Tata Consultancy Services on Wednesday reported a 16.8 per cent rise in quarterly profit, helped by large order wins.

India’s No. 1 software player posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 11,074 crore against Rs 9,478 crore a year ago.

Analysts were expecting muted results in a seasonally strong quarter and had forecast the net profit to come between Rs 10,900 crore and 11,400 crore.

Revenues rose 12.6 per cent during the quarter (Q1: April-June) from a year ago to Rs 59,381 crore. This was lower than the estimates of brokerages such as Motilal Oswal which had forecast revenues of Rs 59,600 crore.

But deal wins rose to $10.2 billion from $8.2 billion a year ago and $10 billion in the preceding quarter.

Speaking to the press after the results, K. Krithivasan, chief executive officer and managing director, TCS, said it was very difficult to predict a demand revival as that depends on the how the global economy does in the future.

He pointed out to the consistency in TCS’s deal wins and said that indicated clients are confident about the long-term, though they remain uncertain about the short-term prospects. Here, he said the deal conversion in Europe was taking a little longer than usual.

“The deal wins which are strong, supports our belief that investment in technology will remain strong. The near-term softness is due to uncertainty, as some of the not so key business-critical programmes are getting deferred.’’

The quarter saw TCS rolling out wage hikes which impacted its margins. according to Milind Lakkad, chief HR officer.

The company gave 12-15 per cent increments for exceptional performers in the latest annual compensation review and also commenced the promotions cycle even as rival Infosys has reportedly deferred a pay hike.

Operating margins consequently declined to 23.2 per cent on a sequential basis from 24.5 per cent.

Attrition declined to 17.8 per cent during the quarter.

At its board meeting Wednesday, the directors declared an interim dividend of Rs 9 per share.

HCL Tech

HCL Technologies reported a 7 per cent rise in its June quarter net profit on the back of new order wins.

Consolidated net profit of Rs 3,534 crore in April-June was up from Rs 3,324 crore in the same period a year back.

The company’s revenue at Rs 26,296 crore was down 1.2 per cent quarter-on-quarter but up 12.1 per cent year-on-year.