Infosys May Miss Rupee Sales Target

By Chitra Somayaji

July 6 (Bloomberg) -- Infosys Technologies Ltd., India's second-largest computer-services provider, will probably miss its local-currency sales forecast because of the stronger rupee, which lowers the value of overseas revenue, Credit Suisse said.

The company will probably post 38.36 billion rupees ($948 million) in sales for the fiscal first-quarter ended June 30, analysts Bhuvnesh Singh and Sunil Tirumalai wrote in a note dated today. That's below the Bangalore-based company's April projection for 38.96 billion rupees to 39.13 billion rupees.

The value of earnings repatriated from the U.S., the software-maker's biggest market, fell after India's currency posted the biggest quarterly gain in more than three decades, appreciating 6.8 percent against the dollar during the three months ended March 31.

Infosys will be able to exceed and raise its forecast in U.S. dollars, the analysts wrote.

For the year, Infosys may cut its earnings forecast to 77 rupees to 80 rupees a share, from an earlier forecast of 80.29 rupees to 81.58 rupees, because of the currency, they said.

Shares of Infosys, which will report results for the quarter on July 11, rose 0.9 percent to 1,934.3 rupees as of 12:08 p.m. on the Bombay Stock Exchange. They have declined 15 percent this year, compared with an 8 percent gain in India's benchmark Sensitive Index.