Tata Consultancy Services reports 16.8 percent jump in quarterly net profit

The company, which is popularly known as TCS and is part of the steel-to-tea Tata conglomerate, said net profit was 38.31 billion rupees ($641 million) for the first quarter to June, up from 32.8 billion rupees a year earlier.

Analysts had forecast a profit of about 37.6 billion rupees.

"We delivered yet another stellar quarter, driven by the highest volume growth over the last seven quarters," chief executive N. Chandrasekaran said in a statement.

TCS counts blue-chip companies such as British Airways, BP, Citigroup and Microsoft among its main clients.

In the three months to June, TCS completed its acquisition of French IT services firm Alti SA for 75 million euros($98 million).

The company said it also hired 1,350 people in the quarter and signed at least nine large deals.

TCS's rival Infosys last week reported a nearly four percent rise in quarterly net profit and kept its market forecast intact.

Infosys said net profit rose to 23.74 billion rupees ($396 million) for the first quarter to June, from 22.89 billion rupees a year earlier.

TCS and Infosys lead India's flagship IT outsourcing industry, which carries out a wide range of jobs for Western firms such as answering calls from bank customers, processing insurance claims and developing software.

India, with its large English-speaking workforce, accounts for at least 50 percent of the global outsourcing market.