• Profit after tax at Rs1,291 crore, up 7 per cent y-o-y
• Major markets — US, UK, Europe — grow at 8 per cent q-o-q
• Cash and liquid Investments cross $1billion
• Pro-active cost control programme to maintain operating margins
• New vertical organisation structure drives full services play
• TCS reported its consolidated Indian GAAP financial results for the first quarter ended June 30, 2008.

Highlights for quarter ended June 30, 2008 (Indian GAAP)

• Revenues up 6 per cent q-o-q
• Profit after tax up 4 per cent q-o-q
• EPS at Rs13.19
• 35 new clients added
• 8,982 employees joined the company
• Attrition at 12.8 per cent LTM (including BPO)
• Dividend at Rs3 per share announced

Chief executive officer and managing director, S Ramadorai said: “We have been able to respond to the challenging macro environment and drive growth in the business under tough operating conditions and manage costs. TCS is cautiously optimistic about the rest of the year.”

S Mahalingam, chief financial officer and executive director, said: “TCS is focused on extracting greater operational efficiencies through rigorous cost management programs that have helped us hold operating margins steady in Q1 despite the impact of the annual wage increases during this quarter.”

“Major markets, North America, UK and Europe grew at eight per cent despite a challenging external scenario,” said N Chandrasekaran, chief operating officer and executive director. “Traction in the manufacturing, life sciences and retail verticals has helped drive growth in Q1. Our diversified business mix, portfolio of offerings and blue-chip clients across sectors places us in good position to deliver growth on our large base in the coming quarters.

Full services play continued to get traction with key service lines including ADM, infrastructure and assurance services contributing to growth in this quarter. TCS’ Engineering and Industrial Services along with IT services is enabling TCS to provide a total full services offering to clients in manufacturing and hi-tech verticals, while the Global Consulting Practice is actively engaged by customers for IT optimisation and overall IT strategy and governance related engagements. TCS’ Platform-based BPO in HRO is beginning to gain traction with many global customers. “

“Our retention rates for employees continue to be the highest in the industry and we remain on course with our hiring plans for this financial year. We are also working to increase the productivity and utilization rates of our employees,” said Ajoy Mukherjee, vice president, head, global human resources.

TCS’ attrition rate in Q1 was 12.8 per cent overall with 12.1 per cent attrition rate in the IT services business and 20.5 per cent attrition rate in BPO. At the end of Q1, the total employee strength of the company was 116,308, from 64 nationalities. Foreign nationals formed 9.2 per cent of the total employee base and 29 per cent were women.

Utilisation in Q1 FY09 was 78.3 per cent (excluding trainees) and 74.6 per cent (including trainees). There was a gross addition of 8,982 employees of which 4,495 were trainees and 2,905 were experienced professionals in India and 1,582 employees in overseas subsidiaries and branches in Q1. The net addition was 4,895 employees.