Infosys

Updates with closing levels

By Mridula Kumar

July 10 (Reuters) - India's Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS rose as much as 4.1% on Friday after better-than-expected quarterly revenue on strong banking demand and rising AI revenue, though analysts said the broader sector recovery was likely to remain gradual.

Shares of the country's top software services exporter trimmed some gains to close about 1% higher at 2,069 rupees, helping lift the benchmark Nifty 50 .NSEI 1.02% higher.

The IT index .NIFTYIT gained about 1.96% during the session.

Analysts said investors were looking at positive growth expectations for TCS in the coming quarters, led by AI revenue, with multiple brokerages also citing strong growth in banking, financial services and insurance, high-tech and regional markets.

"The company expects AI adoption growth and transformation to pick up, and they expect better numbers," said Piyush Pandey, lead IT Analyst at Centrum Broking.

Annualized AI revenue crossed $2.6 billion, driven by faster deployments across industries, rising from $2.3 billion in the previous quarter, TCS said.

Quarterly sales rose 14% to 722.75 billion rupees ($7.58 billion), while CEO K Krithivasan signalled a second-quarter recovery in manufacturing and life sciences demand.

SUBDUED QUARTER, GRADUAL RECOVERY

While the results offered investors early signs that growth may be stabilizing in India's $315 billion IT sector, analysts said a broader recovery was likely to remain gradual as demand concerns remained after expectations of another subdued quarter.

Flattish international revenue and a 3% year-on-year fall in headcount suggested continued sluggishness, according to Citi, while Nomura analysts said macro uncertainty still weighed on the near-term outlook.

Brokerages had flagged a low growth rate for the company in fiscal 2027 due to AI-led deflation.

The earliest the net AI impact will turn accretive for the sector and company is mid- to end-fiscal 2028, HSBC said post the results, adding that TCS' quarterly earnings offered limited grounds for pessimistic investors to reassess their stance.

Rivals Infosys INFY.NS, HCLTech HCLT.NS and Wipro WIPR.NS are expected to report their quarterly earnings later in the month.

($1 = 95.3150 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Mridula Kumar in Bengaluru; Writing by Abinaya V; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Janane Venkatraman)

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By Haripriya Suresh and Bharath Rajeswaran

BENGALURU, July 6 (Reuters) - India's top information technology companies are expected to report another subdued quarter, as AI-driven pricing pressure, weak client spending, and global geopolitical turmoil continue to weigh on growth, nine brokerages said.

The April-to-June quarter is usually a strong one for India's $315 billion IT sector, helped by higher billing days and new project starts, but analysts expect a slow start to the fiscal year that would push back hopes of a recovery.

India's largest IT services company, Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS, kicks off earnings on Thursday with peers Infosys INFY.NS, HCLTech HCLT.NS and Wipro WIPR.NS reporting later this month.

While India's top six IT firms are expected to report around 14% year-on-year revenue growth in rupee terms with net profit rising 12%-13%, this would largely be due to the impact of sharp rupee depreciation. Stripping out exchange rate effects, the companies are expected to post a mere 2.8% revenue growth in constant-currency terms.

Citi expects a fourth straight year of subdued growth for Indian IT firms, while JPMorgan sees revenue growth staying below 3%-4% for the "foreseeable future".

The IT sector is racing to adapt to changing customer needs as companies across the globe step up the use of AI tools and agents to cut costs and quicken software development cycles.

Software firms have slowed hiring, with TCS Chairman N Chandrasekaran saying the "day is not far" when the company would have an equal number of AI agents and employees.

Indian IT firms are in a "perfect storm," Nomura said in its earnings preview, with Middle East conflict-led uncertainty compounding AI-driven pricing pressure.

Fears that AI would disrupt the IT sector's traditional, labour-intensive business model dragged the Nifty IT index .NIFTYIT down 9.5% in the June quarter even as India's benchmark Nifty 50 .NSEI gained 6.9%.

The IT index has slumped about 28% so far in 2026, making it the worst-performing major sector in India.

The impact of AI-led disruption and weakness in client spending will be broad-based, according to PL Capital, with effects visible in the consumer, hi-tech, and telecom verticals.

