In a seasonally weak quarter, IT services firm Wipro on Friday beat street estimates with healthy growth recorded in revenues and operating margins, though the company gave a cautious revenue projection for the last quarter of this fiscal owing to uncertainty in macroeconomic environment.

Carving out of Indian business unit from the IT services segment and earnings from the acquired entity Alight HR Solutions in the third quarter also helped the Bengaluru-headquartered firm to post revenues at the upper end of its guidance.

Wipro reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 2,544 crore, up 34.9 per cent over the same period of previous fiscal. The flagship IT services business which accounted almost 97 per cent of its overall revenues, posted Rs 2,510 crore in net profit, a YoY growth of 29.6 per cent.

On consolidated basis, gross revenues of the company at Rs 15,060 crore, grew 10.2 per cent on YoY basis and 3.6 per cent sequentially.

Revenues from IT services business at Rs 14,666 crore, saw an increase of 13 per cent over the same period of previous fiscal. In sequential terms, IT services revenue grew 3.5 per cent. In USD terms, the IT services revenue stood at $2.046 billion, up seven per cent YoY, and 2.4 per cent sequentially, on constant currency basis.

"We had a strong performance in the third quarter where our revenues and operating margins have shown sound growth. All our industry verticals have grown, reflecting our strong execution capabilities," said Abidali Z Neemuchwala, CEO and Executive Director at Wipro.

Operating margins of the IT services firm improved 480 basis points in sequential basis to 19.8 per cent in the third quarter of ongoing fiscal. Separation of company's India business from the IT services revenues umbrella largely helped Wipro to register such expansion in margins while cross currency gain helped it to a larger extent.

"We are going to invest part of the benefit accrued from this margin expansion into newer technology areas and in our people," said Jatin Dalal, CFO at Wipro.

In the December quarter, while banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) grew 5.3 per cent in sequential term, energy, natural resources & utilities saw a 3.6 per cent QoQ rise. However, its manufacturing and technology verticals saw a decline in growth owing to seasonal factors.

"We have a strong pipeline of deals as we enter into the fourth quarter. Our revenue guidance in the range of $2.047-2.088 billion, which is a growth of 0-2 per cent on sequential basis, has factored in the macroeconomic uncertainties," Neemuchwala said.

In the third quarter, employee addition on net basis was at 928, taking the total headcount to 172,379. Its attrition stood at 17.5 per cent, 100 bps improvement over the second quarter.