TCS

Oct 14 (Reuters) - Tata Consultancy Services Ltd TCS.NS:

• TCS - PARTNERS WITH GOOGLE CLOUD TO INTEGRATE GEMINI ENTERPRISE

Source text: ID:nNSE58RfQ9

Further company coverage: TCS.NS

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

By Shritama Bose

KOLKATA, Oct 13 (Reuters Breakingviews) - A power struggle at one of its largest business houses is the last thing India needs as it grapples with punitive U.S. tariffs. The government has intervened unusually quickly in a boardroom battle at the Tata group; India's finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, met last week with the $300 billion conglomerate's unlisted holding company and the charitable trusts that are its 66% owners and urged them to resolve their internal disputes. It confirms the systemic risks posed by India's family-led businesses.

One year on from the death of the group's patriarch, Ratan Tata, the conglomerate is battling multiple operational crises: the country's top manufacturer and employer is reeling from the deadly crash of a plane at Air India – a carrier it acquired from the government in 2022; a cyberattack has crippled production at Tata Motors' TAMO.NS luxury marque Jaguar Land Rover; and growth is weak at its IT software services giant, Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS.

Yet the board of Tata's main holding company, led by Natarajan Chandrasekaran, is at only three-fifths of its March 2024 strength after a tussle between trustees at the charitable trusts resulted in the ousting of a director of Tata Sons in September. Noel Tata, who succeeded his half-brother as the chair of Tata Trusts, is struggling to stamp his authority on the group, and his position is complicated by his marriage to the sister of former Tata Sons chair Cyrus Mistry, whose family wants to exit Tata Sons; their 18% stake might be worth up to $38 billion.

India is no stranger to drama at its family businesses, but the Tatas, like Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries RELI.NS and the Adani group, are increasingly embedded in New Delhi's strategic planning. Tata group is Apple's AAPL.O domestic partner, leads the charge in India's chipmaking ambitions and produces defence gear through joint ventures with Lockheed Martin LMT.N and Boeing BA.N. The boom in software services over the past two decades means TCS alone has a headcount of over 593,000.

New Delhi needs its leading businesses putting their best foot forward to offset the impact of Trump's trade war. But on top of the Tata woes, the $160 billion Adani group has slowed capital expenditure and is more reliant on Indian banks after U.S. authorities charged its founder Gautam Adani with fraud, allegations the group denies.

The government's intervention at Tata group may accelerate an exit for the Mistry family. If nothing else, it shows India recognises the dangers of depending on a chosen few.

Follow Shritama Bose on Linkedin and X.

CONTEXT NEWS

Two senior Indian ministers met top executives from the Tata group and urged them to resolve internal boardroom disputes, Reuters reported on October 8, a day after the meeting took place, citing unnamed sources.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was one of the ministers present at the meeting in New Delhi, which Tata Sons Chair N. Chandrasekaran and Tata Trusts head Noel Tata attended, the report added.

(Editing by Una Galani; Production by Ujjaini Dutta)

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

By Aditya Kalra

NEW DELHI, Oct 10 (Reuters) - A trustee of Tata Group's charity arm has said its decision to vote him off the board of the $180-billion business empire it controls was "unprecedented" and signals a "different era", in the biggest boardroom rift to shake India Inc in years.

The discontent at Tata Trusts, a year after the death of family patriarch Ratan Tata, has fuelled fears of a repeat of a bitter 2016 public spat between the charity and Tata Sons that also hit the reputation of India's most revered conglomerate.

Tata Trusts has a stake of 66% stake in Tata Sons, which in turn, oversees 30 firms in areas ranging from consumer goods to airlines, including global names such as Jaguar Land Rover, Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS and Tata Motors TAMO.NS.

The disagreement in recent weeks concerns which trustees should sit on the board of Tata Sons, the general business direction taken by the group and how to manage the planned exit of minority shareholder Shapoorji Pallonji, Reuters has reported.

The trustees voted not to reappoint Vice Chairman Vijay Singh to the board of Tata Sons in September, laying bare a tussle among senior members of the powerful charity arm, which is led by Ratan Tata's half-brother Noel Tata.

