Indian Infosys posts better-than-expected third quarter profit

By Margarita Snegireva. Infosys Technologies Ltd, India's No.2 software services exporter, beat forecasts with a 25 percent rise in December quarter profit, helped by strong demand from Europe and a tax refund.

Photo: Indian Infosys posts better-than-expected third quarter profit

Infosys, whose clients include ABN AMRO and Goldman Sachs, raised its earnings guidance for the fiscal year to March and said it saw several growth opportunities in a tough business climate, helping its share rise as much as 3 percent.

Infosys Technologies Limited is a multinational information technology services company headquartered in Bangalore, India. It is one of India's largest IT companies, with nine development centers in India and over 30 offices worldwide. Infosys and its subsidiaries employ over 80,501 professionals (as of September 30, 2007). Its annual revenues for the fiscal year 2006-2007 exceeded US$3.1 billion with a market capitalization of over US$30 billion.

Infosys was founded on July 2, 1981in Pune by N. R. Narayana Murthy and six others: Nandan Nilekani, N. S. Raghavan, Kris Gopalakrishnan, S. D. Shibulal, K. Dinesh and Ashok Arora, with Raghavan officially being the first employee of the company. Murthy started the company by borrowing INR 10,000 from his wife Sudha Murthy. The company was incorporated as "Infosys Consultants Pvt Ltd.", with Raghavan's house in Matunga, north-central Mumbai as the registered office.

In 2001 it was rated "Best Employer in India" by Business Today,. Infosys won the Global MAKE (Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises) award, for the years 2003, 2004 and 2005, being the only Indian company to win this award and is inducted into the Global Hall of Fame for the same