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** The recent correction in India's information technology sector presents an added buying opportunity, according to brokerage CLSA

** Indian IT stocks .NIFTYIT lost 12.5% in 2025, emerging as the biggest drag in benchmark indexes, which underperformed Asian and emerging-market peers

** The decline was triggered by record foreign outflows of $8.5 billion from the sector, muted corporate earnings and persistent weakness in U.S. client spending, the sector's primary revenue engine

** The pressure has intensified in 2026, with the IT index down 7% so far, amid rising concerns that advances in artificial intelligence, including new tools from U.S.-based Anthropic, could sharply compress software development cycles

** CLSA, however, downplays near-term disruption risks, arguing that enterprise technology ecosystems often take years to meaningfully adapt to new waves of innovation

** While the sector has weathered multiple disruptive narratives in the past, earnings have rarely suffered lasting damage, according to the brokerage

** CLSA favours mid-tier players Persistent Systems PERS.NS and Coforge COFO.NS, saying their agility positions them to capture emerging profit pools in the next technology cycle

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru)

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Feb 4 (Reuters) - Shares of Indian IT exporters .NIFTYIT slumped 6% on Wednesday, tracking losses in global software stocks, after AI developer Anthropic launched new tools that heightened concerns over AI-driven disruption in the data and professional services industry.

Anthropic launched plug-ins for its Claude Cowork agent on Friday that would automate tasks across legal, sales, marketing and data analysis, triggering a significant selloff among U.S. and European data analytics, professional services and software companies.

The Indian IT sub-index joined the rout on Wednesday and was set for its worst day since May 2022. All 10 of its constituents were in losses, led by a 7% drop in software services exporter Persistent Systems PERS.NS.

Heavyweights TCS TCS.NS and Infosys INFY.NS were down 5.2% and 5.8%, respectively, while Wipro WIPR.NS fell nearly 4%.

(Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)

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** Shares of India's Persistent Systems jump 0.66% to 6267.50 rupees

** Brokerage Macquarie ("outperform", hikes PT to 7750 rupees from 7450 rupees earlier) says co delivered solid beat in Q3, expects margin expansion through FY26 from sales and marketing leverage

** Citi Research (raises PT 5455 rupees from 5330 rupees)says co continues to grow well ahead of industry, but flags limited upside given its premium valuation

** On Tuesday, IT services co posted ~18% y/y growth in quarterly revenue to 37.78 bln rupees ($412.40 mln), profit up ~15% y/y

** PERS rated "hold" on avg by 35 analysts covering it; median PT at 6368 rupees- data compiled by LSEG

** 207,358 shares traded on the day, ~50% the 30-day avg of 407,379 shares

** PERS was down ~3.4% in 2025; PERS flat YTD

($1 = 91.6100 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Komal Salecha and Surbhi Misra in Bengaluru)

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By Bharath Rajeswaran and Sai Ishwarbharath B

Jan 8 (Reuters) - India's information technology firms are expected to report another muted quarter, as tepid demand in the U.S. and holiday-period client shutdowns continue to weigh on tech spending, nine brokerages said ahead of earnings.

Brokerages expect the top six IT firms by revenue to post about 4% year-on-year revenue growth and a 5% rise in profit for the December quarter on average, reflecting prolonged demand softness, compared with 6.5% revenue growth in the September quarter.

Indian software exporters last reported double-digit revenue growth in the March quarter of 2023, when digital transformation, cloud adoption and remote-work demand surged in the post-pandemic period.

The broader $283 billion Indian IT industry continues to face macro headwinds, including uncertainty over U.S. tariffs, challenges from proposed $100,000 visa fees, and subdued client spending on concerns about growth in the world's largest economy.

India's IT companies earn a significant share of their revenue from the United States, making the world's largest economy crucial for the sector.

Sector bellwether Accenture's ACN.N recent earnings beat Wall Street expectations on AI-led demand, though its unchanged growth outlook underscores the cautious near-term environment.

Although India has no pure-play AI firms, IT companies are beginning to shape AI strategies through acquisitions and partnerships. Brokerages expect AI momentum to build over the next six months and demand to pick up into 2026.

"Clients remain cautious about committing incremental spending to large programs amid macro and tariff uncertainty and a new tech cycle," said Abhishek Pathak, research analyst at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

U.S. tariff uncertainty, visa worries and weak spending drove record foreign outflows of $8.5 billion from IT stocks in 2025, nearly half of total foreign exits from Indian equities.

