Paramita Bannerjee's  Instablog

India's top software services exporter Tata Consultancy Services' consolidated net profit for January-March quarter rose 23% year-on-year and 1.6% sequentially to Rs 2,932.4 crore.

Its total income from operations for the fourth quarter was Rs 13,259.3 crore, up 30.5% from a year ago and up 0.5% quarter-on-quarter.

However, EBIT (earnings before interest, taxes) margin for the fourth quarter declined to 27.7% from 29.24% in the Oct-Dec quarter.

The company said pricing has improved 1.3% year-on-year, while volumes rose 4.9% in Jan-March.

TCS' full year (2011-12) revenue crossed USD 10 billion and he also expects FY13 will be a normal year as far as growth is concerned.

TCS plans to hire 50,000 employees in fiscal 2013 and said it is going ahead with an average 8% wage hike in India.

The results are in a sharp contrast with its rival Infosys. The Bangalore-based company had earlier this month missed fourth quarter forecasts and guided for a much lower-than-expected 8-10% US dollar revenue growth in the current fiscal year.

Infosys also said it was not giving pay hikes for now, and would relook at the issue if things improved later in the year.

Industry body Nasscom has projected the IT sector will see a growth of 11-14% this fiscal.

Mid-tier HCL Technologies' had surprised the street with a net profit of Rs 603 crore in its third quarter, up 29% from a year ago, while revenue was up 26% to Rs 5,216 crore.

TCS shares on Monday closed down 2.2% at Rs 1,064.25 on NSE. The results were announced after markets closed.

TCS