"The idea of voting on any matter in Tata Trusts is unprecedented," Singh told the Indian Express newspaper in rare public comments from an insider at the firm that has always sought to stay out of the limelight.

"Ratan Tata was very firm that there should always be consensus and unanimity on issues ... and perhaps we are now in a different era.

Four trustees voted against Singh's continuance on the Tata Sons board for reasons that did not appear to have been spelt out, he added.

Tata Trusts and Tata Sons, which have not commented on the matter, did not respond to emails from Reuters seeking comments on Friday. Singh did not respond to text messages.

But two senior Indian ministers in a rare intervention this week urged Tata Trusts to resolve internal boardroom disputes.

A source with direct knowledge of the issues at Tata Trusts said on Friday there are two factions at the charity arm which disagree on a host of issues, one led by its Chair Noel Tata and the other by a trustee, Mehli Mistry.

The source spoke on condition of anonymity as the matter is private. How the indvidual factions line up on the issues at stake is not clear.

Mehli Mistry is a cousin of the late Cyrus Mistry, a former Tata Sons chairman who died in 2022. Their family firm Shapoorji Pallonji holds a stake of 18% in Tata Sons.

(Reporting by Aditya Kalra; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

((Email: [email protected]; X: @adityakalra;))

Adds CEO comments in paragraphs 4 and 5, analyst comment in paragraph 12

By Haripriya Suresh and Sai Ishwarbharath B

BENGALURU, Oct 9 (Reuters) - Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS, India's top software-services exporter, beat second-quarter revenue estimates on Thursday, aided by strength in its banking, financial services and insurance segment, and said it expects better growth in the second half of the fiscal year.

The results boosted optimism around the country's $283 billion IT sector, which has been dealing with cautious client spending amid economic uncertainties, especially in North America, its largest market.

"If there are no more tariff-related surprises, Indian IT should slowly recover from this quarter," Centrum Broking analyst Piyush Pandey told Reuters, noting that TCS' revenue and operating margins were above expectations.

TCS CEO K Krithivasan told analysts that the number of projects getting deferred or paused has reduced compared to the preceding quarter.

"We have had better growth compared to Q1. Macros have not changed much, but our deep engagement with clients, AI solutions - all of this gives confidence that we will improve the growth momentum compared to the first half," he said.

Sales in the September quarter rose 2.4% to 657.99 billion rupees ($7.4 billion), beating analysts' average estimate of 650.86 billion rupees, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Revenue at its core banking, financial services and insurance segment, which accounts for about a third of the company's business, rose 1%, while revenue from its consumer, healthcare and manufacturing verticals fell 2.9%, 2.2% and 1.1%, respectively.

Profit rose 1.4% to 120.75 billion rupees, but missed analysts' average estimate of 126.29 billion rupees, hurt by 11.35 billion rupees in severance costs. In July, TCS announced its plans to shed 2% of its workforce in fiscal 2026, affecting about 12,200 middle and senior management jobs.

The company's employee count fell by 19,755 sequentially, the steepest-ever decline in a quarter.

TCS's total order bookings stood at $10 billion during the second quarter, versus $9.4 billion in the first quarter and $8.6 billion in the year-ago period, bringing some cheer to the sector that has been facing many challenges, including a proposed 25% tax on outsourcing payments and an H-1B visa crackdown that is expected to upend the industry's playbook.

The company also said it would set up a new business entity to build AI infrastructure, including a 1 GW data centre in India, over a period of five to seven years.

"When functional, 1GW in capacity will make TCS among the Top-5 data center operators in India and will possibly entail capex of US $5bn," analysts at Jefferies said.

($1 = 88.7910 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Haripriya Suresh and Sai Ishwarbharath B; Editing by Sonia Cheema, Mrigank Dhaniwala, Dhanya Skariachan and Shinjini Ganguli)

(([email protected];))

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI, Oct 8 (Reuters) - Two senior Indian ministers have, in an uncommon intervention, urged Tata Group's charity arm to resolve internal boardroom disputes to ensure stability at the sprawling $180-billion business empire it controls, sources told Reuters on Wednesday.

The discord within Tata Trusts, a year after the death of family patriarch Ratan Tata, has raised fears of a repeat of a bitter 2016 public spat between the charity and Tata Sons that tarnished the reputation of India's most storied group.

