Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation reported impressive numbers for the third quarter with net profit rising by 11 per cent and revenues shooting up 32 per cent. In the process, Cognizant put it past Wipro for the second consecutive quarter in the revenue sweepstakes.
Cognizant reported revenues of $1.6 billion in the quarter ended September 30 against Wipro's revenue of $1.47 billion from IT services. Net profit rose to $227 million from $204 million in the same quarter last year.
TCS and Infosys are the top two Indian IT service providers with Cognizant taking the third position. Though Cognizant is a US-based company, nearly 75 per cent of its employees are located in India providing software, consulting, and business process outsourcing services to global clients. Globally, the company ended the quarter with nearly 1.3 lakh employees.
Looking at the current business trend, Cognizant expects revenue for the full year to be $6.11 billion, up at least 33 per cent when compared with 2010.
Despite the macro-economic uncertainties in global markets, clients invested in technology to improve operational efficiency and business transformation. Growth during the quarter was broad-based across all portfolios of industries, services and geographies, Mr Francisco D'Souza, President and CEO of Cognizant, was quoted in a press release issued by the company.
56 new clients
In a conference call with global analysts to discuss the financial numbers, Mr Gordon Coburn, Chief Financial and Operating Officer of Cognizant, said the company added 56 new customers to end the quarter with a total of 777 customers.
Cognizant hired 12,000 employees, including around 4,000 from the CoreLogic India acquisition done in July. Out of the total hiring, 52 per cent was done directly from colleges and the rest were experienced professionals from other companies.
Referring to employee attrition, Mr Coburn said that at 13.4 per cent (out of 100 employees, 13.4 left the company) it was one of the lowest in the industry. The attrition includes all departures, including the business process outsourcing, and employees in the training programme.