India's Infosys pursuing deals worth $1 billion

KOLKATA (Reuters) - Infosys Technologies (INFY.BO), India's No. 2 software services exporter, is pursuing 12 to 15 deals worth $1 billion in this quarter, its chief executive said, amid hopes of a revival in outsourcing business momentum. "Typically in a quarter we have 12-15 deals in the pipeline and it continues to remain the same in the current quarter," S. Gopalakrishnan told reporters on the sidelines of an industry conference.

Hopes of a pickup in outsourcing demand, hit by the economic downturn, has soared after major Indian software services firms such as Infosys and sector leader Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS.BO) smashed street estimates in their April-June earnings.

But export-driven outsourcers remain uncertain about a near-term earnings rebound, with Infosys forecasting its first annual revenue fall for the year to March 2010 on demand for fee cuts by its overseas clients.

Gopalakrishnan said pricing would remain under pressure for some time, and that Nasdaq-listed Infosys (INFY.O) was eyeing acquisitions in Japan, Australia, Latin America and Europe to boost slowing growth.

"We are looking at companies which are 10 percent of our revenues," he said. "You can say we are looking at companies with revenues in the range $450-$500 million."

Companies such as Infosys, Tata Consultancy and third-ranked Wipro (WIPR.BO) have been expanding into new markets to reduce their focus on the United States, which brings in more than half their revenue.

Separately, Wipro Chief Financial Officer Suresh Senapaty said the company was also looking at similar regions as Infosys for acquisitions.

"We are looking at companies with revenues of around $30 million, but there's no upper cap," he said, adding Wipro was pursuing some outsourcing deals, mostly in the government sector, in India.

India's software and services exports are seen rising 4 to 7 percent in the year to March 2010, sharply slowing from past years' robust growth on sluggish demand for outsourcing services, an industry body said last week.

Shares in Infosys, which has a market value of about $25 billion, ended up 2.5 percent at 2,094.55 rupees and Wipro rose 3.3 percent to 498.05 rupees, outperforming the main Mumbai market .BSESN that closed 0.5 percent higher.

(Reporting by Niladri Bhattacharya, Writing by Janaki Krishnan; Editing by Ranjit Gangadharan)