The Hindu Business Line : Four top Infy clients hike billing rates

Aetna Inc and Goldman Sachs are among the four clients who have effected a price hike, sources said. The other two clients include a major bank and a retailer.

The hike is to the extent of up to five per cent for different clients. Infosys has also seen good ramp up from some of these clients, sources said. It could not be ascertained whether the hike in billing rates was for the new projects from these clients or for the existing ones.

"We cannot comment on client contracts," said an Infosys spokesperson when asked about the price hike. Infosys had earlier said that it was seeking an up tick in pricing with several of the new customers signing deals at 4 to 5 per cent higher than average prices. The company also expected some "fine tuning" on pricing with existing clients that were coming up for renegotiations.

However, the hike in prices by few of the top clients of Infosys may not materially alter the average pricing at this point of time. "This could just be sending signals that pricing upside is back after almost two years of stable pricing regime," said an analyst.

The price hike seem to be coming at a time when rupee has started appreciating against the dollar again. The rupee, which was at 46 against the dollar as on September 30, has appreciated significantly and closed at 43.82 on Monday.

The hike in billing rates by top clients could soften to some extent the impact on margins that the appreciating rupee is likely to cause, sources said. The rate hike could also augur well for Infosys which expects a lower sequential earnings growth of 7.9 per cent in December quarter, as number of working days are less because of more holidays in the US, sources added.