Wipro Q2 net at Rs 1285 cr; lags forecast

BANGALORE, INDIA: Wipro Ltd, India's No.3 software services exporter, missed market estimates with a 9.7 percent rise in quarterly profit as salary hikes and currency volatility hit gains from improving demand for outsourcing services.

Wipro, which develops software applications, integrates IT systems and manages call centres, said net profit for July-September rose to 1285 crore rupees ($290 million) under international accounting standards from 11.71 billion reported a year ago. In the first quarter the net profit was Rs 1319 crore.

In a regulatory filing, the IT bellwether said its total revenue for the quarter under review was Rs.7,731 crore (Rs.77.31 billion), an increase of 12 per cent YoY.

As per the International Financial Regulatory System (IFRS), net income is $288 million and total revenue $1.73 billion.

Revenue from its global IT services business is Rs.5,747 crore (Rs.57.47 billion/$1.3 billion).

Analysts had forecast net profit of 1342 crore rupees for Wipro, whose clients include Citigroup, Cisco and Credit Suisse.

Last week, bigger rival Infosys Technologies beat market forecasts with a 13.2 percent increase in profit and Tata Consultancy Services posted a better-than-expected 30 per cent rise on Thursday.

In a regulatory filing, the IT bellwether said Q3 guidance would be in the range of $1.32-1.34 billion, which is $65 million higher than its projection of $1.25-1.28 billion for the second quarter.

Unlike rival Infosys Technologies, Wipro does not give annual guidance for its other business divisions.

(With inputs from IANS)