TCS working on e-governance, looking for woman on board

Tata Consultancy Services, India's largest software services provider, is working on projects of e-governance, which can help check corruption, Cyrus Mistry, chairman of the Tata Group as well as TCS, said on Friday.

Mistry told shareholders at the 19th Annual General Meeting of TCS in Mumbai that the company is looking to the appointment of a woman on its board, which is currently all-male. 

"TCS is involved in a number of e-governance projects in India and abroad. They can help curb corruption," he told shareholders.

He added that the city-headquartered firm will take up the issue of setting up new research and development (R&D) centres as and when the business warrants it.

On the appointment of a woman director, he said: "The nomination committee is looking into the appointment of a lady director." 

The Companies Act 2013, which came into effect in April 2014, prescribes that every listed firm and every public company with a paid-up share capital of Rs100 crore and above or turnover of Rs300 crore and above should appoint at least one woman director.

Mistry told the shareholders, "We have developed a safety app for ensuring safety of our lady employees."

He said TCS spending on 'corporate social responsibility' has gone up to Rs93 crore. "We've to do a lot more in that area," he added.

TCS posted industry-leading results in the 2013-14 financial year, with a record consolidated revenue of Rs81,809 crore (up 29.9 per cent) and net profit of Rs19,164 (up 37.7 per cent).

For the January-March quarter, it reported a 48.2 per cent jump in consolidated net profit to Rs5,357.6 against Rs3,615.64 crore a year earlier.

Consolidated revenue for the quarter was up 31.2 per cent to Rs 21,551.09 crore from Rs 16,430.09 crore in the year-ago period. The results are on India GAAP basis.

It added a net 9,751 employees in the fourth quarter and a net 24,268 employees during the entire financial year to take its head count to 300,464.