"Fact news" Wipro aiming to grow faster than industry average, says Kurien

TK Kurien, the Chief Executive officer of India's third largest software services provider, Wipro, has said that the company is aiming to record a growth rate that is higher than industry average in the 2013 fiscal year.

 The company has a respectable amount of projects in the pipeline and is also planning to announce a wage hike in 2013. It said that it expects revenue from IT services to be between US $ 1.52 and 1.55 billion in the first quarter. The company's fourth quarter net profit has increased 7.7 per cent to Rs 1,481 crore. The net sales of the company were up 19 per cent to Rs 9,836.3 crore.

The company had disappointed the market with a flat guidance for the first quarter but Kurien pointed out that the flat guidance is mainly due to the slowdown in the company's India business.

 On projects in pipeline, he said that, "As far as our pipeline is concerned on a global basis, it remains robust. In Q1 of the calendar year which is our Q4, we saw a little bit of a slowdown in terms of proactive deals closing. But that is now behind us and we are seeing disclosures starting in our Q1.

To that extent, on a full year basis, looking at our pipeline, we are not unduly concerned about growth." Kurien also said that the company does not announce full year guidance and only said that Wipro will strive to grow ahead of the market.