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Infosys set to ride outsourcing tide

India's second-largest software services exporter, Infosys Technologies Ltd, said on Tuesday that it was likely to gain from a trend of global companies stepping up outsourcing.

The software giant, which caters to about 300 clients, including Citigroup and ING Group, is looking at signing bigger contracts and focusing on key clients, company officials told analysts at an annual investors' meet.

"The number of large firms using offshore providers will grow by 50 per cent in the next two years," said Basab Pradhan, Infosys' US-based global head of sales, quoting a survey by technology research firm Forrester.

Forrester had surveyed 45 information technology executives at companies with a revenue of more than $1 billion and which were doing business with technology service providers, Infosys said.

"In this market, Infosys is also well-positioned to compete for the large offshore outsourcing initiatives," Pradhan said.

"As clients reduce the total number of external consultants, offshore providers today benefit from a larger share of the pie."

Bangalore-based Infosys, which has more than 11,000 employees, mostly based in India, provides technology consultancy and does project work using the country's cheap but skilled software workforce.

Like that of its rivals, Infosys' revenue growth tumbled in the past year to March as foreign firms cut back on technology spending.

The company's profit growth also slowed last year, to 30 per cent, after nearly doubling in each of the previous five years.

Nasdaq-listed Infosys expects profit to rise 16 to 19 per cent in dollar terms this year and revenue to increase 17 to 20 per cent -- in line with its main rivals' growth rates.

Infosys' shares ended down 1.58 per cent at Rs 3,422.55 at the Bombay Stock Exchange, whose main index fell 0.82 per cent.

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