Infy revs-up action in non-American countries

BANGALORE: Infosys Technologies has increased its revenue from Europe, India

and the rest of the world and is continuing its efforts to reduce dependency

on its US clients. A significant achievement is its inclusion as the only

Indian firm by the UK government’s single window Services Catalogue

(S-Cat) aimed at government departments wishing to purchase IT services. The

company has also reduced its top client’s contribution to its revenue,

however, there is a substantial increase in the number of its million dollar

clients.

Posting revenues of 23 per cent growth, YoY, for its third quarter, Infosys,

has reduced its North American contribution to its revenue from 74.3 per cent to

71.4 per cent in the past nine months. Meanwhile revenue from Europe has

increased from 18.1 per cent to 19.4 per cent, India from 1.3 per cent to 2.1

per cent and rest of the world from 6.3 per cent to 7.1 per cent, during the

same period.

The company has acquired 33 new clients this quarter, as against 28 clients,

the previous quarter. Some of its clients include SunAmerica, Target

Corporation, UK’s National Health Services, Aizawa Koatzu, Cosmos Cooperative

Bank and ABN India. It has also partnered with Texas Instruments, ICICI and

Accenture, among others.

Taking over as chief executive officer of Infosys, Nandan M Nilekani, said,

"The company has reported a comfortable quarter. Although pricing pressure

and cancellation of orders continues, business environment remains quite

challenging. We have indulged in effective cost management and established new

alliances with world leaders in various domains. " Thanking the Board for

choosing him as the CEO he said, "Infosys strategies are taken in

consultation with the board, there will be no immediate change in strategy,

after I take over office. However I hope to deliver the strategies to the best

of my ability."

The company had increased its employee strength from 9,831, as on March 31,

2001, to 10,663, as on December 31 2001. It had a net addition of 109 employees

during the quarter as compared to 607 during the quarter ended September 30,

2001. 151 lateral employee had joined during the quarter. The number of software

professionals has also grown to 9,361 as on December 31, 2001 from 8,656 as on

March 31, 2001. About 13,00,000 sq ft of infrastructure is under construction,

including the Infosys Leadership Institute, adding to its existing 22,39,500 sq

ft of space.






In his new role as the Chief Mentor, Infosys chairman, N R Narayana Murthy said,
"After running this company for over a decade, its time to step aside to

give opportunity to others with tremendous management skills. I will be spending

more time in India and in the leadership institute and interact more with the

employees on a day-to-day basis." He also said that he will continue to add

value to the company utilizing his connection in the corporate world. "As

per the corporate policy of the company retirement is at the age of 60 and I

have five more years to go. So as long as I am physically and mentally fit I

will continue to add value to the company," he added.






For the next quarter, the company predicts a flat if not negative growth as
against the previous quarter with income from software and products expected at

Rs 636 crore to Rs 660 crore. Infosys expects to finish the fiscal with an

income of between Rs 2,560 crore to Rs 2,584 crore from software services and

products.