Briefing reporters on the company's performance in Bangalore on Friday, its chairman and managing director AH Premji said during the period the company posted a record sales of Rs 1,804 crore marking a 31 per cent growth as against the previous year's Rs 1,380 crore.

During the fiscal, Wipro enhanced the rate of depreciation on computers, furniture/fixtures and office equipment from 33 to 50 per cent, from 9.5 to 19 per cent and 4.75 to 19 per cent respectively, he said. During the period, Wipro earned Rs 4.4 crorefrom its Six Sigma Quality Initiatives and during current fiscal the wing was expected to grow by three fold, he said.

Wipro's software exports touched Rs 633 crore marking 61 per cent growth, of that Y2K accounted for 7 per cent. Its profit before interest and tax grew by 56 per cent to Rs 165 crore, generating a return on capital employed of 71 per cent, he said.

During 1998-99, Wipro's networking solutions, customer service and computer peripherals division, Systems and Services grew by 22 per cent posting a total business of Rs 712 crore.

``A significant proportion of our business during last fiscal has come from service segments. However, the economy as a whole turned out to be very sluggish and some of our business divisions suffered setback,'' he said. Wipro Fluid Power also suffered loses as the construction industry has been reeling under recession, he added.

Responding to a query on the performance of Wipro Finance, Premji said, ``We are no longer active in financing and a major chunk of ourbusiness during the last fiscal was from non-funding sectors''.

He said the Wipro Acer Limited would be merged with the company after the shareholders approval. Wipro Communication Services had been converted into Wipro Net Limited, a cent per cent subsidiary of Wipro Limited. Wipro Net would now concentrate on the emerging interest sector with strategic partners.