Wipro Ltd, country's No. 3 software services exporter, roughly met expectations with a 7.7 per cent rise in quarterly net profit, and forecast muted revenue growth for its key IT services unit due to a fragile global economy.

The company, which also makes computer hardware, soaps and toiletries, said it expects June quarter revenue of $1.52 billion to $1.55 billion at its IT services unit, a rise of 0.6 per cent from the March quarter at the top end of the range.

At 9.33 am Wipro share was down 6.66 % at 412.95.

Most analysts were expecting Wipro to forecast a 2-4 per cent rise in the IT services revenue, which contributes about three-quarters of the group's sales.

Wipro and larger rivals Infosys Ltd and Tata Consultancy Services are part of country's $100 billion software and back-office services sector that earns about 70 per cent of its revenue from the United States and Europe.

Wipro's results comes after Infosys's worse-than-expected forecast put a pall on the export-driven outsourcing sector.

Consolidated net profit at Wipro, whose clients include Citigroup Inc and Telenor ASA, rose to Rs 1481 crore ($281 million) for the fiscal fourth quarter ended March 31 from Rs 1375 crore a year earlier.

Analysts, on average, had forecast a net profit of Rs 1505 crore, according to Thomson Reuters.

Revenue rose 19 percent to 98.69 billion rupees as the company added 41 clients in the quarter.

The IT services unit reported sales of $1.54 billion in January-March, rising 2 per cent from the December quarter.

Country's outsourcing sector faces a challenging year due to growing competition, an uncertain global economy and rising U.S. rhetoric against shipping of jobs to low-cost locations.

Top-ranked TCS on Monday met market expectations with its earnings and its CEO N. Chandrasekaran said the company would beat the 11-14 per cent growth estimated by an industry group for the sector for 2012/13.

Wipro shares, valued at $20 billion, are up 11 percent so far this year, in line with gains in the broader Mumbai market but outperforming the sector index which is down 3 per cent in 2012.

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com