bengaluru, April 17 -- Wipro Ltd on Thursday announced its largest-ever share buyback of Rs.15,000 crore, even as India's fourth-largest information technology (IT) services company capped a third straight year of revenue decline, and flagged a weak start to fiscal year 2027 (FY27). The Bengaluru-based firm said it will repurchase 600 million shares at Rs.250 apiece, a 19% premium to Thursday's closing price of Rs.210.2. The buyback comes even as analysts flag weak near-term growth, despite a strong deal pipeline. At a post-earnings media conference, Aparna Iyer, Wipro's chief financial officer, said the company is actually returning excess cash on its balance sheet, after ensuring that the net cash available after the buyback is able to support its M&A ambitions as well as large, strategic deals. The company's earlier share buybacks were in FY17 (Rs.2,500 crore), FY18 (Rs.11,000 crore), FY21 (Rs.9,500 crore), and in FY24 (Rs.12,000 crore). The company's revenue declined 0.32% year-on-year (y-o-y) to $10.48 billion in FY26, even though it bettered the $9.94 billion estimated by a Bloomberg poll of 38 analysts. Net profit fell even more-8.6% to $1.4 billion. Most of its revenue decline in FY26 came from consumer companies, which accounts for nearly a fifth of its revenue. The company lost $80 million from these companies, which is more than double its revenue decline of $33.4 million. In the January-March 2026 quarter, Wipro grew its revenue 0.6% sequentially to $2.65 billion. Net profit jumped 7.14% to $375 million. The company expects a weak start to FY27, guiding for April-June revenue of $2.6-2.65 billion-implying a sequential decline of up to 2% or flat growth at best. Management attributed this to delays in ramping up a large client and slower growth from an existing banking client. The company does not provide full-year guidance. Amit Chandra, vice-president at HDFC Securities, said the buyback was a positive, but growth concerns could weigh on sentiment. "The company's growth guidance, at least in the short term, is weak despite a strong TCV (total contract value)," he said. Wipro's shares fell 4.6% to $2.17 on the New York Stock Exchange as of 9:30pm IST on Thursday, after the results were announced. Expecting a better deal pipeline, the company's management put up a strong front, but could not mask the concerns regarding a turnaround. "I think the only thing that speaks for me is numbers, right? You can infer from the numbers," said Srini Pallia, chief executive of Wipro, in response to a question during a media briefing....