BENGALURU: Indian IT sector giant Wipro Ltd saw a fall of 5.8 percent year-on-year (y-o-y) in net profit, registering Rs 2,114.8 crore, while gross revenues rose 6.4 percent y-o-y at Rs 13,764.5 crore for the quarter-ended December 31, 2016.
The company, which released its results here on Wednesday has seen a sequential growth of 0.6 percent in IT segment revenue. However, it expects a modest increase in revenue for the coming quarter in the IT service business, projected to grow from $1,902.8 million to anywhere between $1,922 million and $1941 million.
The previous quarter saw some uncertainty post the U.S. elections in terms of client investments and the company is expecting an uptake in the same in the coming quarter, Wipro Chief Executive Officer Abidali Z Neemuchwala said.
While the company has hired 4,891 employees this quarter, like other IT companies, Wipro too is riding strong on its plans for automation.
The increase in headcount was because of the addition of some employees to Business Process Services and also as a result of the company’s acquisition of Appirio in November last year. Meanwhile, the company is looking at increasing automation through its feature HOLMES, an artificial intelligence platform.
As for the gloom around H1B visa regulations, Neemuchwala said Wipro was in a comfortable spot. “For us localisation in hiring is an ongoing process. We have been following the practice for sometime now and hiring local talents from local campuses.
“ The company was looking at local hiring in its offices in not just the US but UK, Singapore, Saudi Arabia and South Africa as well, he added.
Wipro also announced the acquisition of Brazil-based IT services company InfoServer for $8.7 million.