Paramita Bannerjee's  Instablog

HCL Technologies, India's fourth-largest software services exporter, reported a 28% rise in quarterly net profit, beating expectations, after customers boosted orders to cut operational costs amid the global economic uncertainty.

Consolidated net profit for the fiscal third quarter ended March 31 rose to Rs 600 crore from Rs 468 crore a year earlier, the company said on Wednesday.

HCL follows a July-June fiscal year. Sales rose 26% to Rs 5216 crore.

Vineet Nayar, vice chairman and CEO of HCL Tech said the company has signed USD 2.5 billion worth of deals in the last six months, out of which USD 1.4 billion came from North America.

HCL Tech plans on focusing on the execution of large deals in the near-term, Nayar said adding, "the realisations will remain more or less flat in Q3."

Meanwhile, Anil Chanana, CFO of HCL Tech said the margin improvement is coming from operation efficiencies. "The move to merge financial services with our BPO business has paid rich dividends," he explained.

However, Nayar added that BPO margins will remain at break even levels and will come back to HCL margins only after the current calendar year. "Now is not the time for booking but for good execution," he said.