Leading information technology (IT) trainer NIIT said it will focus on cloud campuses learning

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based on cloud computing. It will be one of the platforms for NIIT to grow in future. The company also has plans to double its cloud computing based centres to 100 by March 2012 from prevailing 50 centres.

The company has recently begun its first cloud campus in Hyderabad. The GNIIT programme can be used anywhere anytime by students through cloud learning methodology. Even post-classes, students can access all study materials available on cloud 24x7, from anywhere they want.

“We provide individual learners a laptop and data card for access to internet. It is one platform of growth for use and though it will take us another quarter to popularise the idea, we see an uptake as we go in second half of the year,” chairman and co-founder, NIIT, Rajendra S Pawar told Financial Chronicle in an interview.

The company provides an Acer laptop and a MTS datacard to students of GNIIT course. Pawar said another segment in individual learning solution is banking sector, where lot of tractions happened over the last one year, post downturn in economy and started hiring.

In the corporate learning, he said, the company accelerated execution of six $ 110 million worth contracts in the managed training services – three each in Europe and US – for next five years. “These different projects are getting executed right now and will be completed by end of this year.”

There are many small contracts in the sub-one million dollars or $ 1 million coming in near future from different geographies around the world, he added declining to name any of the projects due to agreements between the companies.

Meanwhile, the company reported a flat growth in net profit at Rs 13.1 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2011.

Individual learning solutions net revenue was reported to be Rs 117.8 crore between April and June 2011, up 16 percent on year-on-year (YoY) basis. This was supported by 11 percent increase in global enrolments, with career enrolments growing at 16 percent. Placements grew at 28 percent year on year.

NIIT reported a flat growth in net profit at Rs 13.1 crore for the first quarter ended June 30, 2011 as against 13 crore in corresponding period last year. However, company’s net revenue grew by 16 percent at Rs 321.2 crore against Rs 278 crore in the first quarter 2010.

“There was an adverse impact of about 100-150 basis points on account of foreign exchange. On YoY basis, it is negative impact of Rs two crore on revenue and Rs 0.5 crore on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation,” chief executive officer, NIIT, Vijay Thadani told reporters.

The company has added 277 people during first quarter of 2011-12, the highest ever addition in a quarter, taking its headcount to about 4,400 people. NIIT has 958 centres across India for different learning solutions.

Present in 40 countries, NIIT works closely with global IT companies like Adobe, Cisco, Citrix, EMC, Intel, Microsoft, Oracle, SAS, Sun and provides training on their platforms.