Paramita Bannerjee's  Instablog

Amidst global and domestic headwinds, the January-to-March quarter earnings of the IT sector saw it's share of ups and downs.

The sector's big four - TCS, Infosys, Wipro and HCL Tech - surprised and shocked the markets with their results. While TCS crossed the USD 10-dollar mark to prove it was India's largest software exporter, Infosys shocked the markets with dismal performance.

On the revenue front, TCS has scored the highest with a jump of 0.4% as opposed to Infosys' fall of 4.8%, HCL Tech's decline of 0.5% and Wipro's fall of 1.3%.

HCL Tech took the cake in profits with a smooth jump of 5.2% versus TCS' jump of 1.6% and Wipro's jump of 1.7% and Infosys' fall of 2.4%.

On the margins front, Wipro and HCL Tech posted flat margin growth whereas TCS' margins are down 155 basis points and Infosys' margins are down 200 basis points.

As far as volumes go, TCS has scored again with a volume growth of 3.3%. HCL Tech is close behind with a volume growth of 2.85%. Wipro lags with a tepid 0.8% growth and Infosys disappoints again with a negative 1.5%.

Looking at the full-year revenues, TCS wins again with a 31% growth versus Wipro's 21.1% and Infy's 22.7%. HCL tech will release its full year numbers next quarter.

Mostly, Infosys and Wipro disappointed the street with a weak guidance. Wipro says the first quarter looks tough, even though it remains optimistic about beating Nasscom's FY13 guidance of 11-14% for the industry. But for Infosys though, matching the full year industry average looks shaky.

For the next year, TCS is the only player that seems surprisingly upbeat, the clear winners being TCS and HCL Tech tying for the first place. Wipro coming in second and Infosys placing last. All eyes are now on Cognizant which will announce of results on May 7.

TCS HCL Tech Infosys Wipro