FILE PHOTO: Wipro Ltd logo is seen displayed in this illustration taken, April 10, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
BENGALURU/MUMBAI (Reuters) -Wipro, India's fourth-largest IT services company, reported higher-than-expected third-quarter revenue on Friday, helped by positive momentum in its banking, financial services, and insurance (BFSI) vertical and in the Americas geography.
Consolidated revenue for the three months to December-end rose 0.5% to 223.19 billion rupees ($2.58 billion), against analysts' average estimate of 222.28 billion rupees, as per data compiled by LSEG.
The Bengaluru-based company's net profit rose 24.5% to 33.54 billion rupees, beating analysts' estimate of 30.7 billion rupees.
Wipro forecast that its revenue growth in the March quarter will be in the range of -1% to 1%. It only provides a sequential forecast.
Its order book stood at $3.5 billion during the third quarter, of which large deals of more than $30 million totalled $961 million.
India's $254 billion IT services sector has faced sluggish growth for several quarters due to global macroeconomic uncertainties and inflationary pressures, pushing clients to rein in spending.
However, incoming U.S. President Donald Trump administration's business-friendly policies are expected to benefit Indian IT firms. U.S is the largest revenue generator for the sector's top companies.
Wipro's larger rivals Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys and HCLTech highlighted a pickup in discretionary spending during the quarter.
Its shares in Mumbai closed 2.45% down ahead of the results.
($1 = 86.5770 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Haripriya Suresh in Mumbai and Sai Ishwarbharath B in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)
