New Delhi, July 14: IT company Wipro on Tuesday posted a marginal increase in consolidated profit to Rs 2,390.4 crore for the quarter ended on June 30, 2020. The company had posted a consolidated profit, attributable to equity holders, of Rs 2,387.6 crore in the same period a year ago.

"Profitable growth will be the most important priority on my agenda. We will start it from the time of booking new contracts. I am confident that we will be able to deliver long-term, sustainable growth in the interest of all our stakeholders," Wipro CEO and Managing Director Thierry Delaporte told reporters.

Total income of Wipro was almost flat at Rs 15,571.4 crore at the end of the first quarter of 2020-21 compared to Rs 15,566.6 crore in the corresponding quarter of the fiscal year 2019-20.

"We have committed Rs 100 crore towards COVID. It is a very specific CSR initiative, working very closely with Azim Premji  Foundation which sort of combines total kitty of Rs 1,125 crore. Of this, Rs 100 crore is also sitting in P&L," Wipro chief financial officer Jatin Dalal said.

Talking about the factor that impacted the performance of the company, Dalal added that the company had a share buy-back programme in September and the performance should be seen from earning per share basis which has increased by 5.7 per cent on year-on-year basis. The company also gained due to a decline in the value of rupee during the quarter.

The consolidated income from the operation of the company increased by 1.3 per cent to Rs 14,913.1 crore during the reported quarter from Rs 14,716.1 crore in the corresponding quarter of 2019-20.

The marginal increase in Wipro's performance surprised the market as the country's largest software services firm TCS on Thursday had reported a 13.8 per cent decline in the June quarter consolidated net profit at Rs 7,008 crore on revenues being impacted by the coronavirus crisis.

"Margins surprise positively, still appears circumspect of growth recovery unlike TCS. Company avoids providing a formal revenue outlook for the September quarter and unlike TCS, remains circumspect about seeing a recovery in the near term," Emkay Global Services said.

Total revenue of Wipro from IT services was up by 1.5 per cent at Rs 15,033.6 crore during the reported quarter from Rs 14,802 crore in the April-June 2019 quarter. Wipro recorded operational profit of Rs 3,095.3 crore in the IT services segment compared to Rs 3,072.2 crore it posted in the same period a year ago.

The company said that during the COVID-19 crisis also it did not stop hiring and honour all the placement offers that it has given to people. "In the first quarter, our gross hiring was about 7,000 people. Growth is the agenda and will continue to hire in the second quarter and onwards. From Wipro's standpoint, we have given a commitment that we will honour all the offers that we have made.

"We have started onboarding people in a phased manner. It will happen over the second and the third quarter," Wipro chief human resource officer Saurabh Govil said.

Talking about the hiring of freshers, Govil said that there has been a delay as there was a delay from schools in closing of curriculum and their onboarding will get "staggered and delayed based on business requirements". Shares of Wipro closed at Rs 225.05 apiece, down by 1.1 per cent compared to the previous close, on BSE.

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