HCL Technologies, India's fourth largest software services exporter, has reported a higher-than-expected rise in net profit for the July-September quarter.

HCL announced that its net profit rose 3.61 per cent to Rs 885 crore in the three months through September, driven by FOREX gains. Analysts on an average had projected net profit of Rs 788 crore.

EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation & amortization) jumped from Rs 1300.8 crore to settle at Rs 1351 crore; while EBITDA margin climbed by 23 basis points to 22.2 per cent quarter on quarter. Analysts had projected EBITDA margin at 19.9 per cent.

However, revenues grew slightly lower than expected. The company said its revenues jumped 2.9 per cent quarter-on-quarter to settle at Rs 6,091 crore in the July-September period, down from analysts' average projection of Rs
6150 crore.

Dollar revenues jumped 3.15 per cent quarter-on-quarter to US$ 1113 million in the September quarter and profit after tax climbed 3.7 per cent to US$ 161.78 million during the same period. HCL Tech's growth in dollar revenues was quite higher than Infosys, which reported 2.5 per cent rise in dollar revenues for the July-September quarter.

The software services exporter's consolidated net profit jumped to Rs 8.85 billion in the September quarter, from Rs 4.97 billion in the corresponding perios of the previous year.

An interim dividend of Rs. 2 a share has been announced by the company.

India's $100 billion-per-year outsourcing industry is expected to grow 11-14 per cent in the current financial year.