Tata Trusts owns a 66% stake in Tata Sons, giving it power over major strategic decisions. Tata Sons, in turn, oversees 30 firms ranging from consumer goods, autos and airlines, including the likes of Jaguar Land Rover, Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS, Tata Motors TAMO.NS and Air India.

The disagreement within Tata Trusts in recent weeks concerns which of its trustees should sit on the Tata Sons board, the general business direction taken by the group and how to manage the planned exit of minority shareholder Shapoorji Pallonji, two industry sources familiar with the matter said.

INDIAN GOVERNMENT ASKS TATAS TO RESOLVE ISSUES

The two Indian ministers met with Tata Sons Chair N. Chandrasekaran and Tata Trusts head Noel Tata in New Delhi on Tuesday to discuss the matter and seek a swift resolution of the disputes, one of the industry sources and a government official said.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was one of the ministers present at the rare direct government intervention, those sources said.

Indian media reported the other senior government official as Minister of Home Affairs Amit Shah.

"The government wants them to resolve the issues and restore stability," said the government official familiar with Tuesday's discussions.

The sources declined to be named as the matter is confidential.

Tata Trusts and Tata Sons have not commented publicly on the matter, which has been widely reported in Indian media. Neither responded to Reuters' requests for comment.

India's finance ministry and home affairs ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

In the 2016 spat, Tata Sons chair Cyrus Mistry was unceremoniously ousted following disagreements with Tata Trusts, triggering legal battles. Mistry died in 2022 but his family's firm, Shapoorji Pallonji, still owns an 18% stake in Tata Sons.

One of the main current disagreements among Tata Trusts' trustees concerns how Shapoorji's long-delayed plan to part ways with the Tatas will be executed and affect the conglomerate, one of the industry sources said.

Shapoorji Pallonji did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.

(Reporting by Aditya Kalra, Aftab Ahmed, Ira Duggal, Aditi Shah and Khushi Malhotra; Editing by Joe Bavier)

((Email: [email protected]; X: @adityakalra;))

By Bharath Rajeswaran and Haripriya Suresh

BENGALURU, Oct 7 (Reuters) - India's IT firms are set for another lackluster quarter as weak global demand, steep U.S. tariffs and trade jitters weigh on earnings, six brokerages said ahead of results.

Four forecast year-on-year revenue growth of about 6% and a 5.5% profit rise for the September quarter, despite seasonal strength from project cycles.

"September ... will be another muted quarter for IT," said Abhishek Pathak of Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

"As clients reel under macro and tariff uncertainty, there is hesitation to commit additional dollars to any large initiatives."

The projections point to continued single-digit growth, extending an eight-quarter trend as weak U.S. client spending weighs on the sector.

Indian IT firms last saw double-digit revenue growth in the March quarter of 2023, driven by digital transformation, cloud adoption and remote-work demand after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS, India's biggest IT firm, will open the earnings season on October 9 with revenue expected to rise about 2% year on year, compared to up about 8% in the same period last year.

Infosys INFY.NS and HCLTech HCLT.NS are forecast to post revenue growth of about 8% and 9.5% respectively.

Citi Research expects fiscal 2026 to be the third straight sluggish year for IT, while Ambit Capital warned that weak macros and policy uncertainty could cap 2027 rebound.

U.S.-based Accenture ACN.N last month flagged no "meaningful change" in market conditions, while forecasting full-year 2026 revenue below the LSEG-compiled estimate of 5.3%.

Banking and financial services segment is expected to hold up, while manufacturing and retail face tariff and budget pressures, Systematix Institutional Equities said.

A planned $100,000 H-1B visa fee and a proposed 25% U.S. tax on outsourcing have added to industry concerns, with analysts seeing limited near-term impact but potential shifts in delivery models.

Foreign investors have offloaded 678.36 billion rupees ($7.64 billion) of IT stocks in 2025, the biggest sectoral outflow, dragging the Nifty IT index .NIFTYIT down 20% year-to-date against a 6% gain in the Nifty 50 .NSEI.

Still, Axis Securities said the correction in large- and mid-cap IT stocks has improved valuations, offering a better risk-reward even if a sharp rebound takes time.

