Infosys looking at acquisitions in Japan, Europe

New Delhi, Nov 17 : Despite the global economic slowdown, India's second largest IT exporter Infosys Technologies Monday said it was looking at mergers and acquisitions in Europe and Japan as it would 'accelerate growth'.

"We are looking at acquisitions and have a dedicated team working on it. We do not make an acquisition based on valuation alone, we will invest and acquire in companies which make strategic sense and are able to integrate in that entity properly," Infosys chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director Kris Gopalakrishnan said.

"We had two focus areas to fill a gap in our services like consultancy, business process outsourcing and geography-based acquisitions, typically in Europe and Japan, where with acquisition we can accelerate growth," he added.

He said Infosys wanted to invest in the "right company for the right price".

Gopalakrishnan agreed that the economic situation was challenging and companies working in the non-financial services business were also facing the heat.

"The downturn is global in nature and not just limited to North America. The environment is challenging and the impact is being felt on the whole economy," he said.

Gopalakrishnan, however, said the economic crunch had not affected the company's hiring plans.

Earlier this fiscal, the software major announced it would hire recruit 25,000 new people this financial year.

The company which signed 40 new customers in the last quarter has revised its growth rate prediction to about 15 percent annually.

The CEO said he was not very concerned whether the new US administration led by Barack Obama would introduce protectionist measures, offering tax breaks to American companies which do not outsource jobs, as mentioned in the Democrat leader's campaign manifesto.

"I cannot make any comment on what policies the administration will adopt when Obama takes office in January. However, in the past, we have seen that the mention of outsourcing and job losses during the campaign did not translate into change when new presidents came in," Gopalakrishnan said.

He added that globalisation was one of the key avenues for growth and India could act as the centre of growth and provide opportunities for other economies.

Giving his approval to the bailout package of the US government, he said the global economy would stabilise by the second half of 2010 and then return to current levels of growth.