TCS Q3 net at Rs 643 crore

Mumbai: Better prices, better realisations, more offshoring and robust other income of Rs141 crore (consolidated, under Indian Generally Accepted Accounting Principles - GAAP), largely from foreign exchange hedging gains, has led to Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) reporting increased revenues and profits for the third quarter ended December 31, 2004.

The board of directors of TCS will be meeting next week to consider a second interim dividend for the year, as the company had already announced an interim dividend in October last year, said S Mahalingam, chief financial officer, TCS, at a news conference here on Thursday.

The company has reported a net profit of Rs 643 crore for the third quarter ending December 31, 2004, while income from operations amounted to Rs2,096 crore, with other income at Rs123 crore. On a consolidated basis, net profit for the quarter amounted to Rs 718 crore, with total income at Rs2,691 crore.

The year-on-year growth in these figures could not be provided, since the results for the corresponding period of the previous fiscal under Indian GAAP could not be made available, TCS having been a division of Tata Sons during that time, said S Mahalingam.

According to the comparative figures available under US GAAP, the company has reported a 54 per cent growth in net income after tax at Rs709 crore, up from Rs460 crore reported for the corresponding quarter of the previous year. Revenues were up 38.2 per cent at Rs2,578 crore from Rs1,866 crore. The company expects to cross the $2-billion mark in the current fiscal, said Mahalingam.