India’s TCS beats Q4 profit view on strong deal momentum

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) reported a bigger-than-expected rise in fourth-quarter profit on Wednesday (Apr 12) as India’s top IT exporter saw firm demand for digital services despite a challenging macroeconomic backdrop.

The company’s net profit rose 14.8 per cent to 113.92 billion rupees (S$1.8 billion) in the three months ended Mar 31, from 99.26 billion rupees a year earlier.

Analysts on average had expected a profit of 110.13 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv IBES data.

TCS is the first among its peers to report quarterly earnings, setting the tone for an industry that is staring at a recession in its major markets, the US and Europe, and turmoil in the US banking sector.

The company is also seeing a CEO transition, with K Krithivasan taking over as the new CEO on Jun 1 in place of Rajesh Gopinathan, who resigned in March.

TCS said its order book for the Jan-March period stood at US$10 billion, up 28 per cent sequentially, with an “all-time high number of large deals.”

“The strength of our order book demonstrates the resilience of demand for our services and gives us visibility for growth in the medium term,” Gopinathan said in a statement.

Revenue from operations rose about 17 per cent to 591.62 billion rupees. REUTERS