Stock watch: 3I Infotech

3i Infotech could be a good scrip to keep an eye on .The stock in yesterday's subdued market was up 4.18 per cent to close at Rs 127.40 after hitting the day's high of Rs 131.80. It closed at Rs 121.70 on Friday.

More than 12.8 lakh shares were traded yesterday at BSE. The stock in the last one week has appreciated by nearly 13 per cent on strong buying in anticipation of an overseas acquisition.

The company is planning to recruit more people in the current year and is planning to concentrate on emerging markets to promote its core banking software, says an analyst from a domestic broking firm.

For fiscal 2006, the company anticipates a growth in revenue between 25 per cent and 30 per cent, with net margins of 13-15 per cent. The company has repaid high-cost debt and is expected to use part of the IPO money for overseas acquisition, said a broker.

3i Infotech, formerly known as ICICI Infotech, provides software services and products mainly to the banking, financial services and insurance sectors.

Its services include network design, systems integration, legacy migration, application development, training, support and consulting.

It also offers a variety of outsourced services addressing tasks such as business process management, application development and support.

The company has also entered into a marketing alliance with Orlando-based Axena Inc to provide and implement the SOAx toolkit across Europe, Africa, Middle East and Asia-Pacific regions.