedia kiosk engine for secure payment mechanisms and eService, BrowsEasy is going. to hit the market by January2001. REPLY TO AUDITORS REPORT Attention of the members is invited to Para 2 (e) of the Auditors Report wherein Auditors have reported the pending of legal formalities for the take over of assets of Sriven Infotech Limited. Your company has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with Sriven Infotech Limited on 30.6.2000. The assets have been acquired at book values along with the liabilities attached to them. The physical possession of the assets has been taken over by the company and other formalities, like approval from the creditors is pending. Your company has already approached Indian Overseas Bank. and the necessarY consent will be received shortly. DIRECTORS During the year the Board of Directors have appointed Mr. Shivaprakasam Shivakumar, Mr. Ch. Naga Kumar and Mr. Satyanarayana Vempati as Additional Directors under Section 260 of the Companies Act, 1956. Mr. Satyanarayana Vempati was appointed as Executive Director and Chief Technical Officer w.e.f 09.09.2000 to hold office for a period of one year. His appointment was made without any remuneration. However he is vacating his office as Director at the ensuing Annual General Meeting. The Company has received a notice from a member under Section 257 of the Companies act, 1956 signifying his intention to propose the appointment of Mr. Shivaprakasam Shivakumar as Director under Section 257 of the Act. Mrs V Lalita and Mr. R V Chakrapani Directors retire by rotation and being eligible, offer themselves for re-appointment. DEMATERIALISATION OF YOUR SHARES The members are aware that SEBI has vide its notification brought your script under compulsory trading in Demat under rolling settlement w.e.f 08h May, 2000. Your company could achieve dematerilisation of 72,28,000 shares (73% of the paid- up capital). Your Directors take this opportunity to once again request the remaining shareholders to send their shares to the company for Dematerialisation. FIXED DEPOSITS Your company has not accepted any fixed deposits from the public during the year under consideration. AUDITORS The auditors M/s Susaria & Company, Chartered Accountants retire at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting. The company has received a notice Under Section 225 (1) from the members proposing the appointment of M/s Deloitte Haskins & Sells, Chartered Accountants as auditors in place of the retiring auditors. You are requested to appoint the auditors of the company to hold office from the conclusion of the ensuing Annual General Meeting till the conclusion of the next Annual General Meeting and to fix their remuneration. PARTICULARS OF EMPLOYEES There is no employee drawing remuneration in excess of the limits prescribed under Section 217 (2A) of the companies Act,1956 read with Companies (Particulars of Employee Rules, 1975 as amended. CONSERVATION OF ENERGY, TECHNOLOGY ABSORPTION AND FOREIGN EXCHANGE EARNINGS AND OUTGO The particulars as prescribed under sub-section (1) (e) 21 7 of the Companies Act, 1956 read with the companies (Disclosure of Particulars in Report of Board of Directors) Rules, 1988, are set out in the annexure, which forms part of this report. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Your Directors have great pleasure in extending their gratitude to the valuable customers, investors, Bankers, Flls, MF, Central and State Government officers and agencies, STPI, DoT, Staff and Officers of L& T Info City Ltd and other non-Government agencies for their continued support and confidence in our company and acknowledge the valuable contribution made by the employees. For and on Behalf of the Board of Directors Sd/- Place: Hyderabad V VENKATA SUBRAHMANYAM Date : 01.12.2000 CHAIRMAN & MANAGING DIRECTOR ANNEXURE TO DIRECTORS REPORT. A) Conservation of Energy The operations of your company are not energy intensive. However the company is taking steps to reduce cost of power by use of gensets. As energy costs form a very mall part of total costs, its impact on costs is not material and measured. B) Technology absorption Your ,ompany did not invest in any R&D activity during the year under consideration. However, it uses the latest software in the field related to its activities. C) Foreign exchange earnings and outgo. Your ompany is continuing to explore new markets for exports and is expecting to generate good revenues for exports in future. (Rs. in Lacs) Particulars 1999-2000 1998-99 Foreign exchange earnings 189.52 -- Foreign exchange outgo 300.12 -- For and on Behalf of the Board of Directors Sd/- Place: Hyderabad V VENKATA SUBRAHMANYAPA Date : 01.12.200 CHAIRMAN & MANAGING DIRECTOR