NIIT in $10 mn pact with Thrivent

India's biggest computer training firm, NIIT Ltd, said on Wednesday that it had signed an agreement to provide application development and maintenance services to U.S.-based Thrivent Financial for Lutherans for about $10 million.

New Delhi-based NIIT's shares rallied about five per cent to the day's high of Rs 127.80 at the Bombay Stock Exchange after the five-year deal was announced.

"NIIT will maintain all the insurance back-office applications," Arvind Thakur, president of NIIT's software business told

Thrivent, a financial services company, manages about $57 billion in assets and had a revenue on $4.19 billion in 2002.

NIIT's software business contributes about 55 per cent of its global revenue, with the remaining coming from computer education.

The software business had a pending order book of $108 million as of March, Thakur said.

He said NIIT planned to expand its software services facilities either through partnerships or organic growth.