"Slower decision-making and elongated sales cycle are leading to delays in revenue conversion and execution," the brokerage said in a note.

Annual revenue forecasts will be a key focus for investors. Brokerages say Infosys and HCLTech could narrow or trim the upper end of their forecasts.

Potentially higher interest rates in the U.S., which makes up about 60% of Indian IT firms' revenue, also loom.

(Reporting by Haripriya Suresh and Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)

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The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.

By Shritama Bose

MUMBAI, July 3 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Markets aren't trusting IT outsourcers to get anything right. Shares in India's $7.5 billion Persistent Systems PERS.NS plunged after CEO Sandeep Kalra agreed to pay a 140% premium for its buyout of Germany's Nagarro NA9n.DE. But the $1.45 bln deal helps the buyer meet long-standing strategic goals at knockdown valuation.

After dropping 11% after the acquisition was announced on Saturday, Persistent's stock pared losses but remains 5% below its undisturbed price. The visceral negative reaction channels widespread industry uncertainty about whether acquisitions are a good answer to the AI revenue deflation threat facing the industry since Anthropic and peers launched coding tools.

Indian IT companies are loaded with cash but rarely strike deals, and very few transactions are regarded as successful. Even without a premium, Persistent's returns from its purchase are unlikely to cover the Indian software industry's 10% cost of capital per data from the NYU Stern School of Business, according to Breakingviews calculations.

Yet the acquisition is transformative. It will boost Persistent's presence in Europe, more than doubling the continent's share in its top line to 22%, and give it an entry into the Middle East, Turkey and Japan. As well as reducing its reliance on North America where the Trump administration is making it harder to secure visas for skilled workers that the IT industry needs, the deal will also add capabilities in serving industrial and consumer enterprises as well as governments, where Persistent has limited presence.

The sudden global investor aversion to software stocks handed Persistent an opening to meet these strategic goals at relatively attractive valuations. Nagarro's stock has fallen 46% since the beginning of 2026, twice as much as Persistent over the same period. It is paying 19 times Visible Alpha's estimates of the target's 2026 earnings, less than its own 29 times.

Given investors are anyway in the mood to punish IT companies and pushing back against attempts by others like $44 billion Infosys INFY.NS to boost buybacks, the downside of making a bold acquisition is limited.

Follow Shritama Bose on LinkedIn and X.

CONTEXT NEWS

Persistent Systems on June 27 said it would launch an offer for all outstanding shares in Munich-headquartered Nagarro Group, valuing it at $1.45 billion including debt. The offer of 81 euros ($92.12) per share represents a 140% premium to the last traded price before the deal was announced.

(Editing by Una Galani; Production by Aditya Srivastav)

((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on BOSE/[email protected]))

Adds BAT

June 29 (Reuters) - Concerns are deepening among investors and economists that AI adoption will upend established industries, with job losses already emerging in sectors most exposed to automation.

Goldman Sachs economists said in February that AI was responsible for 5,000 to 10,000 monthly net job losses last year in the most exposed U.S. industries.

A survey by global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas linked AI to 7% of total U.S. planned layoffs announced in January.

Below is a table of AI-linked global layoffs announced since October 2025 from biggest to smallest. Entries with no specified number are placed at the bottom.

(Reporting by Romolo Tosiani and Philippe Leroy Beaulieu in Gdansk, Additional reporting by Anshuman Tripathy; Editing by Matt Scuffham, Milla Nissi-Prussak, Jonathan Ananda, Devika Syamnath and Shilpi Majumdar)

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** IT services firm Infosys' U.S.-listed shares INFY.N rise 2.1% to $10.8

** Wells Fargo initiates coverage with "equal weight" rating; sets PT at $11, implying a 4.1% upside to the stock's last close

** Brokerage says INFY is "not immune from AI transition" and awaits further proof that the company is a net beneficiary of the technology

** Notes "overall demand backdrop remains complex given geopolitical uncertainty" and while INFY's large deal bookings trends are healthy, "smaller more discretionary projects remain muted"

** Avg. rating of 14 analysts is "hold;" their median PT is $14.50, according to LSEG data

** Stock has fallen 39.4% so far this year

(Reporting by Anzar Mehraj in Bengaluru)

