It took Infosys 23 years to reach its first billion dollars; 23 months to reach its second; now, it looks certain to take just 12 to add the next billion.

The services behind that phenomenal rise are largely split between application development (20%), code maintenance (30%), testing (7%) and packaged software implementation (18%). But in its key vertical, the financial services sector, Infosys is also in the applications business: its broad banking package, Finacle, has historically been used by banks in India, the Middle East and Africa, but is now making inroads into the European and Australian banking sectors.

Compared to some of its rivals Infosys has a substantial footprint outside the US where it derives two-thirds of its revenues. Europe now accounts for around 27% of sales and the company has been building up its non-Indian workforce both there and in China. It has already put 150 in place in the Czech Republic with capacity for 500, and recruited 800 people in China.

According to BG Srinivas, head of Infosys for the EMEA region, revenue growth in Europe has been running at around 60% for the last three years.

Back in India, Infosys’ position as the second largest IT services company, gives it a highly positive image among potential recruits. That ‘bluechip’ status results in a significantly greater loyalty than at many of its rivals. While the industry attrition rate hovers at 18%, Infosys boasts that only 13.5% of its staff leave every year.

About one in four of the Bangalore-headquartered company’s 70,000 staff is assigned to customer sites, but their efforts bring in half of Infosys’ revenues. Just over 70% of that is based on time and materials, with the remainder fixed price.

Around 40% of the revenues of its BPO unit, Progeon, comes from Europe, says Srinivas, a business line that is running at an annualised growth rate of 80%. Transaction processing, order management, financial period closing, procurement services, mortgage management and equities research are typical assignments for Progeon’s 2,000 people. Nonetheless, the unit is still small, only bringing in around 5% of revenues 

Its roster of clients includes ABN AMRO, Citibank, Schlumberger and Zurich Bank. Unlike many of its rivals it does not have a cozy relationship with General Electric. That stems from 1995, when a disagreement over fees forced Infosys to walk away from GE contracts worth 25% of its revenues.

Today’s clients are predominantly in the banking, insurance and financial services sector, where 39% of the company’s revenue is derived. Other key verticals include telecoms (18% of revenue), manufacturing (13%) and retail (10%).

It is close to a select group of organisations. Prospective customers need to appreciate that 31% ($1 billion’s worth) of Infosys’ revenues comes from just 10 clients.

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