A Sino-Indian joint venture was set up in Kunming, capital of Southwest China's Yunnan Province, this week to carry out research and development of healthcare information technologies and provide telemedicine services to worldwide hospitals.

Sunpa Sobha Software (China) Ltd, with a registered capital of US$1 million, is based in Kunming and will have branches in cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. To start with, the company has more than 200 employees.

The Chinese partner, Yunnan Sunpa Image Tele Tech Co Ltd, holds 60 percent of the shares in the new company and the remaining 40 percent are held by India's Sobha Renaissance Information Technology (SRIT), said Liu Yong, board chairman of Yunnan Sunpa.

SRIT plans to invest US$20 million in the Chinese market in coming few years, said Dr. Madhu Nambiar, the company's founder and chief executive officer.

Joseph N J, SRIT's director for marketing and sales, said the cooperation will prove benefit to both sides as the new medical software products developed by the joint venture will be used by Chinese hospitals, and Yunnan Sunpa's telemedicine equipment will be introduced to India and other overseas markets.

The two sides predict the joint venture will have an output value of US$100 million by 2010 and will become one of the world's leading medical software providers in five years.

The new establishment will also provide a platform for cooperation and exchanges between Chinese and Indian IT professionals and entrepreneurs, said Liu.

Yunnan Sunpa has developed more than 50 patented telemedicine product series and is among the world's largest telemedicine equipment manufacturers, service providers and suppliers of relevant digital medical equipment.

SRIT, based in Bangalore, is a global IT consulting and systemsintegration company. It is ranked among India's 50 fastest growing technology companies.