Mumbai, September 14, 2004

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World Rapid Chess and NIIT MindChampion Viswanathan Anand today unveiled NIIT's National IT Aptitude Test 2004. The NITAT 2004 is the first ever nation-wide talent hunt for IT manpower aimed at identifying students who have the potential for the booming IT and ITeS industries.

Apart from enabling students to gauge their aptitude for the IT sector, the assessment is expected to become a yardstick for the industry, to determine the competence of IT career aspirants.

The test will be conducted on September 19, 2004 in over 200 NIIT education centres across top 100 towns in the country. Candidates can register online at www.niit.com or at their nearest NIIT centre.

Elaborating on the need for NITAT 2004, Mr Anurag Gupta, Head of NIIT's Western India Educations Operations said, "This initiative is an attempt to meet the large and growing manpower needs of the IT and ITeS industries. The reputation enjoyed by the Indian IT industry, coupled with the outsourcing needs of global companies, have led to a rapid growth in the IT sector. This manpower requirement will be impossible to fulfill without special effort."

Expressing happiness on the new initiative, NIIT MindChampion Viswanathan Anand said, "Success comes to those who can identify the best opportunities, and have the required aptitude to move in the right direction".

With the Indian IT industry requiring more than a million IT professionals by the year 2008, the youth of India can look forward to extremely promising careers in IT. Around 50,000 candidates are expected to assess their IT aptitude as part of the NITAT initiative. Of these, NIIT will be able to encourage and nurture the top one-third to join the IT industry.

Speaking on the occasion Mr R S Hande, Principal, K J Somaiya College, said, "This nation-wide talent hunt will help the industry identify potential IT talent. As the industry moves into a growth phase, initiatives like these would help add to the well trained IT talent pool."

The NITAT comes close on the heels of the launch of NIIT Industry-endorsed GNIIT curriculum, co-designed with the industry. Together, these initiatives reflect NIIT's twin responsibilities towards the IT industry and its students.

"We believe that NIIT alone, owing to its reach and pioneering status, has the ability to initiate such a nationwide IT talent hunt," Mr Gupta added.

In time, NITAT is expected to become a benchmark for the industry, akin to grading systems like GRE, TOEFL and JEE. The test determines IT Aptitude by combining key functional abilities with necessary behavioral traits. Every student undergoing the test will receive a detailed score-sheet and personalized feedback. The assessment is expected to be of particular benefit to graduating engineers in deciding the careers that they should take up.

NIIT felicitates Viswanathan Anand on splendid performance in 2004
NIIT also felicitated Viswanathan Anand, India's finest chess player ever on his splendid performance this year. The NIIT Brand Ambassador, with two classical chess titles besides retaining his Chess Classic of Mainz title, is headed once again for a brilliant year, during which he will also lead an Indian team at the Chess Olympiad in Spain in October 2004.

Anand, who won six titles, five of them in rapid, in 2003, has been in winning form once again. In 2004, he went one better than 2003, by winning both the Classical events he played in Wijk Aan Zee and Dortmund. Last year he won only the Wijk Aan Zee event, besides finishing second at Dortmund and tying for third at Linares. This year Anand did not play Linares.

Anand is now widely regarded as the best all-round player in classical chess and rapid chess. He is also one of the best in blitz chess, where a player is required to complete all moves in five minutes.

NITAT Test locations in Mumbai and other Maharashtra towns
Students from Mumbai desirous of assessing their aptitude for IT can take the test at St Francis Dassisi High School at Borivali; Chinai College at Andheri East; B N Bandodkar College of Science at Thane;KJ Somaiya College at Vidya Vihar; SNDT College of Arts and Commerce at Churchgate; Ramnarayan Ruia College at Matunga and Fr Agnel Technical at Navi Mumbai.
Other centres in Maharastra include KTHM College in Nasik; Hislop College in Nagpur; Social College in Solapur;Vidhya Bharti Mahavidyalay in Amravati; Pratibhaniketan College in Nanded; ambhori Engineering College in Jalgaon and F.C. College in Pune.

About NIIT
NIIT, an acknowledged leader in the IT and IT-assisted training space offers Learning and Knowledge Solutions in 33 countries. Training over 500,000 learners annually, NIIT is the only Asian Education and Training Organization to feature among the IDC Top 20 Global IT Training market leaders, for four consecutive years. NIIT has trained one out of every three IT professionals and its alumni are working at all top IT companies.

NIIT's education offerings include: GNIIT--an industry-endorsed program for students seeking careers in the IT and BPO segments; CATS--offers training programs on advanced technologies for IT professionals; Swift--a platform for equipping ordinary people with basic computer skills; NetVarsity.com offers a blend of content, technology and services; while NIIT@School--a turnkey, IT integration program that provides computer-based learning in government and private schools.

NIIT's range of offerings in the e-learning domain are bolstered by its SEI CMM Level 5 assessed Knowledge Solutions business (KSB), which has emerged as a leader in the field. NIIT KSB offers integrated learning solutions that range from strategy and design to development, implementation and administration.

Its customers include Fortune 500 Companies, Universities, Technology Companies, Training Corporations and Publishing houses.

For further details, please contact:
Geetanjali Sharma, NIIT Ltd., Phone: +91(11) 26203377; Fax: +91(11) 26203386; E-mail: geetanjalis@niit.com
or
Ankur Hatibaruah, TBWA INDIA PR, Phone: +91(11) 26153683; Fax: +91(11) 26153682; E-mail: ankur@tbwa-india.com
or Visit us at www.niit.com