Wipro Limited — FY2024 Form 20-F
Reporting period: Fiscal year ended March 31, 2024. This is an annual report, not a standalone 2023 fourth-quarter filing; the supplied text does not provide separate Q4 results. Financial statements are consolidated and prepared under IFRS, with Indian rupees as the reporting currency. Amounts below are in ₹ millions unless stated otherwise.
Business context and financial performance
Wipro is a global IT services and consulting company. IT Services generated 99.5% of FY2024 segment revenue; IT Products revenue was a small and declining portion of the business.
| Metric | FY2024 | FY2023 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue, audited income statement | ₹897,603 | ₹904,876 | -0.8% |
| Gross profit | ₹266,106 | ₹259,430 | +2.6% |
| Gross margin | 29.6% | 28.7% | +0.9 percentage points |
| Operating income | ₹136,099 | ₹139,606 | -2.5% |
| Operating margin | 15.2% | 15.4% | -0.2 percentage points |
| Profit attributable to equity holders | ₹110,452 | ₹113,500 | -2.7% |
| Basic EPS | ₹20.89 | ₹20.73 | +0.8% |
| Cash generated from operating activities | ₹176,216 | ₹130,601 | +₹45,615 |
Management’s segment-reporting revenue, which includes foreign-exchange effects, was ₹897,943 million versus ₹909,348 million, down 1.25%. IT Services revenue fell 1.05%; IT Products revenue fell 31.75%. Within IT Services, Americas 1 grew 2.66%, while Americas 2, Europe and APMEA declined. The filing attributes the overall revenue decline mainly to macroeconomic pressure on discretionary client spending and lower foreign-exchange gains.
Gross-margin improvement reflected lower subcontracting costs, improved utilization and greater offshoring, partly offset by salary and facility costs. Operating income and profit declined as selling and marketing costs, general and administrative costs, financing costs and taxes rose or remained elevated. The effective tax rate increased to 24.52% from 23.02%, mainly due to reduced Indian tax benefits.
Liquidity, debt and capital allocation
- Operating cash flow was ₹176,216 million. Investing activities generated ₹11,680 million, compared with ₹84,065 million used in FY2023; financing activities used ₹182,567 million, mainly reflecting the share buyback.
- At March 31, 2024, cash and cash equivalents were ₹96,953 million and current investments were ₹311,171 million. Together they totaled ₹408,124 million; less loans and borrowings, stated net cash was ₹266,658 million.
- Loans, borrowings and bank overdrafts totaled ₹141,466 million on the balance sheet, including ₹62,300 million of unsecured notes due in 2026. Lease liabilities were ₹23,183 million. The company also disclosed ₹63,658 million of unused credit lines, subject to lender consent and covenants.
- Capital expenditure cash outflow was ₹10,510 million, down from ₹14,834 million. Contractual capital commitments were ₹10,322 million; other purchase obligations were ₹35,438 million.
- Wipro completed a buyback of 269.7 million shares at ₹445 per share. Total cash outflow, including buyback tax and transaction costs, was ₹145,173 million. FY2024 dividend was ₹1 per share; the Board recommended adopting the interim dividend as the final dividend.
Material changes, outlook and unusual items
- Demand and outlook: Management described the operating environment as uncertain, with high inflation and interest rates, geopolitical volatility and clients deferring or reducing discretionary technology spending. It expects enterprise spending to improve gradually in FY2025, with emphasis on cost optimization, operational efficiency, AI and digital transformation. The filing provides no specific company revenue or earnings guidance.
- Bookings: Large-deal bookings of at least US$30 million in total contract value rose 17.9% to US$4.6 billion. Total order bookings fell 5.7% to US$14.9 billion.
- Restructuring and leadership: FY2024 restructuring costs were ₹6,814 million, including severance; ₹921 million of employee costs related to the outgoing CEO was also included in reconciling items. CEO Thierry Delaporte resigned effective April 6, 2024; Srinivas Pallia became CEO and Managing Director on April 7, subject to required approvals. The CFO also changed during FY2024.
- Tax matters: Disputed income-tax claims not acknowledged as debt were ₹95,520 million at March 31, 2024, versus ₹91,465 million a year earlier. Disputed excise, customs, sales-tax and other claims were ₹18,799 million. Management expects its positions to be upheld and does not expect a material adverse effect, but outcomes remain uncertain. The filing also reports ₹37,090 million of non-current tax liabilities for uncertain tax positions.
- Other items: Intangible-asset impairment was ₹1,701 million; an additional ₹2,807 million amortization charge arose from a revised useful-life estimate. Goodwill was ₹316,002 million, and the company reported no goodwill impairment. A provisional purchase-price allocation followed the 60% acquisition of Aggne.
- Risk factors: Key exposures include concentration of clients in the Americas and Europe and in selected industries; project delays or cancellations; pricing and wage pressure; foreign-exchange movements; client credit and collection risk; cybersecurity, privacy and AI-related legal and operational risks; and execution and impairment risks from acquisitions and investment in facilities.
Investor verification priorities
- Reconcile the filing’s inconsistent statements about top-client performance: one passage says the top five and top ten IT Services customers grew 0.1% and 0.7%; another says their revenue declined 3.1% and 0.6%.
- Confirm the appropriate revenue basis for comparisons: audited income-statement revenue was ₹897,603 million, while segment-reporting revenue was ₹897,943 million because of foreign-exchange treatment.
- Assess whether operating cash-flow growth is sustainable: management attributed much of the increase to lower working-capital requirements and lower net income-tax payments.
- Review the buyback’s effect on cash, share count and per-share earnings, and the financing and tax implications of future capital returns.
- Monitor the large disputed tax claims, the higher effective tax rate, and the timing and potential impact of expiring or changing Indian tax incentives.
- Track FY2025 demand, order-book conversion and margin progress against management’s qualitative outlook, including client spending and the results of cost and restructuring measures.
Audit and controls
Deloitte Haskins & Sells LLP issued an unqualified opinion on the IFRS financial statements and an unqualified opinion on internal control over financial reporting as of March 31, 2024. The identified critical audit matter was estimating effort to complete fixed-price contracts recognized using the percentage-of-completion method.