India's Wipro Q1 profit rises 15 pct, lags forecast
BANGALORE, July 18 (Reuters) - Wipro Ltd (WIPR.BO), India's third largest information technology outsourcer, missed forecasts with a 15 percent rise in quarterly profit, as the global economic downturn hurt demand from its major Western clients.
Wipro, which offers IT solutions such as system integration, software application development and back-office services, said on Friday net profit rose to 8.14 billion rupees ($190 million) in its fiscal first quarter ended June, from 7.10 billion reported a year ago under U.S. accounting rules.
A Reuters poll had forecast a net profit of 9.02 billion rupees for Bangalore-based Wipro, which counts telecoms gear makers Cisco (CSCO.O), Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX), Nortel NT.N and Nokia Siemens Networks [NSN.UL] among its clients.
Shares in Wipro, which also has minor interests in computer hardware, consumer products and lighting, rose 3 percent in the June quarter, trailing a 13 percent rise in the sector index .BSEIT but outperforming a 14 percent drop in the Mumbai index .BSESN. ($1=42.82 rupees) (Reporting by Sumeet Chatterjee; Editing by Ranjit Gangadharan and Louise Heavens)
