Wipro’s revenue fall puts spotlight on CEO TK Kurien

BANGALORE: Wipro’s revenue for the June quarter fell 1.4% sequentially to $1.51 billion, coming in below its projected range and putting the spotlight on chief executive TK Kurien’s ability to engineer a sustained turnaround amid tough market conditions in the US and Europe.

India’s third-largest software exporter said revenue growth in the September quarter would be between 0.3% and 2.3%, indicating that the momentum is proving hard to come by. At $1.52-1.55 billion, it is guiding in the exact same range for the third quarter in a row. Wipro, founded by Azim Premji, topped its revenue forecast twice in succession before just about meeting the lower end of its guidance in the January-March quarter.

“Numbers were below our expectations,” said Abhishek Shindadkar, analyst at ICICI Securities. Wipro shares fell nearly 3% on BSE on Monday. The stock has underperformed the benchmark Sensex index by 17% so far this year.

Among the top-tier companies which have reported results so far, TCS has been the most optimistic in its assessment of business prospects for the IT services industry. Infosys continued with its downbeat commentary and lowered its revenue growth forecast for the year to around 5% from 8-10%.

Premji saw the glass as half full rather than half empty, pointing to the 0.3% revenue growth when viewed through the constant currency prism that takes into account the average exchange rate. Companies, he said, are keen on technology as an enabler of internal transformation, and it is up to service providers to offer solutions that meet customer needs.