New Delhi, October 19
Tata Consultancy Services, India's largest software services firm, on Friday reported a profit after tax of Rs 3,512 crore, up 44% year-on-year. The company's results beat expectations, as more overseas clients turned to its outsourcing services to cut costs.

The company reported sales of Rs 15,621 crore versus a poll of Rs 15,460 crore. This is a rise of 34.3% YoY and 5.1% QoQ. The operating income came in at Rs 4,179 crore, which is a growth of 32.5 YoY and 2.2 % QoQ.

The IT major announced the appointment of a new chief financial officer, Rajesh Gopinathan. He will take over the post after existing CFO S. Mahalingam retires.

Commenting on the results, TCS CEO N. Chandrasekaran said, "There's little doubt that technology is playing a more pivotal role to shape the future of every industry than ever before." "Our execution excellence is winning recognition and our service offerings remain relevant for customers," he added.

Ahead of the results, the stock closed at Rs 1290.30, down 1.14% on the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Last Friday, Infosys kicked off the IT sector earnings season by reporting a profit after tax of Rs 2,370 crore versus Rs 2,289 crore in the last quarter.

In dollar terms, the company's net profit stood at US $431 million (up 4.8%), while revenues were up 2.9% to $1.79 billion. The company has maintained its dollar revenue forecast to be at least $7.34 billion (a growth of 5% YoY).

The company disappointed the Dalal Street with its sales guidance, pulling down the scrip. Infosys cut its rupee revenue growth guidance from Rs 40,364 crore to Rs 39,582 crore for the year, because of the rupee’s appreciation in the last three months. — Agencies

To hire 12,500 more from campus this fiscal

TCS said it would hire 12,500 more employees through campus recruitment this year. "For induction next year, we will be hiring 25,000 from campuses and we've already hired 12,500," HR head Ajoy Mukherjee said. "We've hired 18,654 this quarter in India. We’re sticking to our hiring plans." Earlier this year TCS had said it would add about 50,000 employees in FY13.

Bangalore/New Delhi, Oct 19
Grounded airline Kingfisher expects to start flying again on November 6 if the Directorate General of Civil Aviation gives the go-ahead, the debt-laden company said on Friday.

The debt-ridden carrier said it might resume operations subject to the “resumption plan being reviewed and approved by the DGCA”.

Kingfisher Airlines has given its response after the aviation regulator asked the carrier why its licence to fly should not be cancelled for failing to provide a "safe, efficient and reliable service" but a spokesman for the company declined to comment on what that response was.

"Currently we anticipate resuming operations on November 6, subject to our resumption plan being reviewed and approved by the DGCA," Kingfisher said in a statement.

The airline last week said its planes would remain grounded until October 20, having stopped flying at the beginning of the month after an employee protest turned violent.

Kingfisher, which declared a partial lockout on Oct 1 following strike by its employees in protest against nonpayment of salaries, added that the lockout was being extended up to Oct 23.

A press statement quoting Prakash Mirpuri, vice-president of the airline’s corporate communication wing, said the Kingfisher management “had a positive meeting with employee representatives on October 17”, adding the management was “hopeful of reaching common ground” when the two sides met again next week.

Struggling to pay its bills, the airline is seven months behind in salary payments and staff protests started last month when a group of engineers refused to certify the airworthiness of planes.

On Wednesday, the regulator failed to approve Kingfisher's proposed winter schedule of flights.

New Delhi, October 19
As the deadline for filing application for the forthcoming 2G spectrum auction passed on Friday evening, incumbent GSM operators made a beeline to participate in the auction as the cash strapped state-owned operators BSNL and MTNL along with Indo-Russian joint venture Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd and the Ambanis chose to opt out.

Having kept all guessing till the last moment, the Ambani brothers have chosen not to put in any applications at all. While Anil Ambani-owned Reliance Communications was expected to be part of the auction, there was strong speculation that Mukesh Ambani controlled Reliance Industries would be making a big splash with an entry in the auction process which would begin on November 12 and mark his entry into the mobile segment.

So, on the face of it, neither Reliance Communications nor Reliance Industries would be participating in the auctions directly. While the under heavy debt RCom already has licence to run the CDMA and the GSM services, Reliance Industries is getting ready to make its presence felt strongly in the Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) segment.

The other absentees from the auction would be the SSTL, which said that it has already filed a curative petition in the Supreme Court and locked in a bitter dispute with the government over the cancellation of its licences by the Supreme Court last February and the public sector BSNL and MTNL.

The government has fixed a base price of Rs 14,000 crore for 5 MHz of pan-India spectrum, which is more than seven times than what carriers paid in earlier sales where airwaves were bundled with telecom permits.

Cash-strapped BSNL and MTNL have already approached the Department of Telecommunications in the past for surrendering Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) spectrum.

New Delhi, October 19
The much awaited Aadhaar enabled system for direct cash transfer to beneficiaries of government schemes such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and pensions will be launched on Saturday by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Dudu, Rajasthan.

This coincides with the second anniversary of Aadhar which has generated 20 crore numbers. The 21st crore Aadhaar number will be handed over by Singh to the resident on Saturday.

The Aadhaar enabled service delivery application utilizes an Aadhaar number’s property of uniqueness and linkage with various government schemes services database to identify beneficiaries.

Addressing a press conference, Nandan Nilekani, head of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which is piloting the rollout, said Aadhar will complete 60 crore enrollments — or 1 out of 2 — persons by 2014.

Nilekani said this initiative would reduce leakages, diversions in government schemes and improving compliance management and increased efficiency and accountability in service delivery apart from savings for the government. He added Aadhaar as the foundation of electronic transfer of funds to beneficiaries of various schemes should yield significant benefits.

Mumbai, October 19
Tobacco firm ITC Ltd, which makes four out of every five cigarettes sold in India, met estimates with a 22 percent rise in quarterly profit as higher sales prices for its smokes protected margins from stagnant volume growth.

The company, India's fourth biggest by market cap, has raised prices by around 15% since the start of this year to offset the impact of higher taxes and tighter anti-smoking regulations in several Indian states.

These taxes and laws have restricted volume growth, which was almost flat with only a 0.3-0.4% rise after a decline in the previous quarter, according to three analysts briefed by the company on its quarterly results. The company's net profit rose to Rs 18.36 billion for the quarter ended September 30, up from Rs 15.1 billion a year earlier.

"The results are good but I am not jumping on this performance ... volume growth is still looking like a struggle," said an analyst with a foreign brokerage who spoke on condition of anonymity.

ITC, which is 30.8% owned by British American Tobacco PLC, generates about half its revenue from cigarettes.

As Indian anti-smoking laws tighten, that core business is coming under greater pressure, and the firm is stepping up its efforts to move into other product categories.

"They’ve stepped up their diversification plans recently so that is a positive. They are going in the right direction," said G. Chokkalingam, executive director & CIO at Centrum Wealth Management, who has been buying the stock for the past three months. "In a few years we expect cigarettes to be a small part of the business," he said.

ITC, which also owns hotels and makes products including soap and shampoo, said net sales from its non-cigarette consumer business grew 26% to Rs 17 bn. — Reuters