NIIT Ltd, the leading IT education provider, has posted a massive drop of 89.9 per cent in profits for the last quarter of fiscal 2012-13 at Rs 3.83 crore, against Rs 43.27 crore posted during the corresponding period the previous year.
Depressed market sentiments in the IT sector has hit IT education business, which forms a major part of NIIT’s offerings, thus affecting the company’s revenues, NIIT Chief Executive, G. Raghavan, said. IT companies also have a decreased intake.
He added the company has actually grown in all business verticals except Career Building Solutions.
According to Raghavan, the decline in enrolment to IT courses was visible throughout the year. He said while in the fourth quarter the decline was 8.2 per cent, for the previous three quarters of fiscal 2012-13, the drop had been 19 per cent.
However, enrolment in banking courses increased 48 per cent during the last quarter of 2012-13.
The company’s net profit for the fiscal also saw a huge drop of 76.17 per cent at Rs 26.25 crore from 110.16 crore recorded in 2011-12.
However, recently, NIIT has been diversifying into non-IT courses as well, such as banking and finance. Raghavan also said with this move the company’s revenues would become less vulnerable to IT sector.
Dividend
NIIT’s Board has also proposed a dividend of 80 per cent for the financial year 2012-13.
The company’s stocks closed 2.78 per cent lower at Rs 21 apiece on Thursday.