The Bangalore-based company is aiming to tap the $23 billion global e-learning market by targeting East and Middle East Asian countries as well as the US.

It already has an office in the US to support partners and customers in their intellectual capital management initiatives. "We will definitely expand our base in the overseas market in future but no timeframe has yet been set for it," company's founder and CEO Karthik K S told PTI refusing to any divulge further details.

24x7 would double its manpower to 100 in the next year from 50 currently and also open a new office in Bhubaneswar soon, he said.

The company in January had announced an investment of $10 million in next 2 years for its expansion plans, Karthik said. The provider of e-learning consulting and implementation solutions has also launched a employability enhancement programme - Academic Solutions Group for distance learners, specifically from tier II and tier III cities.

The programme is aimed at imparting necessary employable skills to engineering graduates and MCA degree holders, which would help them to meet industry challenges, he said. Indian companies spend about $3 billion annually to send their employees abroad for training and most of the IT companies provide six months training to the new recruits, Karthik added.

The company under the ASG programme would train students in over 85 engineering colleges in tier-II and tier-III cities across the country to meet the requirements of the IT industry, Karthik said adding, it plans to train 50,000 students in the first year.

According to a McKinsey- Nasscom report, even though India contributes a significant 28 per cent to the total talent pool of knowledge workers globally, it will face a severe skill shortage of 500,000 knowledge workers by 2010.

India would need a 2.3 million strong IT and BPO workforce by 2010 to maintain its current market share and only 25 per cent of engineers passing out today are employable, he said.

The company bridges the skill gap between what is required by the corporate segment and what is produced by our formal education system. 24x7 Learning has been working with large corporates for the past 5 years in upgrading the skills of its employees to help them compete in the global markets.

The company provides business solutions to over 120 customers and in verticals such as IT, retail, pharma and hospitality among others. Its clients include Wipro [Get Quote], Satyam [Get Quote], Patni, Aditya Birla Group, Bharti Airtel [Get Quote], Ashok Leyland [Get Quote], Convergys, Accenture, JPMorgan, ING Vysya among others.