New Delhi: Technology industry body National Association of Software and Services Companies (Nasscom) sees a strong revival of demand that could not only help meet, but even exceed, growth expectations for 2011-12. Newly-appointed Nasscom chairman for 2011-12, Rajendra S Pawar said in an interaction with ET: "We are coming back to growth levels seen prior to the slowdown and in the near term we see lot of headroom to catapult this growth.''
When asked whether this means Nasscom will revise its 15-17 % growth target for the year for the $70 billion technology and business services sector, Pawar said, "it's too early to comment, but we are on track to exceed this target.'' Pawar, 60, co-founder and chairman of education software company, NIIT , took over as Nasscom chairman from Harsh Manglik. Nasscom also appointed N Chandrasekaran as vice-chairman of it's executive council. Chandrasekaran is CEO and MD of Tata Consultancy Services , the largest Indian technology services company.
As chairman of the executive council, Pawar will lead and assist Nasscom in catalysing the growth of the Indian IT-BPO industry and enabling the sfulfilment of its future goals and aspirations. Towards this end, Pawar wants to focus on two areas. First, how Nasscom will facilitate growth of the small and mid-sized companies. "There are a lot of SMEs focused on software products, telecom, internet space, all driven by intellectual property. By the end of this decade we see quite a few of them becoming very big,'' Pawar said. And second, 'IT for India', that is, how Nasscom can help in e-governance projects. "Government technology initiatives are beginning to get critical mass. We will engage with these projects and see what opportunity is available to companies,'' he added. Besides, Nasscom will push for private sector partnerships in e-governance projects.
On sops to industry, particularly for SMEs, Pawar said, "we will align with the new direct tax code. The new tax regime is supportive of growth and will help the industry.'' Pawar takes over at a time, when on the one hand the industry is coping with quality of talent issues and on the other, later in the year, could see a return of the anti-offshoring wave, as build up for the US elections starts. On strategies to cope with these Mr Pawar said "talent is a big issue and industry will have to accelerate shifts to new models (like de-link revenue and manpower growth) and focus on innovation. On anti-offshoring , we will be engaging a lot more with various stakeholders.''
Success in my Habit
Monday, May 2, 2011
India's refining capacities to rise to 240 MTPA by Mar 2012
Mumbai/Ahmedabad: India's petroleum refining capacities is expected to rise to 240 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) by March 2012 from the current 188 MTPA, attracting an estimated investment of Rs 60,000-65,000 crore. The capacity addition is believed to boost country's exports of petroleum products, informed a top government official here on Wednesday.
S Sundereshan, secretary, ministry of petroleum & natural gas, government of India today stated that the country would have an excess petroleum refining capacity of around 90 million tonnes per annum in next 12 to 18 months.
"Currently, we have an installed refining capacity of 188 MTPA, while several green field refinery projects are lined up and are expected to be operational by March 2012. This will increase the total refining capacity to 240 million tonnes," he said adding that the new refining capacities would attract an investment of around Rs 60,000-65,000 crore.
Currently, India's total demand for the petroleum products is pegged at around 140 MTPA. This creates a spare capacity of 48 million tonnes per annum at the refineries. The spare capacity will increase to around 90 million tonnes per annum. The domestic demand is expected to be around 142- 143 tonnes per annum.
"We will be actually exporting a total of 90 million tonnes of petroleum products to some of the most developed countries including the US and European countries," added Sundereshan.
S Sundereshan, secretary, ministry of petroleum & natural gas, government of India today stated that the country would have an excess petroleum refining capacity of around 90 million tonnes per annum in next 12 to 18 months.
"Currently, we have an installed refining capacity of 188 MTPA, while several green field refinery projects are lined up and are expected to be operational by March 2012. This will increase the total refining capacity to 240 million tonnes," he said adding that the new refining capacities would attract an investment of around Rs 60,000-65,000 crore.
