Two of India's biggest software firms -- Infosys and Mahindra Satyam -- have been outbid by smaller, niche rivals QuEST and Cades for an outsourcing contract potentially worth over $300 million from the world's largest commercial plane maker, Airbus.

According to at least three people involved with the discussions, Airbus plans to outsource more design projects for its 380, A350 and A320 series of planes to vendors based in India to slash costs by up to 40% and focus better on competing with rivals such as Boeing.