Infosys expects dollar sales drop

Infosys Technologies Ltd forecast its first annual drop in dollar sales as customers pare orders during the global recession, sending shares of the Indian software-services provider to their biggest slump in five years.

Revenue in the year ending March 31 will fall 3.1 percent to 6.7 percent to range between $4.35 billion and $4.52 billion, Bangalore-based Infosys, India's second-largest software-services provider, said yesterday.

"The forecast doesn't appear to be very good," said Viswanathan Vasudevan, who helps manage $250 million, including Indian technology stocks, at Aquarius Investment Advisors Pte in Singapore. "The company has been known to be conservative in giving their annual guidance and I believe they are definitely playing it safe given the global recession."