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June 24 (Reuters) - Infosys Ltd INFY.NS:

• INFOSYS COLLABORATES WITH SENTARA TO UNLOCK AI VALUE AND SCALE ENTERPRISE AI ADOPTION IN HEALTHCARE SERVICES

Source text: ID:nCNWBlGzha

Further company coverage: INFY.NS

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June 23 (Reuters) - Infosys Ltd INFY.NS:

• INDIA'S INFOSYS EXEC: EXPECT ACCELERATED GROWTH IN FINANCIAL SERVICES, ENERGY VERTICALS IN FY27

Further company coverage: INFY.NS

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Recasts story with analyst commentary, details and background

BENGALURU, June 19 (Reuters) - India's Nifty IT index .NIFTYIT fell to a three-year low on Friday after bellwether Accenture ACN.N forecast quarterly ​sales below Wall Street view, cut its annual revenue outlook and reported softer bookings in its managed services business.

Shares of Indian IT companies, including TCS TCS.NS, Infosys INFY.NS, and HCLTech HCLT.NS fell 4% to 8% after Accenture flagged deal delays and a $400 million hit to its Middle East business from the Iran conflict.

India's $315 billion IT sector faces concerns that AI could disrupt its labour-intensive model, while geopolitical and economic ​uncertainty weighs on demand as ​clients defer non-essential tech spending.

Analysts see a negative read-through for Indian IT, with Morgan Stanley saying investors had already priced in a weak start to fiscal 2027 but expect an improvement in the September quarter.

"However, with this commentary from Accenture, we think hopes of any meaningful improvement in growth in 2Q could start fading away," the note said.

Indian IT firms have limited direct exposure to the Middle East, said Pritesh Thakkar, equity analyst at PL Capital, but face indirect risks from delay in deal closures, slower project ramp-ups and prolonged decision cycles.

Accenture's forecast follows hawkish U.S. Federal Reserve commentary that has fuelled expectations of a September rate hike. Higher rates could dampen appetite for emerging markets and weigh on overseas spending, a risk for Indian IT firms with significant U.S. exposure.

Mayuresh Joshi, head of equity research at investment advisory firm William O'Neil & Co, told Reuters that the market is looking for growth, which is "clearly missing", even though existing order books support current revenues.

"In terms of what these hyperscalers and platform companies are doing and implementing across enterprise value chains, they'll (Indian IT companies) have to get their act together very fast, both in terms of organic and inorganic."

India's IT stocks have slid about 29% so far this year, making them the worst-performing sector, versus an 8.3% drop in the benchmark Nifty 50 .NSEI.

(Reporting by Haripriya Suresh in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

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The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.

By Ujjaini Dutta

BENGALURU, June 17 (Reuters Breakingviews) - HCLTech’s HCLT.NS decision to lead a fundraising round for India’s sovereign AI posterchild is both timely and shrewd. The $32 billion IT services firm's 10% stake in Sarvam, valuing the startup at $1.5 billion, is small enough to limit any risk yet showy enough to deflect mounting criticism that the world's back office is underinvesting as AI eats away at its revenue.

To be sure, Sarvam, founded by Vivek Raghavan and Pratyush Kumar, is not a neat fit for its newest big backer. The barely three-year-old startup's large language model is optimised for Indic languages but HCL's client base is largely outside the country, mostly in the United States and Europe: India accounted for just 3% of HCLTech's annual sales in the year to the end of March 2026.

And while the IT industry's decades-long success is often attributed to New Delhi staying out of the way, Sarvam is at the heart of the government's IndiaAI Mission. Through that initiative, the startup has secured financial and compute support, including subsidised access to Nvidia's NVDA.O graphics processing chips.

Of course, taking a stake in India's sovereign AI champion could unlock more domestic deals for the C Vijayakumar-led company with Indian enterprises. And it might also get early access to Sarvam's latest tech, as Microsoft MSFT.O did through its investment in OpenAI, though the company run by Satya Nadella also bagged a huge customer for its Azure cloud business.

The political returns for HCL at least appear more certain. Washington's order for Anthropic to suspend access for non-U.S. residents to its Fable 5 and Mythos 5 models will only deepen the desire of governments around the world to find their own sovereign AI solutions across compute infrastructure, AI models and user-facing AI software. That will require oodles of capital.

