Infosys CEO says has 'pretty strong' order pipeline

A broker reacts while trading at a stock brokerage firm in Mumbai February 6, 2008.

BANGALORE (Reuters) - Infosys, India's No.2 software services exporter, has a pretty strong pipeline and expects the number of large order wins in the current quarter to be in line with the previous quarter, chief executive S. D. Shibulal said.

He also said on Monday the company's 100 largest customers had finalised spending plans for 2012 and that their budgets were generally unchanged from the previous calendar year.

"I would at this point maintain that it is flat year-on-year," he said in a telephone interview.

Infosys, the bellwether for the Indian IT services industry, has won orders in the $100 million-$250 million range in the current quarter and may land more such large deals by the time the quarter ends this month, he said.

"Last quarter we had multiple large deal wins. There is nothing telling me at this point that this quarter will be any different. We have quite a few large opportunities in progress and our win ratios are very good," Shibulal said.

Infosys in January said global economic uncertainty weighed heavily on its clients' technology spending decisions, and cut its dollar-sales forecast for the year to March 2013, sending its shares down 8 percent that day.

Even a modest strengthening in the United States, Infosys' biggest market, would thus be positive for the company.

On Monday, analysts at Standard Chartered said that in April Infosys may make a full-year forecast for the next fiscal year that will "surprise" the markets, and raised their rating on Infosys to outperform.

Infosys is looking to build up its presence on the ground in the United States, and plans to open a development center there.

The firm is on track to hire 1,200 people in the United States in the fiscal year that ends this month, and may double U.S. recruitment in the year that starts in April, Shibulal said.

Infosys shares, valued at nearly $33 billion, fell 1.33 percent to close at 2,817.4 rupees in Mumbai on Monday.

(Editing by Tony Munroe)