India’s second biggest software services company Infosys Technologies Ltd reported a 14 percent rise in its third-quarter net profit missing analysts expectations, sending its shares down by more than 4 percent.

The company posted a net income of 17.8 billion rupees ($395 million) for the three-month period ended December 31, 2010 from 15.6 billion rupees a year ago, compared with both Bloomberg and Reuters estimates of 18.2 billion rupees.

The company’s revenue rose 24 percent to 71.1 billion rupees compared with analysts expectations of 71.8 billion rupees.

The weaker economic recovery in developed markets coupled with high unemployment and risk of sovereign default could impact industry growth, said Kris Gopalakrishnan, chief executive of Infosys in a statement.

Infosys, which counts Goldman Sachs , BT and BP among its clients, expects its dollar revenue to rise 25.7 to 26.1 percent in the year ending March, below analysts expectations of 27 percent to 28 percent.

The company said it expects earnings per share in the fourth quarter to range from 31.06 rupees to 31.28 rupees, which is below the 33.5 rupees-a-share average estimate compiled by Bloomberg.

Infosys, which designs and builds software programs, maintains computers and provides back-office support for clients including Microsoft Corp, added 40 new clients in the quarter ending with a total of 612 customers, its strongest pace of quarterly customer addition in three quarters.

But revenue contribution from the United States, its biggest market, fell to 64.7 percent from 65.8 percent.

Customers in Europe accounted for 22 percent of sales, barely changed from the prior period.

Shares of Infosys closed at 3212.3 rupees, down 4.8 percent on Thursday on the Bombay Stock Exchange, dragging the benchmark Sensitive Index down by 351 points.

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