The Nifty IT index .NIFTYIT fell 12.6% in 2025, making it the worst-performing sector as Indian markets lagged Asian and emerging-market peers.

Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS, the country's largest IT firm, will kick off the earnings season on January 12. Its revenue is expected to rise about 4.2% year-on-year, slower than the 5.6% growth reported last year.

Infosys INFY.NS and HCLTech HCLT.NS are forecast to report year-on-year revenue growth of about 8.1% and 4.6%, respectively, compared with 7.6% and 5.1% in the year-ago period.

Most brokerages do not expect HCLTech to upgrade its fiscal 2026 annual revenue forecast of 2%–3%, or Infosys to raise its forecast of 3%–5%.

Earnings across domestic equities are expected to improve in the December quarter on tax cuts, policy easing, stable growth and benign inflation, even as the period remains structurally weak for IT firms.

Fewer working days due to global client holidays weigh on billing and revenue, while brokerages flag margin pressure from furloughs and wage hikes at firms such as TCS and Wipro WIPR.NS.

However, resilience in the BFSI (banking, financial services and insurance) segment, deal ramp-ups, early signs of artificial intelligence strategy formation and rupee depreciation could offer support by mid-2026, six brokerages said.

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran and Sai Ishwarbharath B in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

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** Shares of Persistent Systems PERS.NS fall 7% to 5,216 rupees, marking their steepest intraday percentage loss in four months

** Stock top loser in Nifty IT index .NIFTYIT, which is down 1.2%

** Co posts higher quarterly profit, but analysts flag macro headwinds that could hit future growth

** Macquarie and HSBC say EBIT margin, at 15.5%, falls short of expectations

** Macro uncertainty is slowing down client decision-making, especially in healthcare - Nomura

** HSBC maintains "hold" rating; sets TP at 6,000 rupees, implying upside of 7% from last close

** Macquarie retains "Outperform"; TP at 7,330 rupees, upside of 30.7%

** Nomura keeps "Neutral"; cuts TP to 5,510 from 5,700 rupees

** PERS rated "Hold" on average; median TP 5,836 rupees – data compiled by LSEG

** Stock down 19% YTD

(Reporting by Rudra Pratap Singh in Bengaluru)

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** Centrum initiates coverage on Indian IT services provider Persistent Systems PERS.NS with 'buy'; sets PT at 7,245 rupees

** PT implies upside of ~21% to current stock price of 5,997 rupees; PERS flat on the day

** Centrum says, PERS' 4-year revenue CAGR of 25.6% from FY21-FY25 significantly outpaces industry averages

** Adds, recent deal wins provide strong revenue and operating margin growth visibility, while sales mix remains well-diversified

** Co's strategic positioning at the forefront of the generative AI wave should drive accelerated deal flow and strengthen client partnerships- Centrum

** According to LSEG data, PERS rated 'hold' on avg by 32 analysts; median PT at 5,620 rupees - implying a downside of 6.3%

(Reporting by Ananta Agarwal in Bengaluru)

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June 6 (Reuters) - Persistent Systems Ltd PERS.NS:

• PERSISTENT SYSTEMS LTD - RE-APPOINTS ANAND DESHPANDE AS MD

Source text: ID:nBSE32Xw9w

Further company coverage: PERS.NS

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April 11 (Reuters) - Persistent Systems Ltd PERS.NS:

• NCLT MUMBAI SANCTIONS MERGER OF CAPIOT SOFTWARE INTO PERSISTENT SYSTEMS

Source text: ID:nBSE5jB6mk

Further company coverage: PERS.NS

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** Persistent Systems PERS.NS rises ~2%; sole gainer on Nifty IT .NIFTYIT index

** CLSA upgrades to "high-conviction outperform", with PT of 9,267 rupees - 79% upside to Monday's close

** Says PERS best-positioned IT co due to its generative AI capabilities and high exposure to fast-growing product engineering segment

** Sees large Salesforce CRM.N implementation, which makes co among key beneficiaries of Salesforce's agentic AI launch, and multiple margin levers among key positives for PERS

** Expects rev, PAT CAGR of 21% and 27% respectively, in FY25-FY27

** NIFTYIT falls 2% on U.S. recession fears; Indian IT cos earn significant portion of revenue from U.S.

** YTD, PERS loses ~19% vs NIFTYIT's 15% drop

(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M)

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** India's Persistent Systems PERS.NS climbs 2.7% to 5,679.45 rupees

** Stock set to snap a six-session losing run, if gains hold

** JP Morgan says it prefers the IT services firm due to its ability of navigating tough macro environment and "coming out with flying colors"

