India's Wipro misses qtrly profit view, sees muted Q2 IT services rev

BENGALURU, July 13 (Reuters) - Indias Wipro (WIPR.NS) reported first-quarter profit below estimates on Thursday as clients cut discretionary spending and forecast IT services revenue would remain largely flat for the current quarter.

The Bengaluru-based company said its second-quarter IT services revenue, which accounts for the majority of overall revenue, could range between $2.72 billion to $2.81 billion in constant currency terms, compared with $2.8 billion a year ago.

The muted forecast comes as earnings for Indian IT services companies started on a weaker note, with Wipros larger peers Tata Consultancy Services (TCS.NS) and HCLTech (HCLT.NS) flagging cut in discretionary spending by clients to save cash and uncertainty over demand.

Wipros net profit rose to 28.70 billion rupees ($349.66 million) for the quarter ended June 30, helped by large order wins. However, on a sequential basis, profit dropped 6.7%.

Analysts on average had expected a profit of 29.8 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv IBES data.

Revenue from operations increased 6% to 228.31 billion rupees.

($1 = 82.0786 Indian rupees)