New Delhi: IT services giant, HCL Technologies has filed a fantastic jump of 23.2 percent in the net income for the first quarter ended September 30, 2007, paced by enhanced realisation per employee, more overseas orders and less dependence on the US market.

The company’s first quarter net income stood at Rs 308.4 crore, compared to Rs 250.2 crore in the corresponding quarter during the previous year. The fresh net income represented a drop sequentially, as foreign exchange incomes had boosted net income in the same period, last year.

Mr. Anil Chanana, Executive Vice-President - Finance, HCL Technologies, said, “The forex gain in the last quarter stood at $61.5 million and this quarter, it is $3.5 million. This is owing to the fact that there was almost 6-7 per cent appreciation of the rupee last quarter and since HCL covered its risks, it substantially gained from hedging. Second, we have now started recognising forex gain under the cash flow hedge accounting method. With this, about $55-million gain which accrued to us this quarter, has been taken into account in the balance sheet and not the Profit and Loss statement.”

In the same period, its revenues stood at Rs 1,709.2 crore, a 23.9 per cent growth from Rs 1,379.5 crore recorded in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

Mr Vineet Nayar, CEO of HCL Technologies, said, “In dollar terms, our revenues are up 42.8 per cent year-on-year and 8.4 per cent quarter-on-quarter. We are seeing higher realisations – a 43 per cent growth in revenues and only 25 per cent increase in headcount. So the strategy we put together on output-based pricing, larger deals, fixed price deals, and ‘blue ocean strategy’ is helping us depart from the manpower-driven growth and we are seeing it happening now.”

The company’s non-US business managed to achieve 62 percent growth year-on-year, reducing its dependency on the US market from 60 percent to 55 percent in the period.

Among the company’s different service lines, engineering and R&D services, infrastructure services, BPO and custom application services also reported accelerated growth during the first quarter. Continuing the trend of the last two quarter periods, the company’s other segments including life sciences, aerospace and automotive and financial services also recorded excellent growth.

As a whole, HCL Technologies has hired 3,625 employees on a net basis during the same period, raising total number of its workforce to 45,642 at the end of September.

HCL Technologies added 19 new customers in the list, and won an order worth $250 million. Other new contracts comprised a “multi-service, multi-year, multi-million dollar” order from Hercules Inc, a manufacturer of speciality chemicals.