Currently, India's total demand for the petroleum products is pegged at around 140 MTPA. This creates a spare capacity of 48 million tonnes per annum at the refineries. The spare capacity will increase to around 90 million tonnes per annum. The domestic demand is expected to be around 142- 143 tonnes per annum.
"We will be actually exporting a total of 90 million tonnes of petroleum products to some of the most developed countries including the US and European countries," added Sundereshan.
I-T Dept begins work on real-time network
New Delhi: Aim is to integrate the entire collection network, to enable instantaneous monitoring.
The Income Tax (I-T) Department has embarked on a plan to create a national data centre to facilitate a management information systems-based, real-time analysis of data for quick and effective decision making.
There will be a single custodian of all data captured by the integrated system. The MIS advisory panel of the department has recommended that the Directorate of Organisation and Management Services will be the nodal agency for all statistical data.
In the new system, reports of the investigation wing associated with search and seizure activities would be filed within 24 hours. Daily collection reports would be generated through the system and made available to the top management.
The advisory group has suggested the new MIS format be implemented with immediate effect. The required capabilities are being put in place.
The system will have safeguards to ensure security of all information assets and the database, through systemic implementation of periodic vulnerability testing, security and forensic audits to prevent fraud.
A senior official told Business Standard the requisite for online report generation was to ensure all actions by the field officers were done through the system. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is to issue instructions in this regard soon.
“The ultimate objective is to create a single data centre under a single custodian for storing all taxpayer and third-party data. The system will facilitate business intelligence out of processed data and make it available to the actual users on almost a real-time basis,” he added.
The plan envisages augmented computational capability and network connectivity for handling huge data volumes. “This would be a uniform holistic rule-based application matrix that can optimally run on state of the art hardware and networks,” said the official.
The idea is to integrate all the elements of tax collection through technology, with information seamlessly flowing to the users for informed decision making.
The CBDT MIS advisory panel was constituted in the backdrop of the reiteration by Parliament’s Standing Committee on Finance in September 2010 of the urgency for implementation of an action plan in this regard. The panel was asked to come up with an implementation plan so that work on it could be initiated from the first month of the current financial year.
The Income Tax (I-T) Department has embarked on a plan to create a national data centre to facilitate a management information systems-based, real-time analysis of data for quick and effective decision making.
There will be a single custodian of all data captured by the integrated system. The MIS advisory panel of the department has recommended that the Directorate of Organisation and Management Services will be the nodal agency for all statistical data.
In the new system, reports of the investigation wing associated with search and seizure activities would be filed within 24 hours. Daily collection reports would be generated through the system and made available to the top management.
The advisory group has suggested the new MIS format be implemented with immediate effect. The required capabilities are being put in place.
The system will have safeguards to ensure security of all information assets and the database, through systemic implementation of periodic vulnerability testing, security and forensic audits to prevent fraud.
A senior official told Business Standard the requisite for online report generation was to ensure all actions by the field officers were done through the system. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) is to issue instructions in this regard soon.
“The ultimate objective is to create a single data centre under a single custodian for storing all taxpayer and third-party data. The system will facilitate business intelligence out of processed data and make it available to the actual users on almost a real-time basis,” he added.
The plan envisages augmented computational capability and network connectivity for handling huge data volumes. “This would be a uniform holistic rule-based application matrix that can optimally run on state of the art hardware and networks,” said the official.
The idea is to integrate all the elements of tax collection through technology, with information seamlessly flowing to the users for informed decision making.
The CBDT MIS advisory panel was constituted in the backdrop of the reiteration by Parliament’s Standing Committee on Finance in September 2010 of the urgency for implementation of an action plan in this regard. The panel was asked to come up with an implementation plan so that work on it could be initiated from the first month of the current financial year.
Service tax reduction likely for inland shipping
New Delhi: Transport of goods through coastal and inland shipping may get cheaper, as the finance ministry is planning to increase service tax abatement for the sector. A higher abatement is being proposed to bring some parity in levy of service tax on movement of goods through road, rail and shipping.
