New Delhi: The mystery surrounding the revenues of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is finally over. TCS today said its revenues stood at Rs 4,187 crore for the year ended March 31, 2002. This is 35 per cent higher than its revenues of Rs 3,142.43 crore for the previous year.

This is the first time that TCS, a division of Tata Sons, has made public its revenue figures. However, the company has still not divulged its profits for the year.

"Our profitability is in line with that of the top Indian software companies. We are working on the final numbers," TCS executive vice-president Phiroz Vandrevala said here today.

The revenues of Rs 4,187 crore do not include the revenues from CMC Ltd, a company acquired by TCS in October 2001.

For the financial year ended March 31, 2002, CMC’s revenues stood at Rs 560 crore. If this is taken into account, TCS' revenues for the year ended March 31, 2002, would be Rs 4,747 crore.

The combined revenue is Rs 1,265 crore more than that of Wipro and Rs 2,144 crore more than that of Infosys.

According to Vandrevala, the company is looking at a revenue growth in line with the growth of the Indian software industry. "We will grow at least in line with the industry growth rates," he said.

Stating that TCS had started work on its proposed initial public offering (IPO), Vandrevala said, "We are working on migrating to US GAAP at present. We will come out with the exact numbers soon."

He said the company would have to do a lot of preparatory work in the areas of accounting, manpower and revenue analysis.

He, however, declined to comment on the timing of the IPO saying, "No time-frame can be fixed at this point of time as preparations have just started."

He said the corporatisation of TCS--TCS is currently a division of Tata Sons--would happen just prior to the IPO.

"Work is on. The formulation of the company would happen just before the IPO," Vandrewala said.

TCS is also on a hiring spree. The company is targeting to appoint at least 3,000 people in the current financial year.

"We will meet this target by a mix of campus and direct recruitment. We think we will induct about 2,500 people from campuses."

As part of its initiatives in China, TCS today announced the launch of Tata Information Technology (Shanghai) Co Ltd, a subsidiary of Tata Sons, in Shanghai.

Besides Shanghai, where the entity would be headquartered, the company will have a marketing and client relationship management office in Beijing, which will provide support services in northeast and northwest China.

In Hangzhou, TCS would set up a development centre to provide end-to-end services for clients in the Asia-Pacific region, Vandrevala said.

The China operations would have 150 people in the first year, which would comprise deputed professionals and hired ones.

The Chinese firm had bagged orders from existing clients AIG and GE, he said adding that the company was working towards acquiring local clients also.

The company will be operational in the next 60 days with an investment of $1 million to start with.