TCS shares fall nearly 2 pc after March quarter earnings announcement

NEW DELHI: Shares of IT major TCS declined nearly 2 per cent on Thursday during morning trade after its March quarter earnings failed to meet market expectations and the company flagged worries from its key market of North America.

The stock fell 1.88 per cent to Rs 3,181.10 on the BSE after a weak beginning.

At the NSE, it went lower by 1.87 per cent to Rs 3,181.

Weak trends were also witnessed in other IT counters, with Infosys, Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies and Wipro trading lower in morning trade.

In the broader market, the 30-share BSE Sensex quoted 66.62 points or 0.11 per cent lower at 60,302.05.

''TCS delivered a soft quarter, impacted by weakness in North America geography,'' according to a report by HDFC Securities.

The country's largest IT services exporter TCS on Wednesday reported a 14.8 per cent increase in March quarter net profit at Rs 11,392 crore but flagged worries from its key market of North America.

Events like the fall of SVB and fears of a contagion have impacted client sentiments in North America and the banking, financial services and insurance sector in particular, leading to clients deferring spends, the Tata Group company said.

When compared to the year-ago period, the revenues jumped 16.9 per cent to Rs 59,162 crore.

Its outgoing CEO Rajesh Gopinathan conceded that the 0.6 per cent growth in the topline over the December quarter has been ''weaker-than-anticipated'' because of the setbacks in North America.

For FY23, the company reported a 17.6 per cent growth in revenues at Rs 2.25 lakh crore while the profit-after-tax was 10 per cent higher at Rs 42,147 crore.

Brokerage firm Axis Securities said the results are below its expectations.