Wipro’s Q1 net rises 19% to 1,574 crore

Muted Guidance Disappoints Investors Bangalore: Wipro has gone in the direction that Infosys Technologies has, with its IT services revenue growth in the June quarter proving to be a relative laggard and the company forecasting a marginal increase in growth for the quarter ending September. These combined to push its share price on the BSE down by over 4% during the day even as the broader Sensex rose. It ended the day nearly 3% down at Rs 346.      The IT services revenue in dollar terms was down 1.4%, at $1,515 million, compared to the preceding quarter, worse than Infosys Technologies's drop of 1.1% and TCS's rise of 3.3%. In rupee terms, the figures looked more impressive, as with most Indian IT firms, thanks to the 9% depreciation  of the rupee against the dollar during the last quarter. Wipro's overall revenue, which includes IT, consumer care and infrastructure businesses, was up 24% at Rs 10,653 crore and net income was up 19% at Rs 1,574 crore compared to the corresponding quarter a year ago.      The IT services revenue was up 30% at Rs 8,314 crore, and the IT services earnings before interest and tax was up 24% at Rs 1,744 crore. For Infosys, the revenue in the quarter was up 28.5%, and net profit was up 32.9%, and for TCS, both grew at about 38%.      Wipro's CEO for the IT business T K Kurien said the external situation remained volatile. The company has forecast just a 0.3% to 2.3% increase in dollar revenues for the quarter ending September, compared to the June quarter. Kurien said the India business, which accounts for 8% of the company's revenues, was particularly badly hit because of a sharp decline in capital expenditures. The revenues from India fell 9.9% on a sequential basis in the June quarter. "The India business normally adds 1 percentage point to our overall growth in the second (September) quarter, but we don't see that happening this time," he said. However, Kurien said customer satisfaction measures showed that satisfaction levels had increased among Wipro's big customers in the latest quarter.      He said the company had over the past two quarters established what Wipro calls a 'hunting team' -- sales people with the specific mandate to get new customers from amongst the biggest companies in the world.