Azim Premji

BANGALORE: Wipro Ltd. started fiscal 2006-07 with a bang as its first quarter net profit rose by 45 per cent to touch Rs. 620.40 crore from Rs. 428 crore in the same period a year earlier in a thriving global outsourcing market.

The consolidated revenues for the April-June quarter jumped by 39 per cent to Rs. 3,142.50 crore from Rs. 2,261.90 crore as it added 62 new clients during the quarter. The company earned $539.3 million from global IT services during the first quarter.

Improved price realisations, higher utilisation and continued improvements in BPO profitability helped partially offset the additional investments in sales and marketing and acquisition related pressures on margins and profitability, Suresh Senapathy, Chief Financial Officer, Wipro, said.

Wipro Technologies, the global IT services and products arm of the New York Stock Exchange-listed Wipro vastly contributed to the volume growth in the first quarter by garnering revenues of Rs. 2,450.50 crore that was 42 per cent more than a year ago.

Revenues of Wipro Infotech, the firm's business in India, West Asia and Asia-Pacific grew by 35 per cent from a year earlier to touch Rs. 456.40 crore, while that of Wipro Consumer Care and Lighting rose by 30 per cent to Rs. 176.80 crore.

"Our global IT services business continue to witness broad-based growth across verticals, geographies and service lines. The external environment remains buoyant — we see off-shoring at the centre-stage of IT strategy of global corporations. Looking ahead, for the quarter ending September, we expect revenues from our global IT services business to be around $577 million,'' Mr. Azim Premji, Chairman of Wipro, told reporters here on Wendesday.

During the quarter, Wipro hired 2,693 employees (net), including 409 who came into its rolls as part of acquisition of three firms.

The U.S. continued to be the major market for Wipro contributing 63 per cent of its total revenues followed by Europe (33 per cent) and Japan (three per cent).

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail