India's TCS Q2 rises 13% on US, European deals
India's biggest outsourcing firm Tata Consultancy Services Thursday reported a 13.6 percent rise in quarterly net profit from a year ago on strong demand from clients in North America and Europe.
The Mumbai-based company, commonly known as TCS, said its outlook was bright and that the firm would continue to invest in building its business.
TCS said net profit for the second financial quarter, ending September 30, rose to 52.88 billion rupees ($854.97 million) from 46.54 billion rupees a year ago.
"Driven by strong volumes and robust utilisation rates, this has been a quarter of steady, consistent performance," TCS chief executive N. Chandrasekaran said in a statement.
The firm inked eight large deals in the July-September quarter and the prospect of more was "strong with good opportunities across all sectors of the economy", Chandrasekaran told reporters.
TCS's chief financial officer Rajesh Gopinathan said the firm "remained focused on supporting business growth by optimising operations and maintaining margins".
The firm said it had hired 20,350 people in the last quarter, takings its employee base to 313,757 people.
India has become a back office to the world as companies, especially in developed nations, have subcontracted work to firms such as TCS, taking advantage of the country's skilled English-speaking workforce.
The flagship industry has made India a top business destination by offering software development and information technology, engineering and design and other services.
Last week, Infosys, India's second-largest software services exporter after TCS, reported its second-quarter net profit jumped 29 percent to 30.96 billion rupees from a year earlier.
The company maintained its forecast of a nearly 7 to 9 percent rise in revenues in the 2014-15 financial year, suggesting that tough times for the firm—and possibly for the sector—were ending.
© 2014 AFP