The service tax on shipping was introduced in Budget 2009-10. In Budget 2011-12, the government provided an abatement of 25 per cent on transport of goods through coastal and inland shipping.
Shipping secretary K Mohandas has now written to the finance ministry, asking for higher abatement. “We are considering the proposal to increase abatement for coastal shipping. We want to promote coastal shipping because it is an energy-efficient, environment-friendly and economical mode of transportation of goods,” said a finance ministry official, who did not wish to be identified.
The industry has been asking for uniformity in service tax abatement between shipping and other transportation modes such as road and rail.
The finance ministry gives 75 per cent abatement in case of road transport. It has also provided 70 per cent abatement for the railways.
Service tax on rail freight, however, is yet to come into force, as the finance ministry had again deferred its introduction, till June.
The official said the abatement could not be as high as 75 per cent and the finance ministry could increase it to only 35 per cent. This would mean a coastal operator would have to pay service tax at 10 per cent on 65 per cent of the total freight value, compared with a road operator, who would pay service tax on 25 per cent of the freight value.
The finance ministry has asked the shipping ministry to provide data on the cost of services involved in transporting goods from one place to another through coastal and inland shipping.
“We want to know the cost of service element in shipping. Our analysis said it is about 75 per cent. That is why we gave only 25 per cent abatement. If they say it is less and substantiate it with relevant data we will give them abatement accordingly,” the official added.
In its vision document for the next 10 years, the shipping ministry had set a target of increasing port capacity to around 3,200 million tonnes, with an investment of about Rs 3 lakh crore.
It has proposed to enhance the Indian tonnage four-fold by 2020, improve India’s share in global shipbuilding to five per cent and increase the share of Indian seafarers to at least 10 per cent.
The service tax on shipping was introduced in Budget 2009-10. In Budget 2011-12, the government provided an abatement of 25 per cent on transport of goods through coastal and inland shipping.
Shipping secretary K Mohandas has now written to the finance ministry, asking for higher abatement. “We are considering the proposal to increase abatement for coastal shipping. We want to promote coastal shipping because it is an energy-efficient, environment-friendly and economical mode of transportation of goods,” said a finance ministry official, who did not wish to be identified.
The industry has been asking for uniformity in service tax abatement between shipping and other transportation modes such as road and rail.
The finance ministry gives 75 per cent abatement in case of road transport. It has also provided 70 per cent abatement for the railways.
Service tax on rail freight, however, is yet to come into force, as the finance ministry had again deferred its introduction, till June.
The official said the abatement could not be as high as 75 per cent and the finance ministry could increase it to only 35 per cent. This would mean a coastal operator would have to pay service tax at 10 per cent on 65 per cent of the total freight value, compared with a road operator, who would pay service tax on 25 per cent of the freight value.
The finance ministry has asked the shipping ministry to provide data on the cost of services involved in transporting goods from one place to another through coastal and inland shipping.
“We want to know the cost of service element in shipping. Our analysis said it is about 75 per cent. That is why we gave only 25 per cent abatement. If they say it is less and substantiate it with relevant data we will give them abatement accordingly,” the official added.
In its vision document for the next 10 years, the shipping ministry had set a target of increasing port capacity to around 3,200 million tonnes, with an investment of about Rs 3 lakh crore.
It has proposed to enhance the Indian tonnage four-fold by 2020, improve India’s share in global shipbuilding to five per cent and increase the share of Indian seafarers to at least 10 per cent.
Government tells states to upgrade statistical divisions
New Delhi: The Centre has asked states for specific plans to help strengthen the statistical system, for which $107 million (Rs 470 crore) has been sanctioned in collaboration with the World Bank, as the veracity of various statistical data has drawn flak.
M S Gill, Union minister of statistics and programme implementation, has written to all chief ministers to also ensure their existing statistical divisions are upgraded to a separate department of statistics to improve the quality of data.
