The challenging economic environment has seen IT behemoth Wipro post its third consecutive quarter-on-quarter

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decline in IT services revenue, but still registered a 10 per cent year-on-year (YoY) revenue gro-wth. The company gave out a muted guidance for the second quarter.

The firm clocked total revenue of Rs 4,825 crore from its flagship IT services business during the first quarter ending June, but slipped sequentially by 2.2 per cent in rupee terms. IT services revenue for Q1 in dollar terms was $1.033 billion, a sequential decline of 1.3 per cent and year-on-year decline of 3.3 per cent.

Profit before interest and tax (PBIT) for IT services stood at Rs 1,078 crore, a YoY growth of 17 per cent. The company’s net profit rose 12 per cent at Rs 1,016 crore.

Wipro chairman Azim Premji said, “We are starting to see the first signs of stability as ramp downs start to taper off and volumes stabilise. We are adapting ourselves to the new reality with continued investments in value creation and driving significant operation-

al productivity.”

As for the guidance, the company provided a cautious and flat forecast, saying the business will be in the range of $1,035 million to $1,053 million for the second quarter ending September. IT services account for 76.9 per cent of the firm’s total income.

IT analyst from Kotak Securities Dipen Shah said, “The Q2 guidance and management commentary suggest relative comfort wi-th respect to demand and early signs of pickup in certain verticals.”

Meanwhile, the consolidated revenue of the group — which includes IT products, consumer care & lighting — increased by 5 per cent YoY to Rs 6,274 crore while profit after tax (PAT) grew by 12 per cent YoY to Rs 1,016 crore.

According to joint CEO Girish Paranjpe, pricing pressures remain but are likely to stabilise in the next couple of quarters.

T K Kurien, president of Wipro Consulting, global programmes and strategic initiatives, said the pipeline for large deals was pretty good. “I expect more deal conversions in current quarter,” he said.