Infosys, the second largest IT consultancy in the India, disappointed investors with weak financial performance and an unchanged outlook for the quarter ending in March.

The company posted net profit of 23.69 billion rupees, about $450 million, which is 24 percent more than the 19.06 billion rupees reported in the second quarter of 2011. Analysts’ consensus estimate was 23.71 billion.

Revenue rose 22 percent to 98.58 rupees, barely falling short of the Street’s expectation of 99.51 billion rupees.

The most important update from the earnings call this morning is that Infosys is not changing their revenue outlook for this fiscal year, which amounts to year-over-year sales growth of about five percent.  Infosys excluded the $350 million acquisition of Swedish consultancy Lodestone earlier this year – the firm’s biggest buy to date, which was expected to provide a much needed revenue boost to the bottom line.

Analysts believed that the consultancy will post a guidance of 6 percent, closer to the 8-10 percent growth estimate the company cut in April. Infosys’ stock dropped by as much as 8.5 percent on the Bombay stock exchange as a result of the disappointing disclosure.

The company said that the deal has not yet been finalized and that it will “probably” be calculated into the next guidance in January, but this won’t be all that significant retroactively.

“Bangalore-based Infosys, known for aggressively protecting its profitability, is shaken by the economic troubles in its main markets of the U.S. and Europe, where big companies have reduced their investments in outsourced technology projects,” reports the Wall Street Journal.  “Also, competition for the few projects on offer has become more intense, pulling down margins.”

The earnings call came on the heels of optimistic reports from India’s NASSCOM and several analysts who monitor the outsourcing markets. Enterprise are growing their IT budgets, but at a very slow pace.