Wipro sees business picking up this year

BANGALORE: Wipro Ltd. which is recovering from a sharp slowdown, expects business to pick up in the coming months as foreign firms step up outsourcing, its vice-chairman said on Thursday. "We are continuing to see good traction pretty much across the board and I expect that will continue to improve over the next three to six, nine months," Vivek Paul told Reuters in an interview.

Like its rivals, Wipro, India's third-largest software exporter, has seen its growth rates tumble in the past two years as overseas companies applied the brakes on technology spending in the face of a global economic crunch.

Paul heads the export-centred Wipro Technologies division of the diversified Bangalore-based company which serves more than 200 clients, including telecoms equipment maker Nortel and General Motors, with its army of more than 10,000 engineers.

Wipro, which has a market value of around $6.0 billion, has forecast its second quarter (July-September) revenue from its main Wipro Technologies division at $135 million, up more than four percent from the preceding quarter. Wipro's shares were down 3.6 percent at Rs 1,182 in late afternoon trade on the Bombay Stock Exchange, while the main index was off 0.17 percent.

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