Cognizant pips Wipro as 3rd-largest IT co

IT company Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp has overtaken Wipro by a small margin to emerge as the third largest IT company.

IT company Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp has overtaken Wipro by a small margin to emerge as the third largest IT company in India after TCS and Infosys during the quarter ended June 2011.

During the latest quarter,the companys revenue rose to $1.48 billion from $1.10 billion in the second quarter of 2010,a growth of 34.4 per cent. On the other hand,IT services revenues of Wipro were $1,436 million (Rs 6,405 crore) in the first quarter,an increase of 16 per cent on a year-on-year basis. Nasdaq-listed Cognizant has been steadily closing in on the gap between itself and the larger Indian IT players.

Cognizant has reported a 20.83 per cent jump in its net profit to $208.04 million for the second quarter ended June 30,on the back of strong demand for outsourcing services. The company had posted a net profit of $172.17 million in the same period last year,it said in a statement.

We continue to see stronger than anticipated demand for our increasing range of services across the industries we serve, Cognizant president and CEO Francisco DSouza said.

Over this past year,we have seen clients seeking our services not just to drive operational efficiencies,but also to transform their businesses to adapt to next generation technologies and to a new generation of born digital workers and consumers, he added. Looking ahead,the company said it is expecting a revenue of $1.57 billion in the third quarter. For the entire 2011 fiscal,it has projected a revenue of at least $6.06 billion,up 32 per cent from 2010. Strong cash flows during the quarter allowed us to increase our cash and short-term investment balances to approximately $2.27 billion,while expanding our share repurchase program, Cognizant chief financial and operating officer Gordon Coburn said.

As our business continues to expand to meet growing client demand,including over 7,100 net employee additions during Q2,we are successfully scaling our people,processes and infrastructure to support this growth and the increasing complexities of the business, Coburn said.

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