The National Statistical Commission under the chairmanship of C Rangarajan had recommended the elevation of statistical divisions in states.
“The ministry is undertaking the centrally sponsored scheme, ‘India Statistical Strengthening Project’ in collaboration with the World Bank... to strengthen the statistical system of state/UT governments for collecting, compiling and disseminating reliable statistics for planning and policy making,” the letter said. The letter asked states to upgrade their directorates of economics and statistics to a separate department of statistics.
Heads of the existing directorate should be scaled up to the level of secretary to the state government, Gill said.
He wanted existing directors be closely involved in the decision by making them members of committees or groups dealing with plans and programmes.
The letter further asked states to create a common statistical cadre and state statistical service for manning statistical posts in all departments.
This will empower the directorate in discharging the role of a nodal agency, effectively laying the grounds for developing a sound statistical system, that will improve the growing requirements of planners and policy makers for informed decision making.
M S Gill, Union minister of statistics and programme implementation, has written to all chief ministers to also ensure their existing statistical divisions are upgraded to a separate department of statistics to improve the quality of data.
The National Statistical Commission under the chairmanship of C Rangarajan had recommended the elevation of statistical divisions in states.
“The ministry is undertaking the centrally sponsored scheme, ‘India Statistical Strengthening Project’ in collaboration with the World Bank... to strengthen the statistical system of state/UT governments for collecting, compiling and disseminating reliable statistics for planning and policy making,” the letter said. The letter asked states to upgrade their directorates of economics and statistics to a separate department of statistics.
Heads of the existing directorate should be scaled up to the level of secretary to the state government, Gill said.
He wanted existing directors be closely involved in the decision by making them members of committees or groups dealing with plans and programmes.
The letter further asked states to create a common statistical cadre and state statistical service for manning statistical posts in all departments.
This will empower the directorate in discharging the role of a nodal agency, effectively laying the grounds for developing a sound statistical system, that will improve the growing requirements of planners and policy makers for informed decision making.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Panasonic to cut 40,000 jobs, closes dozens of plants
Japanese consumer electronics giant Panasonic Corp will slash 40,000 jobs over the next two years in a bid to pare costs and keep up with ever-harsher competition from Asian rivals, a source said.
The company, which employs about 380,000 people, will incur more than 100 billion yen ($1.22 billion) in expenses this year related to the job cuts and a reorganisation of production facilities, the Nikkei newspaper reported earlier.
Once unrivalled, Japan's consumer electronic firms are facing increasing competition from Korean and Chinese producers in particular. Panasonic is seeking to shift its focus to environmental and energy-related businesses such as rechargeable batteries in order to duck competition fromSamsung Electronics, LG Electronics and others in consumer technology.
As part of that strategy, it announced last year it would make Panasonic Electric Works and Sanyo Electric Co wholly owned units last year, absorbing a combined 160,000 workers, the Nikkei reported.
Panasonic is now seeking to shed staff in overlapping businesses, particularly abroad, it added. The units make a wide range of products including rechargeable batteries, factory robots, electronic components, lighting and solar panels.
Panasonic announces its earnings for the year ended on March 31 at 0600 GMT on Thursday. President Fumio Ohtsubo will speak to the media about the company's future direction from 0810 GMT.
The company, which employs about 380,000 people, will incur more than 100 billion yen ($1.22 billion) in expenses this year related to the job cuts and a reorganisation of production facilities, the Nikkei newspaper reported earlier.
Once unrivalled, Japan's consumer electronic firms are facing increasing competition from Korean and Chinese producers in particular. Panasonic is seeking to shift its focus to environmental and energy-related businesses such as rechargeable batteries in order to duck competition fromSamsung Electronics, LG Electronics and others in consumer technology.
As part of that strategy, it announced last year it would make Panasonic Electric Works and Sanyo Electric Co wholly owned units last year, absorbing a combined 160,000 workers, the Nikkei reported.
