According to its financial result announced on Friday in Bangalore, Wipro’s third quarter revenue from global IT services at Rs 3,068 crore was only 16 per cent higher than the third quarter last year.

However, after adding Rs 243 crore revenue from a new acquisition and Rs 305 crore revenue from BPO services, Wipro’s total revenue from global IT services and products stood at Rs 3,616 crore in third quarter, 26 per cent higher than the previous year period.

This division’s profit before interest and tax (PBIT) at Rs 774 crore in third quarter witnessed 11 per cent growth.

Increasing prices
Total revenue for Wipro Ltd (which includes India & AsiaPac IT services and consumer care and lighting) for third quarter at  Rs 5,303 crore was up 33 per cent from Rs 3,972 crore in the same period last year.

The December quarter revenue was also 11 per cent higher than the September 2007 quarter. Wipro’s net profit for the quarter under review at Rs 854 crore was 12 per cent higher than the same quarter last year. 

The third largest software services company was able to maintain its growth momentum by increasing its pricing by three to five per cent and expanding into other markets such as Europe and Middle East regions.

Briefing reporters here, Wipro Chairman Azim Premji said, “Our North America business comprises of 62 per cent, while Europe is 32 per cent and we are looking for growth in Middle East, Asia Pacific markets including India.”
Wipro’s global IT services business which accounted for 68 per cent of total revenue and 82 per cent of PBIT, added 39 new clients during the December quarter. 

Also in third quarter, Wipro’s  global IT services business won five multi-year multi-million dollar deals. 

Positive outlook
Mr Premiji further added that , “On operational front, we have seen a 200 basis points increase sequentially in the mix of our revenues from fixed price projects. Our price realisation improved during the quarter by about 50 basis points sequentially.”

The Wipro Chairman  also said that their US business was not seeing any slowdown and the outlook was positive. Wipro's global IT margins fell by 1 per cent mainly due to acquisition of Infocrossing, he stated.

Wipro had 79,832 employees at the end of December 2007, which includes 59,925 in IT services and products and 19,907 in BPO services, the company informed.

The share price of Wipro ended at Rs 454.35 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on Friday, down by 1.8 per cent.