Wipro profit growth slows

Wipro Ltd, India's third-largest provider of software services, said profit growth slowed for a seventh straight quarter, missing estimates, as customers reduced technology spending amid the global recession.

Third-quarter net income rose 8.7 percent to 8.98 billion rupees ($183 million) in the three months ended Dec 31, from 8.26 billion rupees a year earlier, Bangalore-based Wipro said yesterday. Profit missed the 9.8 billion rupee median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of six analysts.

Chairman Azim Premji is under pressure to cut prices as the deepening global recession hurts customers from Cisco Systems Inc to Citigroup Inc. Premji may also find it harder to win orders overseas after a $1 billion fraud at Satyam Computer Services Ltd and Wipro's disclosure of a World Bank ban on contracts to the company threaten to tarnish the image of India's software makers.