Panasonic is now seeking to shed staff in overlapping businesses, particularly abroad, it added. The units make a wide range of products including rechargeable batteries, factory robots, electronic components, lighting and solar panels.
Panasonic announces its earnings for the year ended on March 31 at 0600 GMT on Thursday. President Fumio Ohtsubo will speak to the media about the company's future direction from 0810 GMT.
HP bags $2.5bn NASA contract
Technology company Hewlett-Packard says it has been awarded a multi-year contract worth up to $2.5 billion to provide technology services to NASA.
Hewlett-Packard Co said the contract has a four-year base period with two additional three-year option periods.
The deal is the latest sign of an economic recovery and a pickup in government spending.
HP says it will provide personal computing services so that NASA employees can collaborate more easily in a secure computing environment.
The company says it will provide computing services and devices to more than 60,000 users as part of the deal. It will modernize the space agency's computer systems used by employees.
Hewlett-Packard Co said the contract has a four-year base period with two additional three-year option periods.
The deal is the latest sign of an economic recovery and a pickup in government spending.
HP says it will provide personal computing services so that NASA employees can collaborate more easily in a secure computing environment.
The company says it will provide computing services and devices to more than 60,000 users as part of the deal. It will modernize the space agency's computer systems used by employees.
Infosys staff want founders to stay, want Nandan Nilekani back
A near majority, 50%, think that the company is losing ground to TCS , while 29% attribute poor performance to poor leadership.
Employees of Infosys, which is being criticised for giving CEO positions to founders rather than professionals, have voiced strong support for the practice, an exclusive opinion poll commissioned by ET has found.
The poll, conducted among 201 Infosys employees in Bangalore by market research firm AZ Research , has found that more than a simple majority of employees (61%) want founders to become CEOs and think that it is a perfect arrangement.
About 75% of those surveyed think that Nandan Nilekani, one of the founders and former CEO, who quit two years ago to join the government, should come back as the CEO. A big majority, (74%), feels that Narayana Murthy , the iconic chairman, who is set to step down from his executive role in August this year, should continue to play an active role and not retire from the company.
But the poll, which was conducted over Wednesday and Thursday, also found a strong level of concern over the company's financial performance and its ability to keep up with competition. A near majority, 50%, think that the company is losing ground to TCS. About 29% attribute the poor performance to poor leadership, while 43% blame lack of aggression.
Nearly four in ten employees admitted that Infosys lacked the imagination to fire up its numbers and that Infosys had lost some of its past glory under Kris Gopalakrishnan , the current CEO of Infosys who is widely believed to succeed as chairman or vice-chairman.
Support for Mohandas Pai , the former HR director, whose abrupt resignation earlier this month and caustic comments about founders rotating the CEO role among themselves triggered a controversy, is also quite high.
Employees of Infosys, which is being criticised for giving CEO positions to founders rather than professionals, have voiced strong support for the practice, an exclusive opinion poll commissioned by ET has found.
The poll, conducted among 201 Infosys employees in Bangalore by market research firm AZ Research , has found that more than a simple majority of employees (61%) want founders to become CEOs and think that it is a perfect arrangement.
About 75% of those surveyed think that Nandan Nilekani, one of the founders and former CEO, who quit two years ago to join the government, should come back as the CEO. A big majority, (74%), feels that Narayana Murthy , the iconic chairman, who is set to step down from his executive role in August this year, should continue to play an active role and not retire from the company.
But the poll, which was conducted over Wednesday and Thursday, also found a strong level of concern over the company's financial performance and its ability to keep up with competition. A near majority, 50%, think that the company is losing ground to TCS. About 29% attribute the poor performance to poor leadership, while 43% blame lack of aggression.
Nearly four in ten employees admitted that Infosys lacked the imagination to fire up its numbers and that Infosys had lost some of its past glory under Kris Gopalakrishnan , the current CEO of Infosys who is widely believed to succeed as chairman or vice-chairman.