** Brokerage sees PERS as the fastest growing company in its coverage over FY25-FY27

** Adds that PERS' success vs peers is due to its smaller size and 1-2 large deal wins can skew positive outcomes significantly

** Winning large deals at the right time will continue to aid PERS to drive sector-leading growth - JPM

** Brokerage retains its "overweight" rating on stock with PT of 7,200 rupees

** PERS among seven stocks rated "hold" on 10-member IT index .NIFTYIT - according to data compiled by LSEG

** YTD, stock down 12% vs IT index's 4.4% decline

(Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru)

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Feb 13 (Reuters) - Persistent Systems Ltd PERS.NS:

• PERSISTENT SYSTEMS LTD - PERSISTENT SYSTEMS POLAND ENTERS ASSET PURCHASE AGREEMENT WITH SOHO DRAGON

• PERSISTENT SYSTEMS - TOTAL PURCHASE CONSIDERATION $2.01 MILLION, INCLUDES $1.07 MILLION UPFRONT PAYMENT

• PERSISTENT SYSTEMS LTD - ASSETS INCLUDE SELECT EMPLOYEES AND CONTRACTORS

Source text: ID:nNSE88dTtB

Further company coverage: PERS.NS

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** Shares of IT services provider Persistent Systems PERS.NS rise 10.7% to 6,293.60 rupees, their biggest one-day gain since Oct. 23, 2024

** Co among top gainers on Nifty IT index .NIFTYIT, which is up 1.9%

** Co's Q3 consol PAT rises 30.4% to 3.73 billion rupees ($43.18 million); rev. up 22.6%

** Unlike previous few quarters, growth was broad-based across verticals/geographies - Emkay Research

** More than 2.4 mln shares traded, nearly 5 times the 30-day avg.

** Analysts' avg. rating on stock is "hold" same as that on peers Mphasis MBFL.NS and HCL Technologies HCLT.NS; median PT is 5,970 rupees - LSEG data

** Stock rose 74% in 2024 vs 22% gain in Nifty IT index

($1 = 86.3880 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Aleef Jahan in Bengaluru)

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Jan 22 (Reuters) - Persistent Systems Ltd PERS.NS:

• DIVIDEND OF 20 RUPEES PER SHARE

• DEC-QUARTER CONSOL PROFIT 3.73 BILLION RUPEES

• DEC-QUARTER CONSOL REVENUE FROM OPERATIONS 30.62 BILLION RUPEES

Source text: [ID:]

Further company coverage: PERS.NS

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Jan 15 (Reuters) - Persistent Systems Ltd PERS.NS:

• LAUNCHES CONTRACTASSIST USING MICROSOFT 365 COPILOT

Source text: [ID:]

Further company coverage: PERS.NS

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Jan 6 (Reuters) - Persistent Systems Ltd PERS.NS:

• PERSISTENT SYSTEMS LTD - TO ACQUIRE ASSETS OF SOHO DRAGON SOLUTIONS

• PERSISTENT SYSTEMS LTD - TOTAL PURCHASE CONSIDERATION FOR ACQUISITION IS $5.94 MILLION

Source text: ID:nBSE6lSy4D

Further company coverage: PERS.NS

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** Shares of IT services provider Persistent Systems PERS.NS rise as much as 12.4% to hit record high of 5,798.70 rupees

** Co on Tuesday reported a 23.4% YoY rise in Q2 consolidated profit and rev from ops rose 20.1%

** 17 out of 29 analysts raised their PT since Tuesday, including top-rated ICICI Securities, PhillipCapital (India) - LSEG data

** Co's median PT lifted by 14.7% from last month to 5,200 rupees - LSEG data

** Co and Coforge COFO.NS, with more than 10% rise, are top pct gainers on Nifty IT index .NIFTYIT, which is up 3%

** Stock marks sharpest intraday pct gain since Sept. 14, 2020

** More than 1.5 mln shares change hands, 3.8x the 30-day avg

** Stock last up 11.1%, bumping YTD gains to 55.1%

(Reporting by Ashish Chandra in Bengaluru)

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Oct 22 (Reuters) - Persistent Systems Ltd PERS.NS:

• SEPT-QUARTER CONSOL PROFIT 3.25 BILLION RUPEES

• SEPT-QUARTER CONSOL REVENUE FROM OPERATIONS 28.97 BILLION RUPEES

Source text for Eikon: ID:nNSE8Gcgzw

Further company coverage: PERS.NS

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Oct 8 (Reuters) - Persistent Systems Ltd PERS.NS:

