India's largest software exporter Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) on Friday said consolidated net profit rose 34 percent in the third quarter, beating forecasts, as outsourcing orders improved. Net profit was 18.24 billion rupees (390 million dollars) for the three months to December, up from 13.62 billion rupees a year earlier, according to Indian accounting norms.
Revenue for the quarter rose five percent to 76.49 billion rupees, a statement to the Mumbai stock exchange said.
"TCS once again posted high growth in a difficult year," said TCS chief executive N Chandrasekaran in a statement. The US markets continued to lead demand recovery, while UK and European markets were also beginning to invest in the upturn, the company said.
TCS showed sequential growth across all regions in which it operates, the statement said. During the quarter, TCS added a net 7,692 employees and 32 new clients. For the quarter, TCS was awarded a multi-million dollar, multi-year contract for a US-based pharmaceutical firm, without disclosing more details.
Chandrasekaran said demand recovery was being seen across the financial services, banking and telecom sectors.
TCS does not offer a revenue outlook. On Friday, TCS shares rose 1.23 percent or 9.6 rupees to 791.8 at the Mumbai stock exchange, prior to its earnings data announcement.
Earlier this week, its rival Infosys surprised the markets with a smaller-than-expected fall in net profit of 4.87 percent to 15.6 billion dollars, and raised its outlook for revenue.