New Delhi. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) has reported a 1.1 percent quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) decline in net profit for the second quarter ended September. The company's profit stood at Rs 11,909 crore this quarter. This figure is lower than market expectations. The operational revenue of India's largest IT services company for Q2 FY24 stood at Rs 64,259 crore.

Moneycontrol's survey of 10 brokerages had estimated TCS' July-September net profit at Rs 12,420 crore and revenue at Rs 63,938 crore. TCS has also declared a second interim dividend of Rs 10 per share. The company has already set Friday, October 18, 2024, as the record date to determine the eligibility of shareholders. Earlier, the company had paid an interim dividend of Rs 10 on July 19, 2024.

Operating margin fell
The IT major's Q2 operating margin stood at 24.1 percent, down from 24.7 percent in the previous quarter. Net margin stood at 18.5 percent. TCS added 5,726 employees during the quarter. As per H1FY25, TCS added nearly 11,000 associates after a year of low hiring. Analysts had expected the Q2 earnings of this IT giant of the Tata Group to be driven by a surge in major deals.

What the company said
TCS Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director K. Krithivasan said, “The cautious trend of the last few quarters continued in this quarter as well. Amidst the uncertain geopolitical situation, our largest vertical, BFSI, showed signs of improvement. We also saw strong performance in our growth markets.”

TCS' total order book stood at $8.6 billion, a decline of 23.2% YoY and a growth of 3.61% quarter-on-quarter. TCS struck several deals in the retail sector during the quarter, including Primark, McDonald's, and Croma. The company is currently executing around 600 AI/Gen AI projects in its pipeline.