Infosys, Cognizant and UST Global amongst those shortlisted by Wal-mart

MUMBAI, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc (WMT.N), the world's largest retailer, has picked three IT vendors including India's Infosys Technologies (INFY.BO) for multi-year contracts worth over $600 million, the Business Standard said.

The other vendors are Cognizant Solutions (CTSH.O) and UST Global, the newspaper said, citing an unidentified source close to the development.

Initially the three vendors are expected to earn 2.5 billion to 3 billion rupees ($54 million-$65 million) each annually, which will rise as Wal-Mart increases outsourcing more work.

Infosys and Cognizant, which will provide application development and support, are expected to get a larger share of the contract, the paper said.

UST will be responsible for testing these applications, it said.

"What is more important is that these three vendors have now got a ticket to be in the club of Wal-Mart's list of preferred vendors which will help them in growing this account in the long run," the paper quoted the source as saying.

"We do not comment on market speculation," a spokeswoman for Infosys told Reuters.

Wal-Mart's media relations director, John Simley, said in am emailed reply to the paper: "We have a large and growing business and productive relationship with many Indian companies. We do not comment on speculations about the nature of any business relationship."