($1 = 88.7370 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran and Haripriya Suresh in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)

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

By Peter Thal Larsen

LONDON, Sept 28 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Welcome to the first edition of The Week in Breakingviews! For the past few years, I’ve been writing a regular roundup for the global team. Several people encouraged me to offer it to a wider audience, so I’m very excited to start sharing these reflections with you. Please email me with any suggestions. And if you’re not already a Breakingviews subscriber, sign up for a free trial here.

OPENING LINE

“The ouroboros – a dragon eating its own tail, signifying eternal recurrence – is as apt a symbol for the modern mysticism of artificial intelligence as it was for ancient Egypt.”

Read more here: Nvidia adds $100 bln to AI’s load-bearing startup.

FIVE THINGS I LEARNED FROM BREAKINGVIEWS THIS WEEK:

1. The number of employees of Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS on H-1B visas has halved since 2021.

2. Companies valued at more than 10 times sales account for a record 35% of the value of the S&P 500 Index.

3. Stablecoin operator Tether paid dividends of $7.4 billion in the first half of 2025, almost as much as JPMorgan JPM.N.

4. One in 25 UK citizens by the end of 2024 had arrived after Britain introduced a new points-based immigration system.

5. Japanese prime ministerial hopeful Sanae Takaichi wants the finance ministry to present a plan to double the country’s GDP in 10 years.

EXCEPTIONAL AMERICANISM

At the end of last year, one phrase kept cropping up in my conversations with professional money managers: “American exceptionalism”. U.S. markets had produced superior performance for so long that they had sucked in capital from around the planet. American equities accounted for 67% of the MSCI All-Country World Index. Giant companies like Nvidia NVDA.O were worth more than many countries’ entire stock markets. How long could this continue?

Since Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, investors have had plenty of opportunities to rethink. Just consider what the president has said and done in the past week alone. His administration upended immigration rules by chaotically slapping a $100,000 fee on new applications for H-1B visas, the main method for American companies to lure talented workers from around the world. He has cancelled renewable energy projects, telling the United Nations that “they don’t work”.

Trump’s tariff war on U.S. trading partners continues: branded pharmaceuticals, heavy trucks and kitchen cabinets are the latest product categories to face import levies. He has sent the U.S. Department of Justice after his enemies, filing criminal charges against former FBI Director James Comey. And the president is exerting his authority over private companies. On Thursday he blessed a deal to transfer 80% of TikTok’s U.S. assets from its Chinese owner ByteDance to a new consortium at a supposed valuation of $14 billion, far below most estimates of the short video app’s worth. If that figure is accurate, the transaction would amount to state-enabled expropriation on a scale rarely seen outside Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

Judging by financial markets, however, little has changed. After a brief dip in April when Trump launched his trade war, all three main U.S. stock market indices have risen to all-time highs. American equities still account for 65% of the global benchmark, even though a decline in the dollar has lifted the relative value of non-U.S. stocks. The U.S. dollar remains the dominant currency for global trade and payments.

These two trends strike me as incompatible. Lower taxes, deregulation, and the ongoing artificial intelligence boom may pump up corporate earnings for a while. Yet a country which is at best indifferent – and at times downright hostile – to companies and workers from overseas may struggle to attract capital on the same scale as in the past. Promises of loans and loan guarantees extracted from Japan and South Korea in return for lower tariffs may help, as Trump adviser-turned-Fed Governor Stephen Miran argued this week. Eventually, however, investors may be forced to conclude that a country with an increasingly volatile and unpredictable government deserves a less exceptional rating.

CHART OF THE WEEK

Javier Milei has won many admirers since he became president of Argentina in 2023. Yet while the libertarian economist has balanced the government’s books and calmed inflation, the country’s international position remains precarious. Argentina is still not attracting enough foreign capital to service its foreign-currency debt. No wonder Milei is seeking support from the Trump administration.

THE WEEK IN PODCASTS

Who would want to run a big global car company? Already grappling with the transition from combustion engines to battery-powered vehicles, executives must now steer around Donald Trump’s tariffs. On The Big View this week, Nissan Motor 7201.T CFO Jérémie Papin told our Asia autos columnist Katrina Hamlin how things look from the Japanese carmaker’s boardroom.

