Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s largest software exporter, posted an estimate-bursting second quarter results with a 35 per cent rise in net profits, reflecting the continuing good health of the sector.
“All our markets grew. The US, the UK, Europe, Asia-Pacific, India, Latin America, West Asia and Africa… all grew sequentially at a decent level and across all industries. All sectors did well, though the financial services did better than other sectors,” said TCS Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer N. Chandrasekaran.
More clients
The Mumbai-headquartered company, which added three more $100-million clients during the quarter, registered all-round growth across sectors and geographies. The company posted the highest volume growth of 7.3 per cent in nine quarters.
“The company has been outperforming the industry every quarter for the last two years, and it has done this yet again. It has sustained its better performance and improvement in operating metrics, too,” said Dhananjay Sinha, head of research and strategist at Emkay Global Financial Services.
“There has been a benefit of over 300 basis points owing to currency, which we have been able to straightaway capture in the market,” said TCS Chief Financial Officer Rajesh Gopinathan.
Hiring plans
“We are on track with our annual hiring numbers of 40,000-50,000…. We might look at additional hiring but haven’t taken a final decision on it yet,” said TCS Executive Vice-President and Global Head for Human Resources Ajoy Mukherjee.
The company’s employee strength stands at 2.85 lakh.
TCS expects furloughs — companies asking staff to go on temporary leave due to bad economic conditions — to have an impact on its third quarter.
“We are prepared for furloughs, and we are going in tight,” Gopinathan, said.
On Tuesday, ahead of the results, TCS shares touched an all-time high of Rs 2,258.05 on the BSE, before closing at Rs 2,218.15.