One of India' leading software services provider, Infosys Ltd has recorded a stronger than expected net profits for the third quarter of the current financial year.

The Bangalore-based company said that its profit during the third quarter till December 31 was at 23.69 billion rupees compared to 23.7 billion rupees recorded in the same quarter of the previous year. A Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S survey had predicted a net profit of 21 billion rupees. During the quarter, its revenue rose 12 percent to 104.24 billion rupees from 93 billion a year earlier.

Infosys raised its forecast for annual revenues after recorded higher profits in the quarter besides expanding its customer base and signing more contracts with customers. It counts the likes of Bank of America Corp and BT Group among its customers.

The company raised its sales forecast for the whole financial year to $7.45 billion, including $104 million in additional revenue from eh acquisition of Switzerland-based consultancy Lodestone Holdings. The figure predicts an increase of 6.6 percent over the previous year compared to a 5 percent increase estimated earlier.

CEO S. D. Shibulal said, "We continue to gain confidence from a strong pipeline of large deals. We remain cautiously optimistic about the January-March quarter."