Infosys Technologies Ltd, India's second largest software company, Friday reported a 17.3% higher first quarter net profit on 12.7% growth in revenues, and said it sees its full year revenues between Rs214.2 billion to Rs217.5 billion.

For the quarter to end-March, the software company said its net profit rose to Rs15.3 billion from Rs13 billion while total revenues increased to Rs54.7 billion from Rs48.5 billion, a year ago.

 

"We believe that in the short term the global economic environment will continue to be challenging. We are working closely with our clients to help them navigate the downturn," chief executive and managing director S Gopalakrishnan said.

The company said it expects its full year revenues to be between Rs214.2 billion to Rs217.5 billion, a year-on-year decline of about 1.3% and earnings per share (EPS) of about Rs94.59 and Rs96.00, a decline of 9.6%.

 

Earlier in April, the company had projected full year revenues of Rs220.7 billion to Rs229.3 billion and EPS of Rs96.7 to Rs101.2.

 

“The global currency markets continue to be volatile. During the quarter, the rupee appreciated against the US dollar,” said V Balakrishnan, chief financial officer. “We continue to focus on margins while making the right investments to accelerate growth,” he added.

 

On a quarter-on quarter basis, however, Infosys' net profit declined 5.3% to Rs15.3 billion compared with Rs16.1 billion in January-March quarter.

 

During the quarter to end-March, Infosys and its subsidiaries added 27 new clients, however the company's employee strength declined by 945 to 103,905. - Yogesh Sapkale [email protected]