HCL's rivals such as Wipro WIPR.NS and Infosys INFY.NS are attempting to counter AI deflation on their revenues in other ways. Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS, for example, is investing in a data centre. Backing Sarvam is, for now, less expensive and probably more politically savvy. They may be tempted to pile in too.

Follow Ujjaini Dutta on LinkedIn and X.

CONTEXT NEWS

HCLTech will acquire a 10.5% stake in Sarvam AI for ‌14.27 billion rupees ($150.7 million) in cash, the Indian IT services company said in a stock exchange filing on June 15. HCL co-led the fundraising round with Bessemer Venture Partners. It also included existing investors Khosla Ventures and Peak XV Partners.

The investment will allow the Indian IT services company to develop specific language models and AI solutions for its global client base and accelerate the development of sovereign AI solutions for governments and regulated industries, HCLTech said.

Sarvam was valued at $1.5 billion in the round, which raised $234 million in its first close out of a targeted $300 million. The AI startup is backed by India's government AI Mission.

(Editing by Una Galani; Production by Aditya Srivastav)

((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on DUTTA/[email protected]))

June 16 (Reuters) - Infosys Ltd INFY.NS:

• INFOSYS - COLLABORATES WITH VALMET FOR IT OPERATIONS WITH AI ACCELERATED TRANSFORMATION

Source text: ID:nnAZN4T2KHZ

Further company coverage: INFY.NS

(([email protected];))

By Praveen Paramasivam

June 15 (Reuters) - Hyderabad-based Electronics Mart India ELEO.NS is looking to diversify away from the technology hub as concerns grow that potential AI-triggered job losses could hurt consumer spending, a top executive said.

The retailer gets about 60% of its revenue from Hyderabad, which hosts offices of global companies such as JPMorgan Chase JPM.N and Eli Lilly LLY.N, and Indian IT majors Wipro WIPR.NS and Infosys INFY.NS.

Around a fifth of its stores in Hyderabad are located in neighbourhoods where the majority of the residents are software employees.

The retailer, which sells products from brands including Sony and OnePlus, has over 220 stores across six states, mostly in the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and entered the National Capital Region in 2022.

By comparison, billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Digital has more than 695 outlets and Tata Group's Croma about 540 stores. Privately held Vijay Sales operates more than 170 stores, according to their websites.

Electronics Mart plans to invest about 1.2 billion rupees ($12.69 million) to open 20 stores in the current financial year, including up to seven in Kolkata, where it currently has no presence, while deepening its presence in and around New Delhi.

"If there is any disturbance in the IT industry, definitely there is going to be an impact on our business," CFO Premchand Devarakonda told Reuters.

Growing AI adoption has raised concerns about job losses in the technology sector, a key driver of consumption in cities such as Hyderabad and Bengaluru.

"We need not really worry immediately," Devarakonda said, adding the expansion was aimed at "de-risking" the retailer's dependence on any one sector.

Electronics Mart plans to add 20 to 25 stores annually over the next five years, with a focus on northern markets where fragmented retail offers scope for growth.

For the current year, the company expects revenue to rise about 15%, in line with LSEG estimates, helped in part by strong demand for air conditioners in a hotter summer.

($1 = 94.5950 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Praveen Paramasivam in Chennai; Editing by Dhanya Skariachan and Nivedita Bhattacharjee)

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Adds details

June 11 (Reuters) - India's Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS has partnered with Anthropic to launch an alliance to drive enterprise AI scaling, the country's largest software services exporter said on Thursday.

The partnership comes at a time when investors are concerned that AI tools will disrupt the traditional, labour-intensive business model of India's $315-billion IT sector. In February, Indian IT services firms lost more than $62.8 billion in market capitalization, in part, after Anthropic launched an AI agent tool.

The Tata group company will equip 50,000 associates with Anthropic's Claude and both will jointly take AI solutions to market for highly regulated sectors, it added.

TCS expects IT companies to slow down hiring, as the company moves towards having an equal number of employees and AI agents in its workforce, Chairman N Chandrasekaran said at the company's annual general meeting on Tuesday.

