The Ahmedabad based VBSOFT (India) Ltd. will be the country’s first software company to design automated self-filling compressed natural gas stations for the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPCL).

Vbsoft will be installing all the 300 ASF stations across the state, as projected by GSPCL, by the end of 2004. The first such station will be set up at Hazira near Surat on March 17.

“We have uniquely designed the CNG stations and kiosks for GSPCL. The stations will be operated automatically and will be equipped with automated billing systems developed by us, authentication system and also controlling the quantity of fuel for the company”, Vivek Ogra, managing director, said.

In the first phase, VBSOFT will install around 50 kiosks across the Hazira industrial belt and Surat city and in the second and final phase, all the targeted 300 kiosks, including mother stations, will be set up.

VBSOFT, which recently opened its office and software development center at Noida in Uttar Pradesh, is also looking at business opportunities in Thailand, where the company just completed two major projects on production management systems. One project was for the Petroleum institute of Thailand and the other for Thai Silk.

Ogra said he was looking at more projects from the US. “We are already in discussion with few companies and hope to finalise the deal shortly”, Ogra added

“We recently bagged a software solutions order from the New York Taxi and Limousine Commission and also from the Connecticut Commission which is a long-term contract and will help us to add good amount of revenues at the end of next fiscal year. For the New York project, we are developing an emission and maintenance programmed for all taxis and limousines plying in the state and for Connecticut, the project will be for all the vehicles, including commercial ones,” Ogra said.

“We are aiming at a sales turnover of Rs. 7 crores at the end of March 2004 which will be a major growth for the company. We are also planning to take our solutions to other parts of the country, in addition to our presence in Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Gujarat,” he added.

Intas Pharmaceutical Company, based in Ahmedabad, recently launched a unique wireless communication system during the second half of November for better customer relationship management.

The application , also conceived by VBSOFT, will help Intas reach faster and economically to over 4000 medical practitioners across the country, related organizations, besides its staff and field force.