• ACHIEVES CARBON NEUTRALITY A YEAR AHEAD OF TARGET

Source text for Eikon: ID:nBSEFLLFY

Further company coverage: PERS.NS

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Sept 30 (Reuters) - Persistent Systems Ltd PERS.NS:

• PERSISTENT SYSTEMS - TO ACQUIRE ARRKA INFOSEC

• PERSISTENT SYSTEMS - COST OF ACQUISITION OF ARRKA IS 144 MILLION RUPEES

Source text for Eikon: ID:nBSET1fXm

Further company coverage: PERS.NS

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** Shares of Persistent Systems PERS.NS down 5.9% at 4,605 rupees; top loser in IT index .NIFTYIT, which is up 0.5%

** IT services provider reports 30.4% rise in PAT, but EBIT margins are below some analysts' expectations

** Margin disappoints despite superior growth and growth continues to be lop sided, Axis Capital analysts says

** Stock up 25% YTD vs 13.5% gains in Nifty IT index

(Reporting by Sethuraman NR in Bengaluru)

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July 18 (Reuters) - Persistent Systems Ltd PERS.NS:

• Q1 CONSOL PROFIT 3.06 BILLION RUPEES

• Q1 CONSOL REVENUE FROM OPERATIONS 27.37 BILLION RUPEES

Source text for Eikon: ID:nNSE2hcS70

Further company coverage: PERS.NS

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July 3 (Reuters) - Persistent Systems Ltd PERS.NS:

• SOFTWARE COMPANY INTERNATIONAL HAS BEEN DISSOLVED EFFECTIVE FROM JUNE 27

Further company coverage: PERS.NS

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June 11 (Reuters) - Persistent Systems Ltd PERS.NS:

• ENTERS STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT TO DRIVE INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS POWERED BY GOOGLE CLOUD

Further company coverage: PERS.NS

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June 6 (Reuters) - Persistent Systems Ltd PERS.NS:

• LAUNCHES GENAI HUB FOR NEW ERA OF ENTERPRISE AI ADOPTION

Source text for Eikon: ID:nBSE6DlGcV

Further company coverage: PERS.NS

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By Sai Ishwarbharath B

BENGALURU, May 22 (Reuters) - Mid-tier firms in India's $254 billion information technology sector took market share from industry goliaths in recent quarters as clients curtailed discretionary spending amid inflationary pressures and economic uncertainty, analysts said.

Unlike their larger rivals such as Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS and Infosys INFY.NS, mid-tier IT firms tend to focus on short-term deals aimed at helping clients cut costs rather than chase large-scale projects.

The practice has paid off in an environment of slowing demand in prominent markets such as North America and Europe.

LTIMindtree LTIM.NS, Coforge COFO.NS, Mphasis MBFL.NS and Persistent Systems PERS.NS are "increasingly viewed as challengers in (winning) Fortune 500 accounts, aiding the share gain process," Kotak Institutional Equities said.

The smaller companies could outperform their larger rivals further once discretionary spending improves, Kotak analysts Kawaljeet Saluja, Sathishkumar S and Vamshi Krishna said.

This should set the mid-tier IT firms up well as they try to win more budget-conscious clients in an economic backdrop where U.S. interest rates are expected to stay "higher for longer". Industry body Nasscom estimated overall revenue growth more than halved to 3.8% last financial year.

"In the current macro environment, clients are increasingly looking at service providers (that) deliver services at lower and predictable costs with better business outcomes," said Avinash Baliga, partner at consulting firm Avasant.

Persistent Systems CEO Sandeep Kalra and Mphasis CFO Manish Dugar confirmed the market share gains. India's larger IT firms did not respond to Reuters' requests seeking comment.

"We are able to hold our own and win against the larger piers as clients are looking for competency and not scale," Dugar told Reuters.

The market share of India's top five IT firms fell 17 basis points in 2023, reflecting the inroads made by the mid-tier IT firms, according to BNP Paribas data shared exclusively with Reuters. However, the top five IT firms still owned 88.35% of the market as of December 2023 among the top 10 firms.

On the stock market, share prices of Mphasis and Persistent Systems advanced 23.7% and 42.5% respectively in the last 12 months compared to a 16% gain in the broader Nifty IT Index.

In April, Infosys forecast fiscal 2025 revenue growth between 1% and 3% in constant currency terms, while most analysts had expected it to be at least in the range of 2% to 5%.

