IT major Wipro on Thursday posted a 27.7 percent jump in consolidated net profit at Rs 2,972 crore for the March 2021 quarter, and exuded confidence of sustaining strong growth momentum in the coming quarters.

Wipro had registered a net profit (attributable to equity holders) of Rs 2,326.1 crore in the year-ago period, as per Indian Accounting Standards (Ind-AS).

Its revenue from operations rose by 3.4 percent to Rs 16,245.4 crore in the reported quarter from Rs 15,711 crore in the same period last fiscal.

Maharashtra released the guidelines for the lockdown on Tuesday. The state has restricted all non-essential personnel from movement. Within the new guidelines, the state authorities have also limited the sale of non-essential goods through e-commerce.

Currently, all major e-commerce websites such as Amazon.in, Flipkart, JioMart and Reliance Digital have stopped taking orders for non-essential items from categories such as electronics, fashion, furniture and more. Only services and activities that fall in ‘essential category’ are exempted.

Amazon.in has stopped taking orders for pincodes in Maharashtra. The website through a banner on top of its webpage states, “In light of the latest government guidelines, we are taking orders of essential products only." Since more and more users might be switching to digital means to buy essentials, the Amazon site also claimed that “deliveries may take longer than normal."

Struggling to survive for over a year now, Indian tour operators have requested the government to reciprocally allow foreign tourists into the country. Tourist visas to India remain suspended since last March while India has in past few months increasingly opened its doors for foreigners on other visa categories. The Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) has also asked the government to consider allowing fully vaccinated foreign tourists into the country.

“The pandemic has hit all the sectors of the economy hard but the hardest hit is the tourism sector, especially the inbound one, which is almost nil since last one year.… urge the government to take steps that can help tour operators to tide over this crisis and remain in business,” IATO said in a statement on Tuesday.

IT services company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) kickstarted the earnings season on Monday by reporting a 14.9% rise in net profit at ₹9,246 crore for the quarter ended March, 2021 as compared to ₹8,049 crore in the same quarter last year. The company's revenue grew 9.4% to ₹43,705 crore from ₹39,946 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal, it added. The company's constant currency growth came at 4.2% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) and 5.9% YoY.

The operating margin in the fourth quarter (Q4) was reported at 26.8%, 0.2% expansion QoQ and 1.7% YoY. The company said that the board have recommended a Final Dividend of ₹15 per equity share. The company said its net addition is at 19,388 employees, highest ever in a quarter.    

The rupee fell sharply against the US dollar, approaching the 75 level against the US dollar. At day's low rupee fell to 74.97 before pulling back to 74.72, according to Bloomberg data, tracking weakness in other Asian currencies and a lackluster domestic equity market. The rupee had closed at 74.60 in the precious session.

Over the past four sessions, the domestic unit has lost 146 paise in its valuation against the US dollar.

Meanwhile, the dollar index, which gauges the greenback's strength against a basket of six currencies, rose 0.25% to 92.305.

On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex was trading flat at 49,723. Foreign institutional investors were net buyers in the capital market and purchased shares worth 110.85 crore on Thursday, according to exchange data.