MUMBAI, Feb 18 (Reuters) – India’s No. 2 software exporter, Infosys Technologies (INFY.BO).sees a possible 5 percent cut in budgets by its clients in Europe this year, the Financial Express reported on Wednesday, quoting a senior company official.
"We are seeing slowdown in sectors such as energy, utility and pharma," B.G. Srinivas, senior vice president and member of Infosys’ executive council told the newspaper in an interview.
"Every year we survey our top 100 clients and it gives us clarity on each of our clients," he said. "We are assuming it to indicate that at least 5 percent budget cuts could happen this year," he said, referring to the European market.
"We see a few clients coming up with flat budgets."
Srinivas said more European companies were outsourcing jobs to lower-cost countries such as India to beat a recession, but the contracts were not large.
Infosys and other Indian outsourcers are expanding to Europe, the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere to lower their dependence on the United States, their biggest market.
Nasdaq-listed Infosys (INFY.O) expects to increase its reach to 100 new clients in Europe, Srinivas said, adding about 30 percent of its revenue in services for consulting and packaging implementation came from Europe.
Among European countries, the UK was the worst hit, he said. (Reporting by Janaki Krishnan; Editing by Ranjit Gangadharan)