Infosys Technologies Ltd, India's largest listed software services exporter, said on Thursday its quarterly net profit rose 23 per cent, aided by growing outsourcing business, but the result fell short of market expectations.

Bangalore-based Infosys, the first major software firm to kick off the earnings season, reported profit of Rs 259 crore (Rs 2.59 billion) or diluted earnings per share of Rs 38.5 in the fiscal fourth quarter ended March 31.

That compared with a profit of Rs 210 crore (Rs 2.10 billion) or Rs 31.4 a share in the year-ago period.

A Reuters poll of 14 brokerages had forecast a median net profit of Rs 275 crore (Rs 2.75 billion) on sales of Rs Rs 1,017(Rs 10.17 billion).

Revenue at Infosys, the showpiece of India's low-cost software revolution, rose 50 per cent to Rs 1,020 (Rs 10.20 billion).

Infosys was expected to give a cautious outlook for the new fiscal year. Infosys' prospective customers from its prime market in the United States might delay making decisions amid uncertainties over the economic fall-out of the war in Iraq, analysts have said.

The company set a final dividend of Rs 14.50 per share.

Shares of the company, which has 300 clients globally including Bank of America and American Express and employs 14,000 people, have fallen 11 per cent in the year to date, compared with an 18 per cent drop in Bombay's Infotech index.