Infosys Technologies, the IT bellwether, today announced a growth of 25.58 per cent in cash and cash equivalents to Rs 17,388 crore for the quarter ended September 30, 2010. The company's cash and cash equivalents as on September 30, 2010 includes investments in available-for-sale financial assets and its certificates of deposits stood at Rs 17,388 crore as compared to Rs 13,846 crore on September 30, 2009, the company said.

Commenting on this, Infosys Technologies CFO V Balakrishnan said "Our operating margins improved during the quarter while our liquidity position was further strengthened with cash and cash equivalents reaching USD 3.9 billion".

However, he cautioned that the continued global economic uncertainty and extreme currency volatility is a concern for the industry.

The company today announced a growth of 13.15 per cent in its consolidated net profit at Rs 1,737 crore for the second quarter ended September 30, 2010. While, the total revenues during the quarter rose to Rs 6,947 crore during the quarter from Rs 5,585 crore in the same period previous fiscal. Moreover, the company today declared 200 per cent interim dividend of Rs 10 per share as well as 300 per cent special dividend of Rs 30 per share of Rs 5 at par value for its 30th year.

Moreover, the software exporter said that it has increased its head-count by 7,646 during the September 2010 quarter this year as against 14,264 employees that was hired by the company in the second quarter this fiscal year.

The shares of Infosys Technologies currently are trading at Rs 3,091 at 3.05 PM on the BSE, down 2.93 per cent from previous close. The scrip touched an intraday high of Rs 3,249 and a low of Rs 3,085. The total traded volume of the scrip on BSE as of now stood at 4.49 lakh. The BSE Sensex is trading lower by 347.68 points (1.70%) at 20,149.96 while NSE Nifty is down by 104.85 points or 1.70% at 6,072.50.