Infosys Tech provided marketmen some consolation by saying that it had already presumed pricing pressures in an earlier call on the future and that it was still focused towards an ADR issue.

The brief statement to the National Stock Exchange (NSE) saw the scrip of the second-largest Indian software exporter bounce back from solid losses yesterday, as it rose 1.65% to Rs 2,835 by 10:40 IST. In fact, it had opened subdued today and hit a low of Rs 2,730.05 earlier. Over 1.14 lakh Infosys shares changed hands on BSE thus far.

Yesterday, the scrip of Infosys Technologies lost 6.82% to Rs 2,788.95. In the four prior sessions between 12 and 16 May 2003, the Infosys Tech (ITL) scrip had risen 7.32% to Rs 2,993.15 from Rs 2,788.85. Still earlier, between 7 April and 12 May 2003, it had lost 36.6% from Rs 4,398.90 following the muted guidance from the company for the year ending 31 March 2004.

The company's statement to the NSE today comes in the wake of media reports that a leading client of the company has cut billing rates vis-ą-vis the company's services and products. The company refused to comment on specific clients, however.

Also, there has been speculation that the company's ADR issue may be delayed or dropped altogether. The company has maintained through its response to the NSE that the current status of the ADR issue is that the company has filed the Registration Statement in Form F3 with the Securities Exchange Commission, USA and is awaiting certain statutory approvals. The software bellwether is listed on Nasdaq under the code Infy.

Infosys, like other software exporters, has also been bothered by the strengthening rupee, which has risen Rs 2.14/$, in the last year from its lifetime low of Rs 49.08/$ on 16 May 2003. A weak dollar sets off lower revenue earnings for these companies, putting  pressure on profit margin and making a significant difference to earnings growth in rupee terms.

Earlier, the ITL guidance along with its Q4 and FY 2002-03 results, announced on 10 April 2003, had set off a selling spree in tech stocks. ITL forecast a 11-13% growth in net earnings and a 21-23% rise in revenues on the back of a 27-30% increase in volumes and a 4-6% fall in billing rates for FY 2003-04.

ITL's muted guidance also dragged down the BSE IT sector Index by 27.5% to 1,033.94 on 17 May 2003, from 1,425.67 on 7 April 2003.

For the fourth quarter ended 31 March 2003, ITL registered a 23% rise in net profit to Rs 259 crore (Rs 210.3 crore) on net sales of Rs 1,020 crore (Rs 680.1 crore). This quarterly net profit growth was on the lower side of projections by capitalmarket.com - a 23-33.6% rise in net profit to Rs 259-281 crore and sales of between Rs 980 crore and Rs 1,043 crore, a growth of 44-53.3%.