Published & Updated as on - 2010-05-13
BANGALORE:
Infosys Technologies, India's No 2 software services exporter, forecast
stronger-than-expected annual revenue growth of 16-18 percent, noting that a
pick-up in global technology spending was improving demand for outsourcing.
During FY-11, the company plans to recruit 30,000 people. Last year, Infosys started
with 18,000 and ended up with 27,000.
S D Shibulal, Chief
Operating Officer of Infosys said, "We have announced a wage hike --
probably one of the best we have ever done -- 13 to 17 percent offshore and 2
to 3 pct on site.
Shibulal said that the global economic
environment continues to be challenging, but customers are starting to take
decisions. "Majority of the customers have closed their budget. They
believe that they will invest in the short term, cautiously though," added
Shibulal.
"Communication service provider continues to
lag behind. I think that is the only vertical where we are seeing some
weakness," said Shibulal.
The company added 47 clients
during the fourth quarter (Q4) of FY 2010, as against 32 in the third quarter
and 37 in the same period year ago.
It proposed to pay a
final dividend of Rs.15 per share or 300 percent on par value of Rs.5 per share
for fiscal 2009-10.
Shibulal said, "Pricing will remain
stable. This year, our revenue productivity has actually come down by 4 percent
and for the quarter by 1.5 percent. Most of the pricing re-negotiations we
believe are behind us. There are some sporadic pricing re-negotiations. For the
year, we have taken flat revenue productivity. That means we don't anticipate
any changes in the pricing."
Infosys, which develops
technology applications, designs supply chains and provides back-office
services, said that for the entire fiscal (FY 2010), consolidated income grew
4.84 percent YoY to Rs 22,742 crore (Rs 227 billion) from Rs 21,693 crore (Rs
217 billion).
Source: ET 13/4/10
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