Tech Mahindra's Profit Takes A Hit As Visa Curbs Push Up Costs

New Delhi: IT company Tech Mahindra today reported a 31 per cent decline in its consolidated net profit to Rs 588 crore for the three months to March 2017. The company had posted net profit of Rs 854.8 crore in the same period a year ago.
 
Consolidated revenue of Tech Mahindra increased by 8.8 per cent to Rs 7,495 crore in the reported quarter, from Rs 6,883.8 crore in the same period of 2015-16. "One question that has always been raised, is there life for IT after (US President Donald) Trump? I am glad to say we are alive and kicking. Yes. It has brought a certain amount of challenges to us, but this is not confined to the US. We are seeing these phenomenon globally and increasingly barriers, some overt and some not so overt are being created to increase employment within the country," Tech Mahindra Vice-Chairman Vineet Nayyar said.
 
The cost of providing IT service has increased after some countries like the US and Australia started imposing visa restrictions.
 
Nayyar said the company has people working for it outside the country, which is around 7-8 per cent of its total workforce.
 
"What it means is... we increase our employment outside, which we will. Also remember there is no clarity where the work is done with the cloud and other things. That is  another way in which we will perhaps function in a fashion that local employment as a proportion of whole may come down and you may increase the Indian component," Nayyar said.
 
For 2016-17, the company posted 6 per cent decline in net profit at Rs 2,812.9 crore compared to Rs 2,992.9 crore at the end of 2015-16.
 
Revenue at the end of 2016-17 increased by 9.9 per cent to Rs 29,140.8 crore, from Rs 26,494.2 crore at the end of the previous fiscal.
 
The stock of Tech Mahindra closed up by 0.61 per cent at Rs 429.35 on the BSE today.

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