MUMBAI, INDIA: Appreciating Indian rupee against the dollar did not deter Indian IT behemoth Infosys to score an 18.4 per cent surge to stand at Rs.1,100 crore in its consolidated net profit for the quarter that ended September 30, 2007.
S. Gopalakrishnan, CEO & MD, Infosys stated, “In an increasingly flat world, our unique business model combined with our value proposition continues to help our clients grow profitably.”
However, the bourses weren’t too impressed as the stocks of Infosys nosedived by close to 6.9 per cent to close at Rs. 1976 (from the previous day’s Rs 2125).
An analyst with ICICI securities said, “The appreciating rupee has eroded about Rs. 2000 crore from Infosys’ revenues and markets in the US and in Europe still seem to be a major market while other markets also need to be explored for the figure to be better in the coming quarters, but this performance is one of its best.”
Analysts also feel that despite the company increasing its employee base consistently, the era of witnessing 30 per cent and above rates of growth would be difficult in the future. Infosys plans to augment its revenue productivity to tackle and negate the rupee appreciation against dollar.
The good news for its shareholders stems from the fact that the IT major has accrued contributions to the tune of 97.7 per cent came from repeat businesses and Infosys has also added 48 new clients in the last quarter.
However, a cause of concern would be the slight increase in the attrition rates (0.5 per cent) and the revenue margins coming majorly from the US markets (62.7 per cent).
But with sizeable deals (to the tune of $1 bn) in the pipeline, the picture is likely to get rosier.
The sensex closed at 18,814 points up 0.84 per cent from the previous day’s 18,658 points.