Infosys down 4 per cent; m-cap plunges by Rs 8,589 cr

New Delhi: Infosys stock fell by nearly 4 per cent today, eroding Rs 8,589 crore from its market valuation, after the company's March quarter earnings fell
short of market estimates.

The IT major's stock declined by 3.86 per cent to end at Rs 931.40 on BSE. During the day, it slumped 4.31 per cent to Rs 927. The stock was the worst performer among the 30-Sensex companies.

On NSE, shares of the company slipped 3.86 per cent to close at Rs 931.40.
Led by the decline in the stock, the company's market valuation tumbled Rs 8,589.57 crore to Rs 2,13,937.43 crore.

On the volume front, 15.53 lakh shares of the company were traded on BSE and over one crore shares changed hands on NSE during the day.

"Infosys March quarter results are lower-than street estimates on the revenue front," Emkay Global said in a report.

The country's second-biggest software exporter today announced plans to return Rs 13,000 crore from its cash pile to shareholders after it reported an almost flat net profit in the March quarter and sales outlook that fell short of estimates.

It will begin to pay 70 per cent of annual free cash flow as dividend compared to a previous policy of sharing up to half its post-tax profit. For the January-March quarter, Infosys reported a 0.2 per cent rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 3,603 crore while revenue grew 3.4 per cent to Rs 17,120 crore.

In 2017-18 (April 2017 to March 2018), the company expects revenue to grow 6.5 per cent to 8.5 per cent in constant currency terms. On a sequential basis, Infosys' net profit fell 2.8 per cent while revenue declined 0.9 per cent.

Weakness was seen in other IT stocks as well, with TCS falling 2.77 per cent, HCL Technologies (2.42 pc), Hexaware Technologies (1.86 pc), Tech Mahindra (1.71 pc) and Wipro (1.20 pc).

Led by the losses in these stocks, the BSE IT index fell by 2.73 per cent to settle at 9,731.01. The BSE Sensex also ended the day 182.03 points lower at
29,461.45.