* Sees FY10 dollar revenue rising 1.8-2.0 percent
* Says outsourcing to gain from recovery
* Q3 net profit falls 3.6 percent to 15.82 bln rupees
* Shares rise in a flat market (Adds details, changes dateline from Mumbai)
MYSORE, India, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Infosys Technologies reported a first-ever drop in quarterly profit on salary hikes and a firmer rupee, but raised its full-year forecast, underscoring a recovery in demand for outsourcing.
India's second-biggest software services exporter, a trendsetter for the industry, expects information technology budgets to be flat in 2010 but is optimistic that outsourcing will gain from a global economic recovery, Chief Executive S. Gopalakrishnan said in a statement.
The firm, which counts Goldman Sachs, BT Group and BP Plc among its clients, expects earnings per share to rise 0.4 percent for the full year, compared with its previous forecast for a 6.7-7.1 percent drop. A global recovery, recent orders and stable prices have boosted the outlook for Infosys and bigger rival Tata Consultancy Services after the world recession hit the sector last year. TCS is due to announce its quarterly results on Friday.
The country's $60 billion outsourcing sector, which manages complex computer networks and maintains technology operations for global firms, has re-started hiring after the downturn and is raising salaries.
Kicking off the sector's results, Nasdaq-listed Infosys holds a news conference on Tuesday at its global training centre in Mysore, about 170 km from its Bangalore headquarters.
The 337-acre campus boasts an 8-lane bowling alley, cricket ground, tennis courts and running track, highlighting the perks offered by big Indian tech firms to retain young jobseekers in a fiercely competitive market where job-hopping is the norm.
But the rupee, which rose 3.4 percent in October-December, the higher salaries and tough competition from firms such as IBM and Accenture are key risks for the sector that earns more than half its revenue from the United States.
Infosys shares, valued at $32 billion after more than doubling in 2009, rose as much as 3.4 percent after the results in a broader Mumbai market that was little changed.
Infosys said its revenue in dollars for the year to March 2010 would rise 1.8-2.0 percent to $4.75 billion to $4.76 billion, reversing its October forecast for a drop of 1.0-1.3 percent.
The company, which develops applications, designs supply chains and offers backoffice services, said October-December net profit fell 3.6 percent to 15.82 billion rupees ($351 million) under the India accounting standard, from 16.41 billion a year ago.
A Reuters poll had estimated a profit of 14.79 billion rupees.
Revenue fell an annual 0.8 percent to 57.41 billion rupees, even as it added 32 new clients in the quarter.
Under the international accounting standard, net profit fell 4.9 percent to 15.6 billion rupees.
The shares rose 13 percent last quarter, matching gains in the sector index and outperforming a 2 percent rise in the broader market. ($1 =45.1 rupees) (Reporting by Sumeet Chatterjee; Editing by Ranjit Gangadharan and Anshuman Daga)