Company officials say strong growth in sales of IT services to businesses in the manufacturing, insurance, and health-care markets helped fuel the improvement; the outsourcing firm added 29 customers, including six multinational companies, during the quarter. As a result, Satyam raised its outlook for sales growth in fiscal 2004 from 26% to 28% to about 31%. Satyam also said it will add 600 seats to its Nipuna business-process-outsourcing subsidiary in the coming year.
Satyam is one of the largest Indian software and services firms, which, as a group, have seen strong sales growth recently as more U.S. companies seek to take advantage of relatively low labor rates in India. On Wednesday, Satyam competitor Wipro Ltd. reported a 44% increase in third-quarter revenue and a 21% jump in net income.