TCS misses first-quarter estimates

(Reuters) - Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India's biggest software services exporter, missed first-quarter profit estimates on Thursday as a stronger rupee hit revenue.

Consolidated net profit fell to 59.50 billion rupees ($923.20 million) for the three months to June 30 from 63.18 billion a year earlier, TCS said.

That was short of the 61.81 billion expected by analysts, Thomson Reuters data showed.

Chief Financial Officer V Ramakrishnan said in a statement that the rupee's appreciation against the dollar had meant a loss of 6.50 billion rupees ($100.87 million) in reported revenue.

The Indian rupee has appreciated about 5 percent this year.

India's more than $150 billion software services sector faces headwinds in its biggest market, the United States, as clients hold back technology spending due to President Donald Trump's order for a review of a visa programme for highly-skilled workers.

Indian IT firms use the H-1B visa programme to fly engineers and developers to service U.S. clients.

Mumbai-headquartered Tata added 11,202 employees in the quarter. It has said it will increase hiring in the United States and does not plan to cut its investment there.

TCS rival Infosys Ltd is due to report quarterly results on Friday.

($1 = 64.4400 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Tanvi Mehta in Bengaluru; editing by Mark Potter and Jason Neely)