Infosys on Wednesday disappointed as it reported a lower-than-expected 12 per cent rise in net profits for the fourth quarter ended March 31 even as employee attrition inched up.

The company posted a net profit of Rs 5,686 crore compared with a profit of Rs 5,076 crore in the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Analysts were expecting the Bangalore-based company to report a net profit of Rs 5,900 crore.

Infosys also fell short of revenue forecasts made by brokerages at Rs 32,276 crore compared with Rs 26,311 crore in the year-ago period. The Street was expecting it to clock revenues of around Rs 32,700 crore.

Employee attrition at Infosys also rose to 27.7 per cent in the January-March period, up from 25.5 per cent in the preceding three months and 10.9 per cent in the same period of the previous year. Experts feel that a rise in attrition is not good news as it would force the company to raise wages which could dampen margins.

For the current fiscal, Infosys forecast that its revenues will grow 13-15 per cent in constant currency terms, which is in line with expectations and also reflects the conservative view that it often takes at the beginning of a financial year. In the past, the company has often revised such guidance upwards. It also expects the operating margins to come between 21-23 per cent in 2022-23.

Salil Parekh, MD & CEO, said that the year was exceptional for Infosys as its revenues rose 19.7 per cent in constant currency terms which was the fastest in 11 years. He added that the year was also marked by the company gaining market share and building leadership in cloud & digital services as it worked closely with clients on their transformation agenda.

“Our sustained momentum in 2021-22, large deal wins, and robust deal pipeline and client confidence in our capabilities gives us comfort to provide a guidance of 13-15 per cent in constant currency terms.

“With the pace of digital transformation accelerating across industries we see robust demand environment and immense potential to partner with our clients. Our strategy launched four years ago has served us well and we have delivered industry leading growth,’’ Parekh said.

During the quarter, while digital revenues accounted for 59.2 per cent (58.5 per cent in preceding quarter) of the total revenues, financial services showed a constant currency growth of 14.1 per cent.

Other verticals like retail, communication and energy also fared well by posting growth of 16.5 per cent, 29.2 per cent and 17.8 per cent over the previous year.

The year saw Infosys ending with 3,14,015 employees as against 2,59,619 in the year ago period and 2,92,067 on a sequential basis. The company added that it hired 85,000 freshers across India and globally and in this year, it will look to hire at least 50,000 freshers.