Indian software firms will continue to face pressure on margins and billing rates in the near term as clients cut costs in a sluggish global economy, the head of the country's largest software services firm said on Friday.

"The industry will continue to be under margin pressure because customers are driven by cost reduction," S Ramadorai, chief executive of Tata Consultancy Services, told a news conference.

Unlisted TCS announced on Friday its revenue for the year to March 2003 grew 19.7 per cent to Rs 5,012 crore ($1.075 billion) from Rs 4,187 crore a year earlier.

The revenue figure does not include numbers from software and computer maintenance firm CMC Ltd which TCS acquired in 2001.

TCS is the first Indian software services company to cross one billion dollars in revenue.

Infosys Technologies, India's second largest software services exporter, had a revenue of $778.4 million last year according to Indian accounting standards, up 39 per cent from a year earlier. Infosys had a work force of over 15,000.

Ramadorai declined to give details about profits at TCS.

He said the company's revenue in the current year to March 2004 would track the 17 per cent growth forecast by industry body National Association of Software and Services Companies for the sector, and said margins would also likely toe industry trends.

TCS, which has over 24,000 employees, serves over 1,000 clients across 53 countries. It is a division of Tata Sons - the holding company for India's second-largest industrial conglomerate.

The firm has been talking of going public for two years. It had been expected to hit the market in the middle of 2003, but officials said on Friday that a timeframe had not yet been set.

Indian software firms have lost much market capitalisation since April when leading firms warned of slowing earnings.