Olivetti Spa is pulling out of Modi Olivetti Ltd, ending a 13-year-old joint venture partnership with India’s B K Modi group. The $76bn Italian group is selling its 37% holding to B K Modi group, leaving its Indian partner with a 72% controlling interest. Modi Olivetti was incorporated in 1986 to manufacture PCs, servers and peripherals in India to take advantage of the expected boom in demand for large-scale computing in India, but the company failed to become a key player in the market. The company has an equity capital of $4.3m. It has been losing ground since 1996 when it ceased manufacturing in India. Sales fell from $29.83m in 1995 to $4.3m in December 1998.
