Infosys Q3 net up 17 p.c. at Rs. 4,271 crore

47 new clients added in the quarter

Settles backwages in California

Infosys Technologies reported a sequential growth of 4.02 per cent in revenues under Indian GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) for the quarter ended December 31, 2007, with the impact on margins from the appreciating rupee against the U.S. dollar persisting. But the IT sector bellweather crossed the $3 billion-mark in revenues in the nine months of 2007-08.

“With the rupee likely to strengthen further, we have to revise downwards our guidance for this fiscal, expecting consolidated revenues in the range of Rs. 16,650 crore, an year-on-year growth of 19.7-19.3 per cent and earnings per share for the year around Rs. 81.07 and a year-on-year growth of 17.12 per cent,” Chief Operating Officer, S. D. Shibulal, told reporters here on Friday. For the third quarter, the company reported a consolidated income of Rs. 4,271 crore, a 16.9 per cent annualised growth, and a net profit of Rs. 1,231 crore. The profit after tax included a reversal of tax provisions amounting to Rs. 50 crore. The company voluntarily settled backwages of $26 million in regard to some employees in California.

S. Gopalakrishnan, CEO and Managing Director, said, “We could grow our revenues from Europe by 28.6 per cent (in Q3) and have increased our share of clients in the BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) and manufacturing sectors. We have to wait for the Union Budget but see several growth opportunties and have concluded some multi-year and multi-million deals. Among the 47 new clients added (Infosys and its subsidiaries) are a pan-European IT and communications provider and a major U.K. telecom company”. Infosys has cash and equivalents of $2 billion.

T. V. Mohandas Pai, Head of HRD, said, “There is no human resources crunch now; it is a question of find more physical space for training new recruits”.