Last July, it cut more than 12,000 jobs, while headcount fell by more than 23,000 on a net basis in the fiscal year ended March 2026.

Rival IT services firm Infosys INFY.NS struck a similar partnership with Anthropic in February.

(Reporting by Urvi Dugar in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Janane Venkatraman)

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The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own. Updates to add graphic.

By Shritama Bose

MUMBAI, June 4 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Finding a good job in India is going to get a lot harder. Headcount growth at its biggest private company, $190 billion Reliance Industries RELI.NS, is slowing sharply as an investment binge fades. But a chronic skills shortage also gives businesses a strong incentive to rapidly adopt artificial intelligence. That will turn today's hiring squeeze into a deeper, structural slump.

The energy-to-retail giant's over 419,000 headcount as of March 2026 represents 4% year-on-year growth, just one quarter of its expansion rate the previous year. Its disclosures have turned hazier too: last year Reliance discontinued a table in its annual report offering a detailed breakdown of employees across business divisions.

The hiring slowdown is partly explained by the end of a phase of higher recruitment for its fledgling renewable energy business. But the growth remains well below India's 7%-plus GDP growth—and the squeeze could soon become entrenched: Reliance says it is "building talent fluent in leveraging AI to enhance decision-making, productivity and purpose-driven work", implying that the impact of AI on hiring will become clearer next year.

The problem is pronounced at IT outsourcers like $85 billion Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS, the country's second-largest company by market capitalisation, and Infosys INFY.NS, where the number of employees is now up to 5% below their respective March 2023 peaks, thanks to a slowdown in revenue growth and rise of new coding tools.

Indeed, future job growth is a bigger worry than headline-grabbing layoffs, as the government's Chief Economic Advisor V. Anantha Nageswaran warned in February. His call on the private sector to hire more and balance capital-intensive growth with labor-intensive growth has gone unanswered by industry titans. Urban youth unemployment is as high as 13.6% and it's common for college graduates to queue up for janitorial roles in the public sector.

The danger is employers – who have long complained that India's 600 million-strong workforce does not have the modern skills required for the service-oriented economy – will turn to AI as a quick fix and adopt new technologies faster. Some 65% of respondents to a World Economic Forum survey saw a skills gap in India as a challenge to business transformation, and more than one-third of them expected talent availability to worsen over the five years to 2030. Indian employers plan to outpace global adoption in computing technologies, quantum and encryption to transform their businesses, according to the WEF's Future of Jobs report for 2025.

It all threatens to tip India Inc's hiring slump into a depression.

Follow Shritama Bose on LinkedIn and X.

CONTEXT NEWS

Reliance Industries' group headcount stood at over 419,000 at the end of March 31, 2026, the company said in its annual report for the year. The total number of employees increased by around 4% year-on-year, slower than a 16% rate of expansion in the previous financial year.

(Editing by Una Galani; Production by Ujjaini Dutta)

((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on BOSE/[email protected]))

Adds details throughout

By Vivek Kumar M and Abhirami G

June 3 (Reuters) - India's information technology stocks were headed for their worst day in four months on Wednesday as renewed concerns that artificial intelligence could disrupt traditional software services rattled investors.

The IT index .NIFTYIT was down 5.8% at 29,310.25 points. If losses hold, this would be its worst day since February 4.

Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS, India's largest software exporter, slumped 9% to lead the losses, while Bengaluru-based Infosys INFY.NS and Wipro WIPR.NS dropped 4.3% and 3.7%, respectively.

Among mid-tier firms, Coforge COFO.NS and Persistent Systems PERS.NS shed 5.7% each.

The losses mark a sharp reversal from the sub-index's 7% gains seen over the last two sessions when investors bought beaten down IT stocks and bet that increasing AI spending could boost demand for IT services.

India's $300 billion IT sector has been under pressure for much of this year as investors assess whether AI will generate new revenue streams for software exporters or reduce demand for traditional outsourcing services.

"We expect new opportunities such as legacy modernization to increase, but do not expect them to compensate for the deflation enough," said Kotak Institutional Equities analysts led by Kawaljeet Saluja.

A surge in AI investments and AI tools from Anthropic has rattled software stocks globally this year. India's Nifty IT index is down 22% in 2026, after plunging 26% in 2025.

