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Wipro Chairman Azim Premji on Thursday said the US market seemed much better than what it was three to four months ago, reinforcing the positive outlook reported by information technology (IT) companies such as TCS and Infosys in their first quarter results.
“US markets seem to be stabilised and consumer sentiment is picking up. Equity markets are much better now in the US. Europe, however, continues to see flat growth,” Premji said, addressing the 67th annual general meeting of the company.
He, however, said the Indian market continued to be a concern. “Demand for IT services and goods has slowed. The Indian market is not in good shape. Indecision continues and cash flows in major projects are choked,” he said. For the quarter ended June, Wipro had estimated revenue growth of -0.6 to 1.6 per cent. A day before the company announced its results for the first quarter, the Wipro stock on Thursday fell four per cent on BSE, closing at Rs 376.25.
Still a laggard
“The company is expected to lag and continue its lower trajectory compared to peers; revenue growth is likely to be flat quarter-on-quarter due to weakness in the India business,” said an analyst.
“Wipro continues to be a laggard and is likely to post flat revenues on a sequential basis. The earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation margin is estimated to dip marginally — by 30 basis points quarter-on-quarter — due to a month’s impact of wage hikes,” an analyst at Edelweiss Securities said in a quarterly results preview. Investors were likely to keep a tab on the management’s commentary, in terms of the demand outlook for the second quarter and an update on large deal wins and client budget, the preview added.
Wipro to get women director on board
Wipro Chairman Azim Premji today said that he is working towards getting a women director on board. Something that N R N Murthy, executive chairman at Infosys has also been trying to achieve.
News report had said that before Murthy had retired from Infosys, he along with the nominations committee was looking for a women candidate on the board.
Wipro like several other IT companies does not have a women director on board. It is not just about Indian IT firms not being able to get women director on board, India Inc. in general has been dealing with this issue for sometime.
