Three cheers for IT

SPECIAL REPORT

TCS

Wipro

Revenue*15.3013.9011.87 Operating profit*14.6713.168.88 Operating margin*32.0727.4727.12 PAT*15.2014.1015.30 Market cap **47,56754,06345,410 Non-promoter holding78.0214.5816.34 Free-float market cap **35,7978,0789,076 Attrition rate10.807.9018.00 EPS (FY05 estimates - Rs)704523 * Sequential growth
** In Rs crore  On a roll
The reasons are obvious. For one, the results came in way above expectations. Infosys set the ball rolling by revising upwards its FY05 revenue and EPS guidance. The revised FY05 EPS estimates now stand at Rs 67 per share (Rs 62.7 per share), a y-o-y growth of around 44 per cent.  It also declared an interim dividend of Rs 5 and upgraded its FY05 revenue projections from 39-40 per cent to 47-48 per cent. The company added 32 new clients in the quarter, taking the active client base to 431. Its $10 million plus and $40 million plus clients have increased to 31 and 7 respectively in the quarter from 27 and 5 in the preceding quarter.  Next came TCS with its first quarterly results post-listing which were well received by analysts. The company witnessed a topline growth of 13.9 per cent led by growth across verticals while bottomline growth came in a shade above 14 per cent.  TCS's profit figure came in much higher than analysts' expectations which were closer to Rs 530-540 crore. The company added 52 clients and around 4,000 employees in the quarter, which speaks volumes of the bullishness ahead.  Wipro announced its results in the fag end but its performance was no less inspiring. Its revenues from IT and ITES (IT enabled services) grew 11.8 per cent while consolidated PAT grew 15.4 per cent. Client additions at 31 and manpower additions at 5,550 (including BPO) were also impressive. Perhaps the most telling point was the beginning of an uptick in the pricing scenario.  Infosys managed a 4-5 per cent increase in pricing on new contracts in the last two-three months. Billing rates for onsite and offshore services improved by 1.6 per cent and 0.7 per cent respectively. TCS was tight-lipped about billing rates while Wipro's onsite billing rates were up 2.9 per cent. The latter