Ambit Capital said fourth-quarter IT earnings confirmed the ongoing challenges that the sector is facing.

"While we see a role for IT services in enterprise AI implementation, building guardrails/governance and vertical solutions, we believe deflation will exceed incremental demand," the brokerage said.

Rishubh Vasa, a research analyst at Indsec Securities and Finance, said the total addressable market of domestic IT companies could shrink 20%-25%.

(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M; Additional reporting by Abhirami G in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)

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Adds Standard Chartered and Intuit

May 21 (Reuters) - Concerns are deepening among investors and economists that AI adoption will upend established industries, with job losses already emerging in sectors most exposed to automation.

Goldman Sachs economists said in February that AI was responsible for 5,000 to 10,000 monthly net job losses last year in the most exposed U.S. industries.

A survey by global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas linked AI to 7% of total U.S. planned layoffs announced in January.

Below is a table of AI-linked global layoffs announced since October 2025 from biggest to smallest. Entries with no specified number are placed at the bottom.

(Reporting by Romolo Tosiani and Philippe Leroy Beaulieu in Gdansk, Additional reporting by Anshuman Tripathy; Editing by Matt Scuffham, Milla Nissi-Prussak, Jonathan Ananda, Devika Syamnath and Shilpi Majumdar)

(([email protected]))

Adds graphic

By Aditya Soni and Abhirami G

May 19 (Reuters) - Microsoft's MSFT.O biggest data center in India is on track to open by mid-2026, its country head said on Tuesday, as the tech giant spends heavily to bolster its position in one of the world's largest markets for artificial intelligence services.

There's "massive demand" for Azure cloud services and the $30-a-month Copilot 365 AI assistant in the country, Puneet Chandok, president, Microsoft India and South Asia, told Reuters.

Like rivals Alphabet GOOGL.O and Amazon AMZN.O, Microsoft sees India as a potentially profitable market for AI thanks to its more than 1 billion internet users and deep tech talent.

Tapping that market is crucial as it looks to prove to investors that its massive bet on AI will pay off.

The company announced late last year that it would invest $17.5 billion in India, its biggest outlay in Asia, on top of the $3 billion pledged at the start of 2025.

That includes a new data center in the southern tech hub of Hyderabad, where Microsoft already has a significant presence.

"We are the ones who are bringing this to life quickly, the fastest out of the gates," Chandok said of the company's data center build-out, adding that the Hyderabad facility would be its biggest in India without disclosing exact capacity.

The new capacity will serve a growing customer base for AI services in India. Microsoft counts IT giants Infosys INFY.NS, Cognizant CTSH.O and Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS among Copilot customers, with about 50,000 licenses each.

Chandok also said the India operations are contributing to AI features Microsoft is rolling out globally. The company employs more than 22,000 people in the country across cities.

Hiring staff to develop the features is getting tougher as demand exceeds supply, causing a "war for talent," Chandok said.

"The challenges in India are the same as everywhere else in the world."

(Reporting by Aditya Soni and Abhirami G in Bengaluru; Editing by Anil D'Silva)

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The hosts are Reuters Breakingviews columnists. The opinions expressed are their own.

By Aimee Donnellan and Una Galani

DUBLIN/HONG KONG, May 14 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Follow on Apple or Spotify. Listen on the Reuters app. Read the episode transcript.

Listen to the podcast

The country’s $4 trln consumer-led economy is already seeing a slowdown in hiring and firms like Oracle are laying off staff. In this Viewsroom podcast, Breakingviews columnists explain why India is so vulnerable and how the situation may play out elsewhere.

Follow Aimee Donnellan on LinkedIn.

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FURTHER READING

AI job shock risks throttling India’s consumption

Poll wins spotlight India’s next spending crisis

India IT needs new model to code past AI crunch

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(Editing by Sheryl Peña and Gregory Garner; Production by Aditya Srivastav)

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Changes dateline, adds Cisco

May 13 (Reuters) - Concerns are deepening among investors and economists that artificial intelligence will upend established industries, with job losses already emerging in sectors most exposed to automation.

Goldman Sachs economists said in February that AI was responsible for 5,000 to 10,000 monthly net job losses last year in the most exposed U.S. industries.

