TCS Q2 profit up 14.7 pc

MUMBAI, INDIA:Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) , India's largest software services exporter, reported a 14.7-per cent rise in quarterly net profit, marginally below estimates as uncertainty in the global economy weighed on new outsourcing orders.

TCS, a unit of the salt-to-steel conglomerate Tata Group, said on Monday net profit for the fiscal second quarter that ended September rose to 24.39 billion rupees ($498 million) in accordance with international financial reporting standards.

This compares with a Reuters poll of 24.77 billion rupees in net profit for the company, whose major clients include Citigroup , General Electric , British Airways , Sony Corp and British insurer Aviva .

Shares in TCS, valued at about $45 billion, closed down 1.2 per cent at 1,120.25 rupees ahead of the result announcement in a Mumbai market that closed 0.3 per cent lower.

Infosys , India's No.2 software services exporter, last week reported a 9.7-per cent rise in second-quarter profit, roughly in line with street estimates, easing investor worries of a sharp slowdown in the outsourcing sector.