Kamil Zaheer
KOLKATA: Infosys Technologies Ltd. is standing by its 2001/02 revenue target
of $535-$545 million despite a slowdown in its main market, a company official
said on Monday.
"It (the revenue forecast) is about a 30 per cent (annual) growth in
dollar terms," Infosys managing director Nandan Nilekani told a news
conference in Kolkata.
Infosys posted a revenue of $396.5 million in the past year to March and said
while reporting its second quarter results in October that its revenue would
grow by around 30 per cent for the current year.
"Looking at post-September 11 and at the current global environment, the
fact that we are looking at 30 per cent growth is good and realistic,"
Nilekani said. The United States is India's top consumer of software services,
accounting for over 60 per cent of the country's software exports. A slowdown in
the United States, which has deepened further after the air attacks on the World
Trade Centre and the Pentagon, has led analysts to downgrade their earnings
estimates for the Indian software sector.
Earlier in October, Infosys had said its market for software services
continued to be "challenging" amid pricing pressures. Some 98 per cent
of Infosys' annual revenue is from exports and of that, 68-70 per cent comes
from the United States, Nilekani said.
The blue-chip firm said it expected its third quarter revenue to be between
$134 million and $137 million, almost flat compared with the preceding three
months to September.
"In our third quarter ending December we expect to do $134 million to
$137 million...it is essentially a flat kind of revenue over the previous
quarter," Nilekani said. Nilekani said Infosys had 294 customers at the end
of the second quarter, of which 84 generated more than $1.0 million in business
annually.
"We have a diversified customer base and if one industry is being
affected we are not that adversely affected (by the slowdown)," Nilekani
said. Bangalore-based Infosys serves a clutch of Fortune 500 firms through its
army of close to 10,000 workers.
Infosys shares rose the maximum allowed 10 per cent, or Rs 325.15, at
3,577.05 by 13:04 p.m. (0734 GMT), on the Bombay Stock Exchange, whose main
index quoted 2.40 per cent higher. The company has long been the darling of
Dalal Street, after roughly doubling profits every year.
(C) Reuters Limited.