Cognizant, Genpact raise hope amid the IT gloom

Though domestic IT majors like Infosys Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services and HCL Technologies painted a gloomy picture of the IT sector in the coming quarters, technology bellwether Cognizant Technology Solutions and Genpact, India’s largest Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) firm, not only posted better results but have also given decent guidance to the markets.

Nasdaq-listed Cognizant reported an 11 per cent year-on-year increase in net profit for the first quarter ended March 31, 2009. Its revenue, too, went up 16 per cent during the same period. It has reconfirmed its full-year revenue growth guidance of “at least” 10 per cent and revenue of around $3.1 billion. Its second quarter revenue is estimated to be at least $760 million (around Rs 3,800 crore).

NYSE-listed Genpact posted a 52 per cent year-on-year increase in its net income and 13 per cent rise in revenue during the same period. Sequentially, Genpact’s net income rose 61 per cent and net revenues were up 13 per cent from the trailing quarter. Revenues from clients other than GE grew 28 per cent.The company expects an annual revenue growth of 10-15 per cent from a base of $1.04 billion in 2008.