Net profit during October-December 2007-08 stood at Rs 1,178.99 crore compared to Rs 950.52 crore in the same period of the last fiscal. Total income rose 28.38 per cent to Rs 4,941.48 crore as against Rs 3,848.83 crore in the same quarter of 2006-07, TCS informed  Bombay Stock Exchange.

“We are happy with our performance in this quarter. We have crossed US$4 billion revenues in the first nine months, which gives us 41 per cent growth in dollar terms,” TCS CEO & Managing Director S Ramadorai told reporters here.

Mr Ramadorai said the company maintained its operating margins despite the appreciating rupee as it improved efficiency and pricing, besides diversifying its global network delivery model and focusing on emerging markets.

The operating margins are 24.16 per cent, up by 33 basis points.

On consolidated basis, third quarter net profit rose 18.86 per cent to Rs 1,326.67 crore from 1,116.1 crore a year ago, while total income increased 23.04 per cent to Rs 6,041.98 crore from Rs 4,910.53 crore a year ago. The company has announced a quarterly dividend of Rs 3 per share.

Total outstanding hedges at the end of the quarter stood at US$3.1 billion against US$2.6 billion in the second quarter of 2008.

Total hires

Separately, the TCS Board of Directors approved a proposal to issue non-convertible redeemable preference shares up to Rs 100 crore to its promoters Tata Sons. It is being done to meet some obligatory requirement overseas, TCS Chief Financial Officer S Mahalingam said. “It is not a run up to the US listing,” he added.

The company has hired 7,522 in this quarter and is on track to meet the annual hiring plan of 32,500 in fiscal year 2008, TCS Executive Director S Padmanabhan said.

Mr Ramadorai noted that TCS has added over 28,000 employees in the current financial year, and has already made over 22,000 campus offers for the next year.

Currently, TCS is considered largest IT employer in India with 108,229 employees at the end of third quarter. It continues to maintain the lowest attrition rate in the industry at 12.2 per cent. Foreign nationals formed 8.3 per cent of total employee base and 28 per cent were women.