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Wipro outlook points to uneven recovery for IT outsourcers
Wipro chairman Azim Premji (R) with chief financial officer Suresh Senapaty during the announcement of the company’s financial results in Bangalore on Friday. — PTI
Haryana ahead of Gujarat in economic development: Hooda
Polls to help economy grow by 6.4% this fiscal: Goldman
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Adani faces Rs 200 crore fine
CII tourism fest on Dec 5-7 to promote northern states
Indians make the most as gold prices nosedive
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Wipro outlook points to uneven recovery for IT outsourcers
Bangalore/Mumbai, April 19 Wipro, India's third-largest software services provider, joined No. 2 player Infosys Ltdin delivering tepid revenue guidance, citing a delay in the closure of deals. The forecasts contrast with a more bullish outlook issued by industry leader Tata Consultancy Services that had raised expectations IT spending by clients in the United States and Europe was improving. "If Wipro had been able to make a recovery, then it would have told you that there is a rising demand tide that is lifting most of the boats," said Kuldeep Koul, an analyst at ICICI Securities in Mumbai. Wipro, whose customers include Apple Inc, projected fiscal first-quarter revenue for its IT services business in a range of $1.58 billion to $1.61 billion — a decline of 0.6% to a rise of 1.6% over the previous quarter. Analysts had expected a rise of 1% to 4%. A more sanguine TCS, which does not issue specific revenue guidance, said it expects full-year revenue growth to beat the forecast issued by the National Association of Software & Services Companies. Nasscom expects export growth in the fiscal year that started this month of 12 to 14 percent, a figure widely used as a proxy for overall industry growth. In the just-completed year, export revenue in the $108 bn sector rose 10.2%. Further ratcheting up what is already a competitive sector, US-listed Cognizant Technology Solutions has been steadily gaining market share. "Very clearly Cognizant and TCS are going in one direction — TCS is much ahead and then there's also HCL Technologies, and Mahindra Satyam if you look at their last few quarters," said Sudin Apte, CEO of Offshore Insights, an outsourcing advisory firm based near Mumbai. "The bottom line is that things have changed dramatically, and what clients want, requirements, the account management, and expectations on capabilities have all changed. In the new environment some companies have adapted themselves and others have not yet," Apte said. DELAYED DEALS: Some of the deals that Wipro had expected to close in the March quarter had been delayed to the current quarter, Suresh Senapaty, Wipro's chief financial officer, told reporters. "While we don't give a specific guidance and we're starting the year with a little weaker guidance ... our expectation would of course be that we'll do better in the current fiscal than what we did last year," he said. In another sign that a robust recovery in demand remains elusive, US-based IBM Corp, which employs roughly 100,000 people in India, on Thursday missed earnings estimates as it struggled to close deals in the United States and Europe. Last week, Infosys gave a full-year dollar-revenue growth forecast of 6-10 percent. That dimmed investor hopes that it will soon benefit from a strategic revamp aimed at boosting revenue from software products and consultancy-led services. Its shares plunged 21 percent. On the other hand, TCS and HCL Technologies, ranked fourth in the industry by revenue, both reported strong results this week. "The signals that are coming out from the results of different firms are very different from each other," said Gajendra Nagpal, CEO of Unicon Financial Intermediaries, New Delhi. "But there are pockets of encouragement as far as specific firms are concerned." In its fourth quarter ended March 31, Wipro's consolidated net profit rose 17% to Rs 17.29 billion from Rs 14.81 billion a year earlier, compared with the Rs 17 bn average of 19 brokerage estimates according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. — Reuters
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Haryana ahead of Gujarat in economic development: Hooda
New Delhi, April 19 In a reply to a query whether Haryana had any plans to adopt the Gujarat development model, Hooda said: “I know only about the Haryana model of development, which is very successful and can be verified on the four basic parameters to evaluate the growth story of any state — per capita income, investment and planned expenditure and resource mobilization. Gujarat is not ahead of Haryana in any of these four parameters”. |
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Polls to help economy grow by 6.4% this fiscal: Goldman
