Infosys Tops India's Most-Admired Companies
WSJ, 03/11/10
The combination of global recession and rising anti-outsourcing sentiment in the U.S. can't be good for a company that relies on the U.S. and Europe for nearly 87% of its revenue, but Infosys Technologies Ltd. managed to emerge as India's most-admired corporation in The Wall Street Journal's Asia 200 survey.
India's Top 10.
Ranked by average score
1. Infosys Technologies
2. Tata Consultancy Services
3. Tata Steel
4. Larsen & Toubro
5. Hindustan Unilever
6. Maruti Suzuki India
7. Tata Motors
8. Housing Development Finance Corporation Limited
9. Bharti Airtel
10. Wipro
India's information-technology sector was hit hard by the slowdown.
For Infosys, revenue in the 2010 financial year, which ended March 31, was up just 4.8% from a year earlier, compared with 30% growth the previous year. Growth in after-tax profit slipped to 3.8% from 29%. And then there was the U.S. government's decision to increase visa fees for IT workers.
Infosys didn't lobby against the change, but has become more proactive since, said Ashok Vemuri, a senior vice president at the company - trying to "put forth our views of how we can keep the services markets open in a global market."
Meanwhile, the company looks to diversify geographically, and to push beyond its established fields - financial services, retail and energy and utilities - into health care, pharmaceuticals and life sciences.
The first quarter of the current financial year showed improved revenue growth, to 13%, but a 2% drop in net profit. Things seemed to be clicking in the second quarter, with revenue up 24% and net up 13%.
- Reenita Malhotra Hora
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