A survey by global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas linked AI to 7% of total U.S. planned layoffs announced in January.

Below is a table of AI-linked global layoffs announced since October from biggest to smallest. Entries with no specified number are placed at the bottom.

(Reporting by Romolo Tosiani and Philippe Leroy Beaulieu in Gdansk, Additional reporting by Anshuman Tripathy; Editing by Matt Scuffham, Milla Nissi-Prussak, Jonathan Ananda, Devika Syamnath and Shilpi Majumdar)

(([email protected]))

Adds details on sector paragraph 2 onwards

May 12 (Reuters) - India's IT shares fell to a three-year low on Tuesday as investor jitters around the threat posed by artificial intelligence to flagship IT firms flared up again, after OpenAI announced a new AI venture.

The Nifty IT index .NIFTYIT fell 3.6% to its lowest since May 2023, with Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS, Infosys INFY.NS, HCL Technologies HCLT.NS and Wipro WIPR.NS falling between 2.5% and 4%.

Analysts at HSBC said in a Tuesday note that India's top-tier IT firms largely failed to meet street expectations for earnings in March quarter as well as in their outlooks for the new financial year, adding that strong spending globally on AI could be "crowding out" demand for traditional IT services.

HSBC's warning comes a day after OpenAI said it is launching a new company backed by more than $4 billion, embedding engineers into organizations to identify where AI can make the most impact. It's the latest challenge to Indian IT firms' business model from a major AI company targeting enterprise clients.

Indian IT stocks are unlikely to attract positive investor interest unless global AI activity, cloud capex growth and cloud revenue momentum slow, HSBC said.

Indian IT companies derive a significant share of their revenue from North America and are considered sensitive to U.S. economic uncertainty and corporate technology spending trends.

The industry has been under pressure for much of 2026, starting with a February rout after the roll-out of Anthropic's Claude Code and on fears rapid advances in generative AI would disrupt demand for traditional IT and professional services.

India's IT stocks have slid 25.4% so far this year, making them India's worst-performing sector, compared with a 9.7% drop in the benchmark Nifty 50 .NSEI.

March quarter results have done little to soothe investor worries. Dollar revenue at industry bellwether Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS shrank 0.5% year-on-year to $30 billion for the year ended March - the first decline since the company's 2004 IPO.

Industry peers have flagged challenges of meeting targets with limited visibility on demand: HCL Tech's CEO C Vijayakumar said in the company's post-earnings investor call it took "25%-30% more effort to convert and get to the same number" in terms of total contract value.

The broader Indian market remained under pressure on Tuesday, with the rupee sliding to a record low on elevated crude oil prices with talks to end the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran finding no success.

(Reporting by Chandini Monnappa, Surbhi Misra and Pranav Kashyap in Bengaluru; Editing by Ronojoy Mazumdar)

(([email protected] | X: https://twitter.com/SurbhiMisra_ |;))

Changes dateline and adds Cloudflare

May 8 (Reuters) - Concerns are deepening among investors and economists that artificial intelligence will upend established industries, with job losses already emerging in sectors most exposed to automation.

Goldman Sachs economists said in February that AI was responsible for 5,000 to 10,000 monthly net job losses last year in the most exposed U.S. industries.

A survey by global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas linked AI to 7% of total U.S. planned layoffs announced in January.

Below is a table of AI-linked global layoffs announced since October from biggest to smallest. Entries with no specified number are placed at the bottom.

(Reporting by Romolo Tosiani and Philippe Leroy Beaulieu in Gdansk; Editing by Matt Scuffham, Milla Nissi-Prussak, Jonathan Ananda and Devika Syamnath)

(([email protected]))

Recasts with closing levels

BENGALURU, May 6 (Reuters) - India's Coforge COFO.NS stock added more than $500 million in market capitalisation on Wednesday, closing 9.5% higher at 1,280 rupees, after the mid-tier IT firm forecast robust earnings and its margin beat surprised analysts.

Coforge's upbeat fiscal 2027 earnings outlook, supported by strong deal wins, order-book visibility and an improvement in operating margins, sharply contrasted the outlooks of larger peers Infosys INFY.NS and HCLTech HCLT.NS, which forecast subdued growth from AI-led spending caution and geopolitical tensions.

