Bangalore, Apr 13 (PTI): Information technology (IT) major Infosys on Friday posted 27.4 per cent rise in Q4 profit but could not meet its own revenue estimates for the fourth quarter ended March 31, and has projected below-average growth for this fiscal by forecasting tough times ahead for the entire sector.

Infosys said the challenging global economic scenario was taking a toll on technology budgets of the clients, which could adversely affect IT companies this fiscal, 2012-13, after the difficult time seen last quarter.

The stock markets were disappointed by Infosys Q4 results as well as the guidance figures for this fiscal, and the company's shares tanked by over 12 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The full-year results for the fiscal 2011-12 also missed the expectations.

Infosys' consolidated net profit rose to Rs 2,316 crore for the fourth quarter of 2011-12, from Rs 1,818 crore in the year-ago period. However, it was down 2.4 per cent from the October-December quarter.

Revenues rose 22 per cent to Rs 8,852 crore for the fourth quarter, from Rs 7,250 crore in the year-ago period.

In dollar terms, the company was unable to meet even the lower end of its revenue guidance of $ 1,806 million-1,810 million for Q4 FY'12 as revenues stood $ 1,771 million.

For the year ended March 31, Infosys' consolidated net profit was Rs 8,316 crore, up 21.88 per cent from 2010-11, while revenue rose 22.66 per cent to Rs 33,734 crore.

“We have had a very difficult quarter, it has been a challenging quarter...We saw contract delays, delays in some of the anticipated ramp-ups which we had planned and ramp downs in quite a few accounts, especially in financial services and in North America,” Infosys Chief Exceutive Officer (CEO) and Managing Director S D Shibulal said.

Infosys, whose earnings estimate is regarded as the benchmark for the software industry, gave lower-than-expected revenue guidance of $ 7,553 million-7,692 million, representing a full-year growth of 8-10 per cent.

This is lower than industry body Nasscom's estimate 11-14 per cent growth estimate for the Indian software services industry in FY'13.

'The guidance reflects the challenging macro scenario which Infosys is facing. We also understand that, a part of the projected under-performance v/s the industry is due to the strategy of not chasing low-margin business,” Kotak Securities Head of Fundamental Research Dipen Shah said.

Infosys, however, said that its guidance is reflective of the challenging global environment.

”The year ahead looks challenging for the IT industry with slow recovery in the global markets...Most budgets are flat or marginally down. While there is visibility on the budgets, we are not getting visibility into the spends specially in the financial services sector,” Shibulal said.

Infosys' larger rival Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) will announce its results on April 23, while HCL Technologies will come out with its financial figures on April 18 and Wipro on April 25.

Infosys sparked concerns for the $ 100 billion Indian IT sector, which is not only facing slow demand but also stiff competition from global giants like IBM and Accenture.

Though domestic outsourcers have benefitted from overseas clients offshoring work to optimise costs, but uncertain global economy, sovereign debt concerns in the euro-zone and anti-outsourcing voices have triggered worries about growth.

Indian IT firms get more than 80 per cent of their revenues from the US and Europe.

Infosys has announced a final dividend of Rs 22 a share for fiscal 2012 and a special dividend of Rs 10 a share on account of completion of 10 years of its Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) operations.