BANGALORE, India (AFP) -- India's third-largest software exporter, Wipro, said Wednesday annual net profit climbed 26.9 percent as revenues crossed the two-billion-dollar mark in a booming outsourcing market.

Net profit of the New York Stock Exchange-listed firm jumped to 20.7 billion rupees (460 million dollars) for the financial year to March 2006 from the previous year's 16.3 billion rupees.

Revenues at Wipro Ltd, whose clients include General Motors and Microsoft, rose 30 percent to 106.26 billion rupees (2.3 billion dollars), according to Indian accounting rules.

During the fourth quarter, net profit rose 43 percent to 6.1 billion rupees from a year earlier on revenues that climbed 35 percent to 31.1 billion rupees, beating market expectations.

"We look forward to 2006-07 and beyond with excitement and enthusiasm," Premji told a news conference in the high-tech southern city of Bangalore where Wipro has its headquarters. "Looking ahead for the quarter ending June 2006 we expect revenues from our global IT business to be approximately 533 million dollars." -----Wipro growth

Wipro's revenue growth for the next five years should outstrip the industry average of 25 percent annual growth projected by India's top software body, the National Association of Software and Services Companies, Premji said.

"Wipro's businesses are all in the sweet spot of strong growth.

We continue to see a mix of acquisitions as we move forward," Premji said.

Shares of Wipro, which also has interests in computer hardware, were up 9.3 rupees or 1.63 percent at 579.4 rupees in early afternoon, outpacing the overall market which gained 1.32 percent or 155.7 points to 11,977.35.

The software developer, 84-percent owned by India's wealthiest tycoon Azim Premji, said it added 42 clients in the fourth quarter ending March.

"The information technology services industry is evolving from an era of routine service provisioning to one of innovative knowledge creation," Premji said.

"The strategic initiatives we propose to undertake as part of our plan over the next few years position us well to lead this evolution," Premji said. "Europe as a region is registering strong growth as more firms from Germany and Scandinavian countries are getting interested in global outsourcing." Dipen Shah, analyst at brokerage Kotak Securities said, "the broad set of numbers look good" and "the guidance for the 2007 first quarter is impressive."

The company's results followed earnings from first-place Tata Consultancy Services and second-ranked Infosys that also pleased markets.

Wipro consists of Wipro Technologies, the global IT business arm; Wipro Infotech, comprising its businesses in India, the Middle East and the Asia Pacific region; and Wipro Consumer and Lighting.

During the full financial year, the company recruited 11,885 employees, increasing staff strength to 53,742. India's outsourcing boom has been fuelled by foreign, mainly US companies, seeking to take advantage of its vast pool of comparatively less expensive, well-educated, English-speaking software engineers and workers.