Infosys Raises Sales Forecast, Shrugging Off Downturn Fears

Infosys Ltd. raised its annual sales forecast, remaining upbeat on enterprise clients’ need to upgrade their software and shrugging off fears of a global economic downturn.

(Bloomberg) — Infosys Ltd. raised its annual sales forecast, remaining upbeat on enterprise clients’ need to upgrade their software and shrugging off fears of a global economic downturn.

Infosys said on Thursday it expected revenue to grow between 16% to 16.5% in the year to March, compared with the 15% to 16% growth it projected in October. Analysts on average expect 21% growth.

Sales at Infosys, India’s No. 2 information technology company, and bigger rival Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. swelled over the past two years as global enterprises splurged on software services to meet demand during a pandemic-fueled boom.

That growth in India’s $227 billion outsourcing industry is now cooling as employees return to the office and global recession fears increase. IT services giant Accenture Plc. kept its full-year growth forecast unchanged after its first-quarter bookings missed estimates.

Over the long term, analysts expect companies to continue to adopt more digital workflows to keep with technological shifts in cloud, big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence, bolstering the sales of Bengaluru-headquartered Infosys and its rivals.

Infosys posted a 13% rise in net income to 65.9 billion rupees ($808 million) in October-December. Analysts on average estimated a profit of 64.65 billion rupees. Sales increased to 383.2 billion rupees.

What Bloomberg Intelligence Says

Infosys could achieve fiscal 2023 sales growth in the low double digits in constant currency, fueled by steady cloud demand. Though this figure is lower than 2022’s 19.7%, the slowdown isn’t due to competition but is a function of tougher comparisons and rising recession risk. 

– Anurag Rana, analyst 

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Mumbai-headquartered TCS, Asia’s largest outsourcer, reported an 11% rise in quarterly income, but warned that client sentiment was cooling.

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