MphasiS BFL group has reported a 56.76 per cent rise in consolidated net profit for the third quarter ended December 31, 2003 at Rs 28.50 crore (Rs 285 million) compared to Rs 18.18 crore (Rs 181.8 million) posted in the same period the previous fiscal.

Consolidated revenues rose by 28 per cent at Rs 148.63 crore (Rs 1,486.3 million) during Q3 over previous fiscal's figures, the company said in a release in Mumbai on Thursday.

Software services revenues in the quarter ended December 31, at Rs 100.30 crore (Rs 1,003 million), have increased by 2.2 per cent on a sequential quarter-on-quarter basis, while net margins in the software business have remained steady at nearly 21 per cent.

The group's BPO subsidiary MsourcE registered a net profit of Rs 7.55 crore (Rs 75.5 million) and its revenue during the period under review grew 84 per cent at Rs 48.32 crore (Rs 483.2 million) against Rs 26.22 crore (Rs 262.2 million) in the corresponding period of previous fiscal.

The group added 10 new clients including one in the BPO space and four each in financial and retail/logistics verticals and a large technology company.

The software manpower utilisation rates were 71 per cent, while the BPO utilisation rates were maintained at 67 per cent. Onsite billing rates increased marginally and the offshore rates were kept at last quarter levels, it said.

"The group had a very good quarter with BPO subsidiary showing remarkable growth. Client addition in software business has been encouraging and expectations are that this trend will continue in the immediate future," MphasiS chairman and CEO Jerry Rao said.

MphasiS has added 204 people during the current quarter in the software services business.