"Due to the sheer size they have reached, larger players have given muted guidance," said Ashok Soota, founder of mid-tier IT firm Happiest Minds Technologies HAPP.NS , which also gained market share. "We need to be humble about this as (our) market share is (relatively) small on the grand total."

(Reporting by Sai Ishwarbharath B; Editing by Dhanya Skariachan and Shri Navaratnam)

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** Persistent Systems PERS.NS tumbles 9.7% to a 4-month low, moving into the red YTD

** PERS top loser in Nifty IT .NIFTYIT index in stock's busiest day in 3 months

** Software services provider's Q4 EBIT margin contracts to 14.5% from 15.4% a yr ago

** However, profit grew 25.4% and rev increased ~15% in Q4

** Stock now down 4.6% YTD, moving into the red for the year after having been the highest-gaining IT stock as of Friday

** However, stock is up 5.5% YTD on a total returns basis, still the best-performing on 10-member IT index

** PERS trades at 42.3x next 12-month earnings, highest on index

(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru)

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March 7 (Reuters) - Persistent Systems Ltd PERS.NS:

• PERSISTENT SYSTEMS LTD - ANNOUNCED LAUNCH OF SASVA, AN ENTERPRISE AI PLATFORM

Source text for Eikon: ID:nBSE3885Qz

Further company coverage: PERS.NS

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Feb 27 (Reuters) - Persistent Systems Ltd PERS.NS:

• PERSISTENT SYSTEMS LTD - PERSISTENT SYSTEMS S.R.L, ITALY HAS BEEN DISSOLVED

Source text for Eikon: ID:nBSE775Q3Y

Further company coverage: PERS.NS

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Changes headline, recasts paragraph 1, and adds chart of historic weightage data of India and China in MSCI Global Standard index

By Bharath Rajeswaran

BENGALURU, Feb 13 (Reuters) - India has narrowed the gap with China in MSCI's Global Standard index, which tracks emerging market stocks for investors, after the latest revision.

Index provider MSCI raised India's weightage in the index to an all-time high of 18.2% on Tuesday, which could lead to inflows of about $1.2 billion, analysts said.

In comparison, China's weight in the index fell to 25.4% after the February revision, from 26.6% a year ago.

The convergence of weights between Indian and Chinese stocks has intensified since August 2020, when China's weightage was five times that of India's.

MSCI's revisions will come into effect after market close on Feb. 29. Indian shares had a 17.9% weight on the index ahead of the February review.

The gain for India can be attributed to a sustained rally in equities and relative underperformance of other emerging markets, especially China, Nuvama Alternative & Quantitative Research said in a note on Tuesday.

India could surpass a 20% weight on the MSCI index by early 2024, on consistent flows from domestic institutional investors and steady foreign portfolio investor participation, Nuvama said.

MSCI added five Indian stocks to its Global Standard index and did not move any out. In contrast, the index provider removed 66 Chinese stocks while adding five.

India's state-owned lenders Punjab National Bank PNBK.NS and Union Bank of India UNBK.NS were added to the large-cap category, while Bharat Heavy Electricals BHEL.NS and NMDC NMDC.NS were included in the mid-cap category. GMR Airports Infrastructure GMRI.NS was moved to the mid-cap category from small-caps.

India could witness up to $1.2 billion of passive foreign flows after the February review, Nuvama said.

About 27 small-cap stocks were added to the MSCI Domestic index, while six were either moved to other categories or removed.

Tata Motors TAMO.NS and Macrotech Developers MACE.NS were added to the domestic index under the large-cap category while Punjab National Bank, Canara Bank CNBK.NS and Embassy Office Park REIT EMBA.NS to the mid-caps.

Bharat Heavy Electricals BHEL.NS, Persistent Systems PERS.NS, MRF MRF.NS, Suzlon Energy SUZL.NS and Cummins India CUMM.NS were moved to the mid-cap index from small-caps.

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Mrigank Dhaniwala)

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** Shares of Persistent Systems PERS.NS rise 10% to record high of 8,713.7 rupees

** PERS is the top gainer on the Nifty IT index .NIFTYIT, which is up 1.1%

** Software services provider reported a 20.3% Y/Y rise in profit, beating analysts estimates; rev rose 15.2%

** Stock on track for a fifth consecutive session of gains; sees busiest day since Dec. 15, 2023

** Avg rating of 29 analysts close to equivalent of "hold"; median PT is 6,780 rupees - LSEG

($1 = 83.1025 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Navamya Ganesh Acharya in Bengaluru)

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