But they had ambition.
"Even when they were a small company, they had a global vision," said Avinash Vashistha, chief executive of Tholons, a Bangalore-based consulting firm. "The company was never distracted from its vision ... You don't often see that happening here."
The first major break came in 1991, with a contract from Canadian telecommunication equipment maker Nortel Networks, Vashistha said. As the months passed, a few more contracts trickled in, slowly bringing the company into global reckoning.
Still, revenues totaled just US$100 million in 1999, a fraction of its rivals' earnings.
But when the dotcom bubble burst in 2000, it proved a blessing as scores of cost-slashing US companies began shifting software development and back-office work to India, with its low wages and educated workforce.
Between 1999 and 2004, Infosys' revenues grew tenfold, reaching US$1 billion.
With many experts doubting the company could sustain such growth, revenue doubled in the following two years -- now totaling a little over US$2 billion annually.
It didn't always go so well. When Infosys shares were first offered on the Indian stock market in 1993, there were not enough buyers.
But US$1 invested in the company then is now worth US$3,300.
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