Wipro Q4 net up 16.73%

Mumbai (PTI): IT major Wipro Ltd on Friday reported 16.73 per cent increase in net profit to Rs 1,728.7 crore for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2013. The firm's net profit stood at Rs 1,480.9 crore in the year-ago period. The consolidated total income of the company rose by 13 per cent to Rs 9,613.1 crore for the January-March quarter in 2013-13 fiscal as against Rs 8,506.1 crore in the same period of 2011-12 fiscal, it said in a filing to the BSE. For the full year, the company's net profit rose by 19.07 per cent to Rs 6,635.9 crore from Rs 5,573 crore in 2011-12. Revenue rose by 17 per cent to Rs 37,685.1 crore, Rs 32,205.5 crore in the previous fiscal. In November 2012, Wipro announced demerging of consumer care and lighting, infrastructure engineering and medical diagnostic businesses into an unlisted firm Wipro Enterprises, effective March 31, 2013. "We have completed the demerger of the 'Diversified Business' effective March 31, 2013 to make Wipro Ltd a pure IT company. We are confident that being a technology focused, will provide a fresh momentum for growth," Wipro Chairman Azim Premji said. Wipro's IT Services revenue rose by 13 per cent to Rs 8,554 crore ($1.57 billion in dollar terms) in the last quarter of 2012-13 fiscal, while the profit from IT services before interest and tax increased by 10 per cent to Rs 1,727 crore ($317 million) during the period. Commenting on the fourth quarter, Wipro CFO Suresh Senapaty said: "The cross currencies have been volatile and impacted our financial performance in the quarter. Excluding the impact of foreign exchange, we have been able to maintain margins on a sequential basis. We have shown significant improvements in cash flow generation for the year." Speaking on the outlook for 2013-14, Senapati said the company's performance in the quarters after the April-June period of the current fiscal will be better as the first quarter of a fiscal is generally weak for the company.

'US immigration bill worrisome' Bangalore (PTI): Wipro has expressed concern over likely procedural impact of proposed immigration reform bill in the United States, which accounts for more than 50 per cent of its IT services revenues. The IT major said compliance to procedures itself will create compliance cost and higher turnaround times, which would fundamentally affect competitiveness. "What we all are worried about is procedural impact that will have on us", ED and CEO of the company's IT business, T K Kurien, said. "It's not so much about cost; the procedure itself has a way of, kind of slowing you down and that's what is worrying", he said. "Compliance to procedures itself will create compliance cost and higher turnaround times, which will fundamentally affect competitiveness". According to the Bangalore-headquartered company, 36 per cent of employees in the US are locals, and Wipro Chairman Azim Premji said this would eventually go up to 50 per cent.