Wipro follows upbeat trend in outsourcing

Wipro has won over 30 new contracts in the third quarter

Indian IT supplier Wipro has reported growth in both profit and revenue driven by increased demand for outsourcing services and higher fees.

Profit at the firm’s third fiscal quarter reached 12.17bn rupees (£162m), up from 10.04bn (£136m) rupees in the same period a year earlier. Revenue was up by over five per cent to 69.66bn (£931m) rupees.

The results exceeded analysts expectations.

Wipro added 31 new clients over the period, including a multi-year agreement with a global tobacco firm.

"We have seen robust recovery in the IT infrastructure management services. We saw a positive demand environment, driving broad based sequential growth across all our services and regions," Wipro chairman Azim Premji said in a statement.

The news follows recent financial results released by Wipro’s rivals Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Infosys.

The string of upbeat financial statements may signify a recovery for sector companies as well as revived recruitment. The fact that Wipro hired a reported 4,855 employees over the third quarter, is evidence of that, according to Mark Kobayashi-Hillary, director at the National Outsourcing Association.

“Over the past two years the IT service players in India must have felt like they just fell off a cliff, but the new Wipro results show that clients are returning, revenues are increasing again, and, importantly, that they are hiring again,” said Kobayashi-Hillary.

“Perhaps the freeze on hiring was the biggest shock to a generation of Indians who believed the Indian IT miracle would go on forever,” he added.