The company is now the process of zeroing in on the companies which it finally intends to completely acquire or enter into strategic alliances with, Thadani said here. ``We had started with a list of 150-odd companies and have finally shortlisted 20 companies for acquisition. The final list is now being prepared and the entire process of acquisition is expected to be completed by the end of 1999 calender year,'' he added.

NIIT, he said, is looking at acquiring total stake or even partial stake in several US-based software companies. ``We are looking at acquiring one or more companies in the US. As part of our growth strategy, we intend to pursue acquisitions only in the US. For other markets, the strategies differ.''

Ruling out the possibility of launching an ADR issue, the NIIT CEO said the $ 100million acquisition programme would be funded entirely through internal accruals.