Outsourcing giant Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is the first Indian IT firm to generate sales of $1bn (£510m) in a single three-month period.

Third-quarter sales rose 40 per cent to $1.1bn (£561m), led by a 90 per cent rise in UK sales to $221m (£112.7m) and an 82 per cent jump in European sales to $315m (£160.7m). The UK accounts for 20 per cent of the company’s market.

The results take TCS over the $3bn (£1.5bn) mark for the first three quarters.

‘This shows that our full-services model is delivering sustained profitable growth in the midst of a dynamic operating environment,’ said chief executive Subramanian Ramadorai.

Ovum analyst Samad Masood says TCS has stolen the limelight from main rival Infosys by halting a decline in operating margins and growing revenue faster.

‘Infosys remains the most profitable of the leading Indian firms thanks to its focus on application services,’ he said.

‘But TCS is benefiting from earlier investments in new global markets and new services, which give more growth.

‘The result is that TCS has been able to sign larger full-service deals combining software, IT services and business process outsourcing in the UK and Latin America, as well as sign a large infrastructure deal with Somerfield in the UK.’

But while TCS’s push into new markets is helping it build a broader based business with better growth, it also faces a higher risk of being pulled in too many directions at once, says Masood.

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Further reading

Norwich Union outsources IT jobs

Infosys grows income

Indian IT services reap benefits of innovation