Tata Consultancy Services reports slip in second-quarter profit

REUTERS - India's biggest software services exporter, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS), reported a two percent decline in second-quarter profit on Thursday, held back by sluggish growth in the banking and retail sector.

All segments of the business, except the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) and retail sectors, grew revenue above 9.5 percent, the company said in a filing. http://bit.ly/2geOtPJ

BFSI is by far the company's biggest contributor to revenue.

"With the sectoral headwinds slowly abating, we expect steadier and stronger growth ahead," said chief operating officer and executive director N Ganapathy Subramaniam.

Net profit attributable to shareholders was 64.46 billion rupees ($990 million) in the three months to Sept. 30, beating analysts' average estimate of 63.06 billion rupees, Thomson Reuters data showed.

TCS, part of salt-to-software conglomerate Tata Group, said it added 15,868 employees in the quarter. It said earlier this year it would increase local hiring in the United States as it prepares for possible change in the visa system for Indian workers.

TCS is the first among India's software services exporters to report earnings for July-September. Wipro Ltd is scheduled to report next week.

($1 = 65.1175 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Tanvi Mehta in Bengaluru; editing by Jason Neely and Elaine Hardcastle)