Infosys September quarter profit misses analyst estimates; takes visa charge

BANGALORE (Reuters) - Infosys, India's second-largest software services exporter, posted a quarterly profit which missed analyst estimates, and raised the lower end of its revenue guidance for the fiscal year ending in March.

Consolidated net profit for the three months to September 30 was 24.07 billion rupees compared with 23.69 billion rupees in the same period a year earlier, the Bangalore-based company said in a statement Friday.

That missed the 26.26 billion rupees average of analyst estimates according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S, though the earnings suffered from a 2.19 billion rupee provision for "visa related matters."

Infosys, which trails market leader Tata Consultancy Services by revenue, counts among its customers Bank of America Corp , BT Group PLC , Procter & Gamble Co and Volkswagen AG .

As expected, Infosys, one of the relatively few companies in India to give guidance, narrowed the range for its fiscal year revenue growth outlook to 9-10 percent, from 6-10 percent previously.

The forecast compares with 12-14 percent for the sector, according to an estimate by the National Association of Software and Services Companies.

(Reporting by Harichandan Arakali; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Tony Munroe)