India's Wipro net profit up 1.2pc, beats estimates

BANGALORE: India's third-largest software firm Wipro said Wednesday that first-quarter net profit edged up a better than expected 1.2 percent year-on-year as clients increased spending on IT services.

Net profit was 13.35 billion rupees ($300 million) in the three months to June 30, according to international accounting standards, from 13.19 billion rupees a year earlier.

Total revenue for the quarter increased 18.4 percent to 85.64 billion rupees, the company said in a statement to the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Analysts had forecast net profit of 13.23 billion rupees, on revenues of 84 billion rupees.

The outsourcing bellwether, based in India's southern technology hub of Bangalore, added 4,105 employees in the quarter and 49 new clients.

Wipro shares fell 2.7 percent on the benchmark Sensex index to a day's low of 403.8 in early trade after the announcement.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011