Support for Mohandas Pai , the former HR director, whose abrupt resignation earlier this month and caustic comments about founders rotating the CEO role among themselves triggered a controversy, is also quite high.
Mahindra Satyam to hire 18,000 employees in FY 2012
IT firm Mahindra Satyam said it plans to hire about 18,000 people during this fiscal.
'We have plans of hiring about 18,000 people this year (FY'12). Over 5,000 are from campuses and the rest are from lateral hiring or recruitment of experienced hands,' Mahindra Satyam Head Recruitment and Media Sridhar Maturi told PTI.
At the end of the third quarter (October-December period), Mahindra Satyam's headcount stood at 28,832, an increase of 764 personnel from 28,068 employees on September 30, 2010.
Maturi further added, 'The campus hiring will be predominantly in India and the lateral hiring is from across the world.'
The company has its development and delivery centres in the US, Canada, Brazil, the UK, Hungary,Egypt, UAE, India, China, Malaysia, Singapore and Australia by which the company serves numerous clients, including several Fortune 500 companies.
Mahindra Satyam, formerly Satyam Computer Services , in September last year had announced its first audited financial results for 2009-10 after its founder B Ramalinga Raju admitted to multi-crore accounting fraud in January 2009.
'We have plans of hiring about 18,000 people this year (FY'12). Over 5,000 are from campuses and the rest are from lateral hiring or recruitment of experienced hands,' Mahindra Satyam Head Recruitment and Media Sridhar Maturi told PTI.
At the end of the third quarter (October-December period), Mahindra Satyam's headcount stood at 28,832, an increase of 764 personnel from 28,068 employees on September 30, 2010.
Maturi further added, 'The campus hiring will be predominantly in India and the lateral hiring is from across the world.'
The company has its development and delivery centres in the US, Canada, Brazil, the UK, Hungary,Egypt, UAE, India, China, Malaysia, Singapore and Australia by which the company serves numerous clients, including several Fortune 500 companies.
Mahindra Satyam, formerly Satyam Computer Services , in September last year had announced its first audited financial results for 2009-10 after its founder B Ramalinga Raju admitted to multi-crore accounting fraud in January 2009.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
TCS Q4 net profit surges 31% on higher IT spends
Mumbai, Apr 21: An increase in IT-spends by clients across key business segments, coupled with favourable currency movements, has propelled Tata Consultancy Services to report a 31.1 per cent surge in net profit for the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2010.
Net profits for the quarter under review stood at Rs 2,623 crore, as against Rs 2,001 crore recorded in the same quarter a year ago. Revenues grew by 31.3 per cent to cross the Rs 10,000-crore mark for the first time (in a quarter) at Rs 10,157 crore. Revenues in the corresponding period last year stood at Rs 7,738 crore.
“TCS has developed a reputation for superior execution and that is why it is seeing traction with customers. The company has managed to drive processes that insulate the quality of services rendered to clients from vagaries such as attrition, technology changes etc,” said Mr Vikash Jain, Partner of outsourcing advisory firm Everest Group.
The country's largest software exporter added 39 new customers in the quarter gone by. In the last two quarters, TCS has been successful in pushing customers to increase the pricing of both new and existing IT contracts, said Mr N. Chandrasekaran, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.
The deal closures have come across verticals of financial services, retail, hi-tech amongst others. A good chunk of the IT spends, both from new and existing customers, is coming from the ‘discretionary' budgets of clients, said Mr Chandrasekaran.
(Discretionary spending is done by the CIO, or IT decision maker, at his discretion – and this falls outside the annual IT budget.)
In constant currency terms, the US market grew by 31.3 per cent for TCS. Its bread-and-butter financial services business growth was in line with the company growth rate.