NSE data showed that the stock's put-call ratio - a measure of bearish bets relative to bullish ones - was at 0.53, signalling bullish positioning, with call volumes running at nearly twice the pace of puts.

Meanwhile, data also showed options traders unwound their bearish positions, with the 1300 contract being the most active for the day - suggesting the market is betting that Coforge's rally may still have room to run.

The stock logged its best session in more than a year and led gains on the Nifty IT index .NIFTYIT, which rose 0.5%. It was the stock's busiest day since 2023, with about 27 million shares changing hands - almost nine times its 30-day average.

Brokerage Jefferies said the results were a "clear positive surprise", citing a 230-basis-point sequential jump in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) margin to 16.6%, driven by lower costs and operating leverage.

"Coforge remains our preferred pick in the sector," said brokerage Jefferies. It hiked its price target to 1,860 rupees from 1,620 rupees and reiterated a "buy" rating, joining Prabhudas Lilladher, which also hiked PT to 2,020 rupees from 1,870.

Coforge on Tuesday forecast EBITDA growth of more than 20.5% on a consolidated basis in FY27 and announced that its March-quarter profit more than doubled from a year ago.

Strong deal wins and order-book growth provide visibility for double-digit organic growth, the firm said, even as it trimmed its lower-margin India business.

For the year, Coforge is down 23%, trailing the sub-index's 22% decline. The company also trades at a slight premium, with its 12-month forward price-to-earnings ratio at 21.47, compared with the industry average of 18.42, as per LSEG data.

($1 = 95.0750 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Abhinav Parmar, Kashish Tandon and Pranav Kashyap in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich, Harikrishnan Nair and Janane Venkatraman)

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April 30 (Reuters) - Infosys Ltd INFY.NS:

• APPOINTS NITIN PARANJPE AS VICE CHAIRMAN WITH IMMEDIATE EFFECT

Source text: ID:nBSE5zdySP

Further company coverage: INFY.NS

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Updates for markets open

April 24 (Reuters) - Indian shares opened lower on Friday, heading for a third consecutive session of losses, pressured by higher oil prices on Middle East tensions and a drop in IT stocks after Infosys issued a weak revenue forecast.

The Nifty 50 .NSEI fell 0.30% to 24,100.55, and the BSE Sensex .BSESN shed 0.23% to 77,483.80, as of 9:15 a.m. IST.

Eight of the 16 major sectors declined at the open. The broader small-caps .NIFSCMP100 and mid-caps .NIFMDCP100 rose 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively.

IT index .NIFTYIT fell 1.6%, dragged down by a 3.3% drop in Infosys INFY.NS.

The country's No. 2 IT company forecast annual revenue growth below market expectations due to macroeconomic uncertainty and tepid client spending. The outlook overshadowed better-than-expected fourth-quarter results.

Brent crude LCOc1 hovered around $106 after Iran displayed its grip over the Strait of Hormuz with a video of its commandos storming a cargo ship following the collapse of peace negotiations and U.S. President Donald Trump's indefinite extension of the ceasefire.

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)

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April 23 (Reuters) -

• INFOSYS EXEC: SEEING ACCELERATION IN FINANCIAL SERVICES, ENERGY VERTICALS

• INFOSYS EXEC: NO UNUSUAL POSITIVE OR NEGATIVE CHANGES IN DEMAND FROM LAST QUARTER

• INFOSYS EXEC: AI SERVICES NOW FORM HIGHER PORTION THAN 5.5% OF OVERALL REVENUE SHARED IN Q3

• INFOSYS EXEC- EUROPEAN AUTO SECTOR GOING THROUGH A CHALLENGING PERIOD

• INFOSYS EXEC: DEAL WIN DOWN ON SEQUENTIAL BASIS DUE TO ONE $1+ BILLION DEAL IN BASE QUARTER

• INFOSYS EXEC: JAPAN, NORDIC MARKETS SEEING STABLE GROWTH

• INFOSYS EXEC: NOT OPTING FOR VISAS IN THE NEW REGIME

• INFOSYS EXEC: INTERESTED IN ACQUISITIONS IN HEALTHCARE SPACE

Further company coverage: INFY.NS

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