Wipro joins Infy in the $billion club

BANGALORE: India’s second most valued IT company in market capitalization, Wipro Limited has registered a revenue of Rs5,881 crore for the year ending March 31, 2004. This represents a 36 per cent increase over a year ago period. Profit After Tax (PAT) stood at Rs 1, 032 crore for the fiscal, an increase of 26 per cent against a year earlier.

The company’s last quarter, ended March 31, 2004 revenue increased by Rs1,786 crore, an increase of 44 per cent over the corresponding period last year and PAT stood at Rs 321 crore, representing a increase of 42 per cent.

Along with its rival Infosys, the software and services division of the company, Wipro Technologies clocked $1 billion in revenue for the year. Azim Premji, Chairman of Wipro commenting on the results said "Our combined IT products and services business achieved a significant landmark by recording revenue of $1.2 billion. Revenue from our IT Services businesses alone was $1 billion. During the year, we made significant progress towards our goal of being the preferred provider of comprehensive solutions for our customers; our focus on Innovation was a key enabler for this. Focused strategy coupled with improved execution facilitated by our Quality Initiative, resulted in value for our customers, the benefits of which are beginning to reflect in our results. We will pursue this path relentlessly."

For the first quarter of fiscal 2005, Premji said, "Looking ahead, for the quarter ending June 2004, we expect our revenue from our Global IT Services business to be approximately $292 million."

Wipro Technologies posted a revenue of Rs 4,358 crore for the fiscal year 2004, representing a 43 per cent growth over last year, while its profit before tax stood at Rs954 crore, a increase of 13 per cent year ago.

Vivek Paul, Vice Chairman, said, "Record volume growth coupled with an improving pricing environment led to the third consecutive quarter of double-digit dollar revenue growth resulting in a 51 per cent revenue growth for the year. For the quarter, our technology business continued to rebound with 15 per cent sequential growth, while our IT business maintained its momentum with 8 per cent sequential growth. Service line wise too, our differentiated services, such as Technology Infrastructure Services, Package Implementation and Business Process Outsourcing grew faster than the overall growth rate of our Global IT Services & Products business. This broad-based business traction positions us well to grow in an uncertain environment. During the quarter, the Meta group has ranked Wipro among the top 10 global IT service providers in North American Outsourcing market in its Meta Spectrum report. Coming as it is on the back of other industry recognition such as among the top 10 global IT players in Forrester Wave for transformational capabilities in IT Outsourcing, it is a strong endorsement of our strategy"

The division’s employee number grew to 28,502 from 18,580, a year ago. The additions included, 5,728 in IT services division and 4,194 in IT enabled services division, taking the tally to 19,202 and 9,300 employees, respectively.

The IT services and product business of the company, Wipro Infotech posted a revenue of Rs 976 crore for the year 2003-04, an increase of 16 per cent over a year ago. Its profit before tax grew 42 per cent to touch Rs79 crore. For the quarter ended March 31, 2004, the division recorded a revenue of Rs 367 crore, a growth of 50 per cent over corresponding period last year. Profit before tax grew by 66 per cent to clock at Rs 40 crore.

Suresh Senapaty, Corporate Executive Vice President - Finance said, "During the quarter, better price realization in offshore and onsite projects, an increase in the proportion of revenues from offshore projects, continued operational improvements and proactive hedging strategies collectively helped us mitigate the impact of the rupee’s appreciation against the dollar and improve the Operating Margin in our Global IT Services business."

CIOL Bureau