Wipro Limited on Friday announced that it's profit after tax for the quarter ended June 30, 2004, under the consolidated Indian GAAP (Generally Accepted Accounting Principles), grew by 73 per cent to Rs 357 crore (Rs 3.57 billion).

Highlights:

• Revenue for the quarter was Rs 1769 crore (Rs 17.69 billion), an increase of 48 per cent year-on-year. Profit before interest & tax or PBIT grew by 78 per cent year-on-year to Rs 392 crore (Rs 3.92 billion)
• Global IT services & products revenue increased 45 per cent year-on-year, at Rs 1344 crore (Rs 13.44 billion)
• Global IT services & products PBIT was Rs 362 crore (Rs 3.62 billion), contributed by volume growth and productivity improvements
• Global IT services & products operating margin was 27 per cent, an increase of 3.4 per cent over the quarter ended March 31, 2004

Outlook for the Quarter ending September 30, 2004

Azim Premji, chairman of Wipro commenting on the results said: "Team Wipro delivered yet another quarter of solid performance. As the IT spending environment stabilizes, customers are increasingly demanding integrated services backed by high -quality service delivery.

"Our early identification of this trend and proactive investments have resulted in record revenues for us. We shall continue to proactively invest for the future, even as we focus to leverage increasing value from investments made in the past in all our businesses.

"Looking ahead, for the quarter ending September 2004, we expect our revenue from our Global IT services business to be approximately $318 million."

Vivek Paul, vice chairman, said "Our Global IT Services business continued to deliver consistent business results. Sequential growth of 8.4 per cent in revenues and expansion in operating margin for the fourth consecutive quarter were primarily the result of sustained volume growth and an improving pricing environment.

"Growth continued to be broad based – across domains, service lines and geographies, with Revenues from our European clients recording a 20 per cent sequential growth.

"With these strong first quarter results, we are confident that we will continue to outperform the industry."