Bengaluru-based Wipro Ltd delivered a mixed bag for the September quarter, reporting a sequential dip in net profit and a sharp fall in large-deal bookings even as revenue growth in constant currency stayed flat. The results, announced on October 15 after market hours, come at a time when India’s fourth-largest IT services exporter is leaning heavily on artificial intelligence-led transformation deals to offset weak discretionary spending by clients.
Net profit for the second quarter of FY27 came in at Rs 3,201 crore, down 4.7 per cent sequentially and 1.9 per cent lower than the Rs 3,262 crore reported in the same quarter last year. Gross revenue stood at Rs 24,752 crore, up 1.1 per cent quarter-on-quarter and 9.1 per cent year-on-year. IT services revenue was $2,611.5 million, flat in constant currency terms sequentially and up just 0.6 per cent from a year ago.
The headline worry for investors was the deal pipeline. Total bookings for the quarter were $2.6 billion, down 22.9 per cent sequentially in constant currency. Large-deal bookings — total contract value of deals worth $30 million and above — plunged 58.6 per cent quarter-on-quarter to $674 million. That is a steep fall by any measure and suggests clients are signing off on fewer mega-sized transformation contracts than they were in the June quarter.
There were, however, some points of strength. IT services operating margin improved to 16.5 per cent, up 50 basis points sequentially, though it was 20 basis points lower than a year ago. Earnings per share stood at Rs 3.23, up 4.2 per cent year-on-year. Operating cash flow was a robust Rs 5,304 crore, up 61.3 per cent sequentially and equivalent to roughly 166 per cent of net income — a sign of healthy collections and working-capital discipline.
Chief Executive Officer Srini Pallia sought to reassure investors on the deal front, saying a few deals were awarded but had not yet been signed, and these would flow into the third quarter. He added that the US market — which accounts for the bulk of Wipro’s business — is doing very well, with a very strong pipeline of net-new, transformational, AI-specific deals. The commentary suggests the company expects AI-led engagements, rather than traditional cost-takeout outsourcing, to drive the next leg of growth.
Guidance for the December quarter was described as subdued. The company expects IT services revenue in the range of $2,571 million to $2,625 million for Q3 FY27, translating to a sequential change of minus 1.5 per cent to plus 0.5 per cent in constant currency terms. Analysts were widely expecting a cautious outlook given the softness in deal closures this quarter.
On the people front, voluntary attrition stood at 13.8 per cent on a trailing-twelve-month basis. Total headcount was 236,328 at the end of September, down from 243,044 at the end of the June quarter — a drop of roughly 6,700 employees. The company onboarded about 1,000 freshers in the first half of the fiscal year, reflecting a conservative approach to campus hiring amid muted demand visibility.
For investors, the Wipro print reinforces a familiar pattern in Indian IT this year: margins holding up through cost control while growth remains hostage to client decision-making cycles. The stock’s direction from here will likely hinge on whether those “awarded but unsigned” deals convert in the December quarter as management has promised, and whether the AI-specific pipeline begins to translate into reported bookings. Wipro’s peers, including TCS and Infosys, have struck a similarly cautious tone on deal momentum, making the December-quarter order book a key data point for the sector.
