Shares of the country's largest software exporter TCS today fell by over 4 per cent after the company reported a 27 per cent dip in its March quarter net profit, impacted by a one-time Rs 2,628-crore employee bonus.
The bellwether stock opened on a weak note today, and as the trade progressed it further lost 4.35 per cent to Rs 2,472.50 on the BSE.
At the NSE, the scrip went down by 4.36 per cent to Rs 2,470.
The stock was the biggest loser among the bluechips on both Sensex and Nifty during the early morning trade.
"TCS announced lower-than-expected numbers on sales front, while net profit came in higher-than-expected," said Sarabjit Kour Nangra, VP Research - IT at Angel Broking.
The company had yesterday reported a 27 per cent dip in March quarter net profit at Rs 3,858.2 crore, impacted by one-time Rs 2,628 crore employee bonus, but exuded confidence about surpassing the industry average in the current fiscal.
The company had reported a net profit of Rs 5,296.7 crore in the same period last fiscal year.
Revenue for the quarter rose 12.4 per cent to Rs 24,219.80 crore, while for the full fiscal it rose 15.7 per cent to Rs 94,648 crore. The net profit for the full fiscal rose 13.5 per cent to Rs 19,648 crore.
"As we look into future, I think we are extremely well placed... Our deal wins, our order-book and the client sentiment look positive," TCS Managing Director and Chief Executive Natarajan Chandrasekaran had said yesterday.
The Tata Group company, however, remains very upbeat about the next fiscal (2015-16) and will continue to outgrow the industry, he said.
Nasscom has estimated a revenue growth of 13-15 per cent for the Indian IT industry in the current fiscal.
Employees who have spent over a year at the company will receive a week's salary for every year spent at the company and the Rs 2,628 crore one-time bonus payout will come in April or May.
Meanwhile, weakness was also seen in other IT stocks, where Wipro was trading lower by 1.80 per cent and Infosys was quoting down 0.54 per cent.
The BSE IT index was trading with a loss of 1.79 per cent at 11,193.50.
In the stock market, the benchmark BSE Sensex was quoting at 28,575.68, down 98.80 points at 1045 hrs.