Mumbai, April 19 "We reiterate our above-consensus GDP growth forecast of 6.4%. The key to an improvement in activity is a pickup in the investment cycle," it said in a report. It said higher government capex coupled with falling rates and policy reforms to ease bottlenecks and manufacturing export growth will drive investments during the ongoing fiscal. Yesterday, the UN pegged the calender 2013 growth at 6.4%, while the ADB last projected that the domestic economy would reach 6% in the current fiscal. In the budget, the government had pegged growth at between 6.1 and 6.7%. Rating agency Crisil had lowered its FY14 growth estimate to 6% from the earlier 6.4% earlier this week. Official estimates suggest the economy might have expanded 5% in the recently concluded fiscal, the lowest in ten years. "The year before the elections is generally associated with increased government spending. Indeed, government spending (as a percentage of GDP) has increased the year before the elections, in each of the last four general elections," it said. While stating this also increased the possibility of a higher fiscal deficit, it called it a "positive stimulus to the economy." Crisil had cast doubts whether the government will be able to achieve its stated objective of reigning-in fiscal deficit at 4.8%. Among other reasons cited include the expected lowering of interest rates by the RBI besides a drive on the policy front to expedite projects. "Ongoing policy reforms to de-bottleneck infrastructure and other investments, particularly, the Cabinet Committee on Investments can help," the Goldman Sachs report said. Additionally other factors like the improvement in the global economic climate will also act as a "tailwind," Goldman said. The report pointed out to data displaying some "greenshoots" like that on the index of industrial production, exports, and non-food credit. — PTI
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Adani faces Rs 200 crore fine
New Delhi, April 19 There is incontrovertible evidence that the Adani port and SEZ projects at Mundra in Gujarat violated environmental norms, the 5-member committee headed by CSE director Sunita Narain said. Due to noncompliance of environmental clearance rules by the company, there has been widespread destruction of mangroves and deterioration and loss of creeks near the proposed North Port, the panel report noted, which was officially presented to Environment Minister Jayanthi Natarajan on Thursday. “75 hectares of mangroves have been lost in Bocha Island, which was declared as a conservation zone”, the report stated.
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CII tourism fest on Dec 5-7 to promote northern states
Chandigarh, April 19 CII Northern Region chairman Jayant Davar said the event, the first of its kind, will be organized with the partnership of all northern state governments in Chandigarh from December 5 to 7 with domestic as well international participation. — TNS |
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Indians make the most as gold prices nosedive
Singapore, April 19 The price decline in the past week, the steepest in 30 years, has tarnished gold's appeal for the portfolio investors whose money had fuelled a 12-year bull run. As investors rush out, consumers that were priced out of the market for years have rushed in. "It's just like the sales after Christmas," said Nigel Moffatt, treasurer at Perth Mint, which refines between 300 and 400 tonnes of precious metals each year at what it says is the largest facility in the southern hemisphere. "Anything you could buy US $200 cheaper today than you could last week becomes fairly tempting. It is surprising how such enormous liquidation brings such enormous interest at the other end from small investors. What we keep in terms of retail stocks, yes, they are being depleted fairly quickly. As usual, it appears that China is leading the charge." India is the world's top gold consumer, accounting for 20 percent of global demand. The fall in prices is well-timed for consumers there, coming during the wedding season and ahead of the festival of Akshaya Tritiya, which falls next month and during which gold buying is traditional. "My sales are 50% more than last year ... and we expect good business to continue as weddings will last till July," said Kumar Jain at his shop in Zaveri Bazaar, India's biggest gold market, in Mumbai. "We got to know from a news channel that prices are down, so we came to buy a gift for our nephew, who is getting married... I even think this is once in a lifetime opportunity," said 41-year old Rajesh Mehta, who bought 22 grams of gold in two chains worth more than Rs 50,000 ($920). Banks have hiked premiums for gold bars in India to $1.75 to $2.25 an ounce above spot London prices, up from $1.25 to $1.50 last month. One wholesaler said demand was so strong that the wait for gold bar deliveries was 10 days instead of one or two. Gold bar premiums reflect the strength of retail demand. — Reuters Gold rallies 1.5 per cent but still set for fourth week of losses
Gold rebounded above US $1,400 an ounce on Friday as strong buying of coins and bars continued, primarily in Asia, but prices were still on course for a fourth week of losses after a brutal selloff. Analysts said more weakness could be on the cards, including further outflows from exchange-traded funds due to nagging worries about central bank sales and the possibility of economic recovery, which would reduce the need for further monetary stimulus. Gold rose 1.5% to $1,412.56 by 1032 GMT. The metal hit a two-year low of $1,321.35 on Tuesday and was still set for a weekly loss of 4.5%. US gold futures for June delivery rose 1.4% to $1,412.40. — Reuters |
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Wipro Ltd's weaker-than-expected quarterly sales forecast highlighted a gap in performance among India's four biggest IT exporters and a still shaky recovery in client demand.
