Wipro Lowers Q1 Profits By Rs 18.6 Crore

Wipro Ltd has lowered its profits for the first quarter of 2002-03 by Rs 18.6 crore, after its joint venture Wipro-GE Medical Systems reported higher losses for the period than previously reported.

The joint venture had earlier reported a loss of Rs 3.8 crore of which Wipro's share was Rs 1.8 crore. With the joint venture reporting higher losses, the losses for Wipro have gone up by Rs 18.6 crore. Therefore, Wipro Ltd's profits for the quarter ending June 30, 2002, now stand at Rs 144.4 crore, and not Rs 163 crore as stated earlier.

Wipro GE Medical Systems is a joint venture between Wipro and GE Medical Systems. Wipro owns 49 per cent in the joint venture while the rest is with GE.

"The joint venture has undergone a lot of changes recently: the introduction of a new IT system, the increase in import duty and an aggressive programme of new product launches, which has led to higher losses," Wipro's chief financial officer Suresh Senapathy told Business Standard.

Wipro executive J Shankar said the higher losses were discovered after GE sent a task force to India to find out the reasons for the joint venture