TCS' numbers were aided by the Indian rupee which had depreciated against the US dollar and other global currencies in the fourth quarter. The forex environment had a positive impact of Rs 120 crore on TCS' topline, said Mr S. Mahalingam, Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer.
All these factors helped the company maintain its operating profit margins at 28.3 per cent. Since the company has announced plans to give wage hikes to all its staffers, analysts feel TCS' margins will come under pressure in the current quarter.
However, Mr Mahalingam is confident that the current margin levels could be maintained over a ‘period of time'. Volume growth, at 2.9 per cent, was lower compared to the last few quarters.
For fiscal 2012, TCS – which counts bellwethers like Citigroup, General Electric and British Airways as clients – is confident of maintaining the growth momentum.
“A poll that we conducted with our customers shows that their IT spend this year is going to be higher than last year. Moreover, we are chasing more deals this time than we were last year around the same time,” said Mr Chandrasekaran.
For the full year ended March 31, 2011, TCS' net profit grew by 29.9 per cent to Rs 9,068 crore (Rs 7,001crore) while revenues grew 24.3 per cent to Rs 37,325 crore (Rs 30,029 crore)
TCS will give a total dividend of Rs 14 per share, including a proposed final dividend of Rs 8.
The company scrip was down by over 2 per cent to close at Rs 1,191.65 on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Thursday.
Net profits for the quarter under review stood at Rs 2,623 crore, as against Rs 2,001 crore recorded in the same quarter a year ago. Revenues grew by 31.3 per cent to cross the Rs 10,000-crore mark for the first time (in a quarter) at Rs 10,157 crore. Revenues in the corresponding period last year stood at Rs 7,738 crore.
“TCS has developed a reputation for superior execution and that is why it is seeing traction with customers. The company has managed to drive processes that insulate the quality of services rendered to clients from vagaries such as attrition, technology changes etc,” said Mr Vikash Jain, Partner of outsourcing advisory firm Everest Group.
The country's largest software exporter added 39 new customers in the quarter gone by. In the last two quarters, TCS has been successful in pushing customers to increase the pricing of both new and existing IT contracts, said Mr N. Chandrasekaran, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.
The deal closures have come across verticals of financial services, retail, hi-tech amongst others. A good chunk of the IT spends, both from new and existing customers, is coming from the ‘discretionary' budgets of clients, said Mr Chandrasekaran.
(Discretionary spending is done by the CIO, or IT decision maker, at his discretion – and this falls outside the annual IT budget.)
In constant currency terms, the US market grew by 31.3 per cent for TCS. Its bread-and-butter financial services business growth was in line with the company growth rate.
TCS' numbers were aided by the Indian rupee which had depreciated against the US dollar and other global currencies in the fourth quarter. The forex environment had a positive impact of Rs 120 crore on TCS' topline, said Mr S. Mahalingam, Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer.
All these factors helped the company maintain its operating profit margins at 28.3 per cent. Since the company has announced plans to give wage hikes to all its staffers, analysts feel TCS' margins will come under pressure in the current quarter.
However, Mr Mahalingam is confident that the current margin levels could be maintained over a ‘period of time'. Volume growth, at 2.9 per cent, was lower compared to the last few quarters.
For fiscal 2012, TCS – which counts bellwethers like Citigroup, General Electric and British Airways as clients – is confident of maintaining the growth momentum.
“A poll that we conducted with our customers shows that their IT spend this year is going to be higher than last year. Moreover, we are chasing more deals this time than we were last year around the same time,” said Mr Chandrasekaran.
For the full year ended March 31, 2011, TCS' net profit grew by 29.9 per cent to Rs 9,068 crore (Rs 7,001crore) while revenues grew 24.3 per cent to Rs 37,325 crore (Rs 30,029 crore)
TCS will give a total dividend of Rs 14 per share, including a proposed final dividend of Rs 8.
The company scrip was down by over 2 per cent to close at Rs 1,191.65 on the Bombay Stock Exchange on Thursday.
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