INTERVIEW-India L&T Infotech sees business improving into 10/11

MUMBAI, Nov 18 (Reuters) - Business is picking up for India's L&T Infotech in the second half of the 2009/10 fiscal year and should improve further next year, the chief executive of the outsourcing firm said in an interview on Wednesday.

The unit of leading engineering and construction firm Larsen & Toubro (LART.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) would start hiring again, looking to raise current staffing of nearly 10,000 by up to 10 percent before the end of the fiscal year next March, Sudip Banerjee said.

"It is too early to call a victory, but obviously the signs are much better now than they were three months ago," Banerjee told Reuters.

"We have certainly got many more billed in the last 2-3 months and customers are also asking us to gear up for more. So the next three months are also looking promising."

Banerjee also said it was time to restart planning for an initial public offering of the firm, after it had been put on hold for about a year.

L&T Infotech provides IT services to banking, financial services and insurance, energy and petrochemicals, manufacturing and telecom sectors. Its clients include Chevron (CVX.N: Quote, Profile, Research), Sunoco (SUN.N: Quote, Profile, Research), cement firm Lafarge (LAFP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) and Hitachi (6501.T: Quote, Profile, Research). (Reporting by Bharghavi Nagaraju; Editing by John Mair)