India's Infosys keeps on growing

Infosys expects sales to top $1bn this year

Profits have jumped by one-third at Infosys, as India's largest listed software company benefits from overseas firms seeking low-cost outsourcing.

The Bangalore-based firm reported a profit of 3bn rupees (£40m; $66.3m) in the three months to end-September, and said it was on track for earnings growth of 25% for this year as a whole.

But it warned that India's strong currency could start to dent its attractiveness for foreign firms, and therefore also perhaps Infosys's performance.

"The key challenge is obviously how the rupee is going to pan out," Mohandas Pai, the firm's chief financial officer, told CNBC Television.

"The rupee has gone up quite a lot in the past six months and that is a concern."

Growing up

Infosys, which has tended to remain more profitable than rivals Wipro and Satyam Computer Services, said revenue was set to exceed $1bn this year.

The company is in the throes of rapid expansion, pushing itself out into international markets in competition with global software services giants such as IBM and Accenture.

During the second half of this year, Infosys plans to hire 3,000 more staff, taking its payroll to more than 20,000.

But not all analysts were delighted with the results, pointing out that the profit figure was achieved by a substantial contribution from treasury income - book-keeping gains from dealings in foreign exchange and other non-core activities.

After a 35% share-price rise in the past three months, Infosys has "very little upside", said Chetan Shah of Quantum Securities.