While the Infosys management expected to meet only the lower end of its 3-5% revenue growth projection during the third quarter ended December, analysts are predicting the IT bellwether to be a top performer among peers, aided by the falling rupee.

Infosys is likely to lead the pack in terms of volume growth, and may do better than the mid -ange of its guidance, experts feel.

Infosys’ margins are likely to benefit the most from the rupee depreciation amongst the top-tier IT firms, considering its thin hedge book position of $742 million, in contrast with TCS’s $2.6 billion and Wipro’s $1.7 billion.

Says Sanjeev Hota, senior analyst, Sharekhan, ?The third quarter is going to be typically soft for Indian IT, but the rupee has been the savior. For Infosys, we expect margins to grow by 315 bps, primarily due to the rupee depreciation.?

The rupee slipped 16% in 2011, its highest annual fall since 2008. It also reached its record low in December.

?Sequential revenue growth for Infosys is expected to be 3.4% in dollar terms, to $1805.6 million, and 13.1% in Indian rupees to R9163.4 crore. Volume growth should be in the range of 4.7%, while net profit should grow by 17.9% to R2246.4 crore.? he added.

According to a research note from Kotak Securities, Infosys’ dollar revenue for the quarter is likely to be close to $1,802 million, registering a growth of 3.2% quarter-on-quarter over $1,746 million in the quarter ended September. IDFC Securities expects revenue to be at $1,817 million, while EBITDA margin is expected to grow by 181 bps to 32.8% compared sequentially to 31%.

In terms of hiring, the company management had stated earlier that it would be recruiting 8,000 employees during the quarter, and that it was on track to achieving this target, despite expectations of a volume slowdown in the coming quarters.

V Balakrishnan, chief financial officer, Infosys, had told FE recently, ?We are going to keep going with our hiring plans, because there will still be growth. Even for next year, we have given around 25,000 campus offers. Our lateral hiring may be fine tuned, but freshers will continue as planned.?

Revenue outlook for the fourth quarter, however, is not upbeat, as analysts are projecting a lowered revenue guidance for the full year. ?We expect Infosys to lower its US dollar revenue growth guidance to 17%-17.5% from the current 17-19%. Cut will be driven by adverse cross-currency movements, and 3QFY12E revenue miss versus upper-end of the guidance,? says Kawaljeet Saluja, an analyst from Kotak Securities.

Ebitda margin and Re EPS guidance, on the bright side, are likely to see an uptick, driven by changed rupee to US dollar assumption.

?We expect Infosys to revise its FY2012E EPS guidance to Rs148-150 at the upper-end from the current R145, an increase of around 2-4%.? adds Saluja.