By Crystal Bozek

NORTHBORO- Subu M. Kota, chairman and chief executive officer of The Boston Group, is approaching illiteracy in an unusual way.

Mr. Kota and his associates have developed voice-activated, easy-to-learn software for teaching the nuts and bolts of language.

"We're trying to teach people how to read within a six-week period. They will start off learning the alphabet so they can read a newspaper," said Mr. Kota, whose company is based in Northboro.

With the new e-learning program, which was recently launched in India, people can go to locations such as schools, where PCs are installed, and through the Setwin program, learn to read in their local dialects.

A teacher does not have to be present.

According to Ronak V. Desai, vice president of sales and marketing, there are more than 900 languages and 1,400 different dialects in India, where the company and the state of Andra Pradesh have begun the Setwin literacy program in the city of Hyderabad.

The project is funded by Andra Pradesh and The Boston Group.

India is one of the largest populated and "poorest nation in the world," said Mr. Desai. "Illiteracy is the biggest problem it faces."

Mssrs. Kota, Desai and most of their associates in the Northboro office emigrated from India in search of opportunity in the United States, and later decided to bring their projects back there.

Mr. Kota came to America in 1968, after studying software in India. He worked at the former Data General Corp. of Westboro for 17 years, managing the company's global technical support. Mr. Kota's wife, Virginia, who is treasurer, founded The Boston Group in 1988. The company provides information technology consulting, software services and e-learning solutions.

He joined The Boston Group in 1992.

"What do we do as IT consultants? We're there so companies can focus on manufacturing or learning, and not have to worry about supporting the backbone of the company," said Mr. Desai, who came to the United States nine years ago.

After a long slump, worldwide IT spending is expected to return to positive growth this year. Framingham-based IDC, which analyzes the IT market, expects total worldwide IT spending to climb to $852 billion, up 2.3 percent from last year.

The bulk of The Boston Group's $20 million in annual revenues derives from IT consulting, and the rest from e-learning and software development. Revenues have been growing 5 percent to 6 percent a year since 1988, said Mr. Desai.

Payroll is our main expense and we never hire too many people when there is not enough work," said Mr. Kota.

The company employs about 350 worldwide, including 50 in Northboro, 100 at client sites and 200 in India and other offices in the Philippines, Malaysia, China and Singapore, said Mr. Desai.

Many work under contract, from project to project.

Mr. Kota travels often to the company's offices overseas, staying in the United States for a month and traveling the next. While he said he isn't afraid to fly (he was planning to fly Sept. 11, 2001, but his flight was canceled) he understands that many people throughout the world might be afraid to come to the United States since the terrorist attacks.

"Because people might be afraid of visiting here for school after Sept. 11, and now because of the war, e-learning will bring American universities to them in their own countries," said Mr. Kota.

Since 1994, The Boston Group has partnered with IntraLearn Software Corp., also of Northboro. About 500 companies use the IntraLearn platform to train employees, and 70 universities, such as the University of Massachusetts, use it to offer online courses, including MBA programs. IntraLearn software is supplied in more than 14 languages, including Arabic.

The Boston Group is the product development arm for IntraLearn and is a reseller of IntraLearn products and services in the United States. The companies also formed a joint venture, IntraLearn Asia, to bring e-learning and support services to the Asia Pacific region.

As part of that venture, The Boston Group is working with AMA University in the Philippines, the first and largest IT University in Asia with 150,000 students and 200 campuses.

Recently, The Boston Group teamed up with Financial Campus to provide training for the insurance and banking sector in India. Working with the country's Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority to launch online courses, they developed a Web site called financialcampusindia.com designed specifically for Indian requirements.

Started a month ago, the program to train insurance agents is expected to reach 10,000 people the first year, said Mr. Desai.

The company has developed and uploaded content for an 80-hour course. Certificates will be issued by the IRDA at the end of the course. M.K. Raju, of M.K. Raju Consultants, who worked with The Boston Group on the insurance certification program in India, said online training is the only way for the insurance sector to grow there.

"Only one out of five in the insurable population in India has insurance coverage," Mr. Raju said in a statement. "It is simply impossible to train so many agents to match the market potential with the traditional learning mode."

Mr. Desai said the company hopes to convince New York Life, MetLife and other insurance companies with operations in India to incorporate the online insurance training into their programs.

Mr. Desai said he is happy with the direction The Boston Group has taken, making a name for itself in the global market and competing with IT companies such as IBM Corp., but the question arises: Why not call the company The Northboro Group?

"I guess you could say our hearts are in Boston," said Mr. Desai. "You can't really call it The Northboro Group because nobody in India or Singapore would know what it means. Boston carries worldwide recognition with it."