TCS Q3 profit up 23 p.c, meets forecast

MUMBAI, INDIA: Tata Consultancy Services Ltd, India's top software services exporter, reported a 23 per cent rise in quarterly profit, meeting market estimates, as it won new outsourcing orders and a weaker rupee boosted margins.

TCS, a unit of the salt-to-steel conglomerate Tata Group, said consolidated net profit rose to 28.87 billion rupees in the fiscal third quarter that ended December 31 from 23.46 billion rupees a year earlier.

That compares with an average forecast of 28.9 billion rupees in a Reuters poll.

India's showpiece $76 billion IT industry gets more than 90 per cent of its revenue from providing technology services to overseas clients and counts the United States and Europe as its biggest markets.

Shares in TCS, valued at more than $42 billion, closed down 0.5 per cent at 1,103.95 rupees ahead of the results, while the overall market rose 1.7 per cent. Infosys, India's No. 2 software exporter, gained 0.8 per cent.