Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the country's largest software exporter, on Thursday reported a 2.8 per cent year-on-year rise in its net profit at Rs 32,340 crore for the financial year ended March 31, 2020, led by double-digit growth in life sciences and healthcare business.
The Mumbai-headquartered company had posted net profit of Rs 31,427 crore in the financial year 2018-19.
The IT major posted 7.1 per cent growth in revenue at Rs 1.57 lakh crore in FY20 as compared to Rs 1.46 lakh crore in FY19.
Segment wise, revenue growth for FY20 was led by 16.2 per cent rise in life sciences and healthcare business, followed by communications and media (9.3%) and manufacturing (7%). Retail and CPG (4.2%) and Technology and Services (3.5%), among others.
In terms of markets, Europe was top performer with 11.9 per cent growth, followed by UK (5.4%), Latin America (3.9%), Asia Pacific (3.5%) and Middle East and Africa (1.3%). North America grew by merely 0.2 per cent, while India business declined by 1.9 per cent.
For the fourth quarter ended March 31, 2020, TCS reported net profit of Rs 8,093 crore compared to Rs 8,152 crore in the same quarter last year. Revenue stood at Rs 39,946 crore versus Rs 38,010 crore in Q4FY19, up 5.1 per cent.
Rajesh Gopinathan, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director said, "The pandemic completely reversed the positive momentum that we had started seeing in some of our biggest verticals in the first half of the quarter. On the positive side, we had very strong deal closures during the quarter. fn fact, our order book this quarter is the largest ever, from the time we started reporting the metric. Organizations across the world are realizing the need for operational and systems resilience.."
In the financial year 2020, TCS hired 24,179 employees on a net basis, taking up the total headcount to 448,464 as of March 31, 2020. "The workforce is young and very diverse, comprising 144 nationalities and with women making up 36.2 per cent of the workforce," the company said.
''Amidst this unprecedented situation, we ramped up our associate engagement across four dimensions -personal wellbeing, work engagement, learning & development, and social engagement. The outcomes hove been excellent. Despite the stresses of being under a lockdown, morale is good. We have seen associates show a stranger sense of ownership of outcomes," said Mllind Lakkad, Global Head, Human Resources.
"By 2025, we believe our associates will spend only 25 per cent of their time in an office," Lakkad added.
The board of TCS also recommended a final dividend of Rs 6 per equity share of Rs 1 each of the company which shall be paid on the fourth day from the conclusion of the annual general meeting, subject to approval of the shareholders of the company.
As on March 31, 2020, the company has applied for 5,216 patents, including 210 applied during the quarter, and has been granted 1,341 patents.
Ahead of earnings announcement, shares of TCS closed Thursday's trade at Rs 1,715.60 , down 1.09 per cent against previous close of Rs 1734.45.
Also Read: Wipro loses $14 -$16 million to coronavirus in March quarter, skips revenue guidance for Q1FY21
Also Read: TCS Q4 earnings preview: Coronavirus likely to hit revenue; all eyes on future outlook