BENGALURU: Information technology major Wipro on Tuesday reported a marginal increase in profit at Rs 2,267 crore for the January-March 2017 quarter on the back of better operational performance. Gross revenues grew 2.2 per cent sequentially to touch Rs 13,988 crore.
The company has also announced a proposal for share buyback, whose details will be announced in July.
“We are confident that the recovery in energy and utilities and our demonstrated strength in digital will help us improve our growth trajectory in the current fiscal year,” said Abidali Z Neemuchwala, CEO, Wipro.
According to top executives of Wipro, the company is planning a reduced dependency on visas for offshore projects. Wipro is likely to ensure 50 per cent of locals as part of the team in US in the April-June quarter. This comes at a time when all the IT firms are looking at creating more jobs locally in their global offices, without having to depend much on H1B visas.
The growth in the IT services segment was driven by a 5.3 percent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) increase in manufacturing and technology and a 4.4 percent QoQ in finance solutions. The company is expected to see revenue in the range of $1,915-1,955 million for the IT services business for the next quarter.
Finance solutions accounts for a majority of the revenues constituting 26 per cent (25.5 percent in the previous quarter), followed by manufacturing and technology at 22.8 percent.
In spite of the conflicts surrounding visa norms and political volatility in the US, the country remains one of the biggest markets for the company and would be of primary concern.
Speaking to Express, Wipro CFO Jatin Dalal said, “If you see full-year growth in constant currency, the US has grown nine per cent and Europe eight per cent.
We are growing in both places and these are our largest markets. Combined, they constituted 75 per cent of our revenue.”
When asked whether the volatile political situation would prompt Wipro to look at other geographies for expansion, Dalal said, “We operate in 57 countries and expansion will be an area of focus. But one has to be clear that for your growth, your biggest markets will be US and Europe and you must continue to grow there and gain market share there.”