Wipro reports three-per cent quarterly profit rise

Wipro Ltd, India's third-biggest software company, on Friday said that net profit growth eased to three per cent in the fiscal fourth quarter as it battled the impact of a US economic slowdown.

After-tax profit rose to 8.8 billion rupees (221.71 million dollars) in the three months ended March 31, from 8.561 billion rupees a year earlier, the firm said in a statement. Growth eased from 12 percent in the third quarter.

The market had expected Wipro to report net profit of as much as 8.9 billion rupees for the quarter. The Bangalore-based company's fourth-quarter revenue expanded 32 per cent to 57 billion rupees.

Wipro and other Indian software firms are faced with a decrease in the technology budgets of US companies in the wake of the credit crunch in the world's biggest economy.

"The global economic outlook has changed significantly since the beginning of this calendar year," Wipro Chairman Azim Premji said. "It poses challenges and at the same time, opens up new opportunities.

"Given the uncertainty in the environment we remain cautious but resilient."

Chief financial officer Suresh Senapaty said that the company expected clients in the US, which accounts for two-thirds of the revenue earned by Indian software firms, to send more work to India to cut costs as they come to grips with the US slowdown.

"We expect more and more offshoring as the uncertainty disappears," Senapaty said.

For the quarter ending June, Wipro expects revenue from its information technology business to reach 1.06 billion dollars, from 779.1 million dollars a year earlier.