The Trump administration’s $100,000 fee for hiring skilled foreign workers sent panic through tech giants like Microsoft MSFT.O, while upending hiring policies at companies from JPMorgan to India’s Tata Consultancy Services. Aimee Donnellan and Jonathan Guilford invited Una Galani and Rob Cyran on to the Viewsroom to debate the fallout and explain how the policy clashes with other U.S. economic aims.

PARTING SHOT

There’s a long-established principle in global debt markets that governments can borrow at cheaper rates than companies. Yet the gap has narrowed and, in some cases, inverted. Among French companies with investment-grade credit ratings, 7% can borrow for less than the sovereign. As governments in the developed world grapple with high debt levels and large companies like Microsoft sit on vast cash piles, expect to see the credit markets get more freakish.

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Follow Peter Thal Larsen on Bluesky and LinkedIn.

(Editing by Liam Proud; Production by Oliver Taslic)

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Sept 23 - By Ira Dugal, Editor Financial News, with global Reuters staff

U.S. President Donald Trump's move to drastically hike H-1B visa fees will raise Indian technology firms' costs of hiring workers and providing services in the U.S., forcing them to rethink their operating models. It already set them back by nearly $10 billion in lost market value of their shares on Monday, the first day of trading, after the news, but the impact of the decision could go much beyond that. That's our focus this week.

And the Indian central bank is likely to opt for continuity in its inflation targeting framework. Scroll down for more on that.

THIS WEEK IN ASIA-PACIFIC

The candidates vying to be Japan's next leader

Hardest-hit Vietnam risks losing $25 billion from US tariffs, UN estimates

China cracks down on online content inciting hostility, pessimism

UK, Australia and Canada recognise Palestinian state, Israel condemns decision

Trump says 'bad things' will happen if Afghanistan does not return Bagram air base

A NEW 'MAGA' FRONT

Donald Trump has opened a new front in his fight for MAGA, or 'Make America Great Again', by driving up the fees on H-1B visas, used by foreign tech workers, most notably Indians. Train American workers instead, Trump said, making the announcement.

The decision put the tech industry squarely in the middle of the global trade and immigration tensions, leaving Indian firms rethinking their plans and policymakers calculating the wider hit from Trump's latest salvo.

The initial announcement - which suggested an annual fee of $100,000 on anyone with an H-1B visa entering the U.S. from September 21 compared with just a few thousand dollars previously - sparked panic, with companies asking workers who hold such visas and are overseas to rush back. Travellers cancelled plans and scrambled to find flights to the U.S.

India's foreign ministry said the move could disrupt families, adding that the U.S. and India have both benefited from mobility of skilled workers.

The final version, however, was watered down, imposing a one-time fee on new visas only. Nevertheless, global tech executives have pushed back, warning of rising costs for large companies and startups.

While Amazon AMZN.O uses the largest number of H-1B visas, leading Indian IT services firms are all among the top-10 sponsors of the visas. And Indians are the biggest beneficiaries of these temporary work permits.

Analysts expect the immediate financial impact on margins and profitability to be manageable but warn of rising uncertainties for the sector. Brokerage ICICI Securities pegged the average hit on earnings per share at about 6% while Jefferies estimated it at 4%-13% for different firms based on the nature of business and use of these visas. They did not specify the time period for the profit hit.

Read here to understand the impact on India's IT services model.

In response, the Nifty IT index .NIFTYIT fell 3% on Monday, wiping out nearly $10 billion in market value. The index of IT stocks has been the worst performer among sectoral indices in the Indian market so far this year, down 18% compared to a 6% gain for the benchmark Nifty 50 .NSEI.

RIPPLE EFFECTS WILL BECOME EVIDENT LATER

The wider implications of a clampdown on Indian tech workers in the U.S. will only play out over time.

With fewer such professionals welcome in the U.S., wage growth in the domestic industry could be hurt at a time when a squeeze on profitability and increased use of AI have already brought on job cuts.

The sector, which employs 5.67 million people, is a significant driver of demand in the Indian economy.

Citi analysts believe remittance flows from the U.S. could also be impacted over time but added that quantifying the impact is difficult.

Displaced workers could find a home in other countries such as Britain and South Korea, which are looking at easier visa policies to attract talent.

Some analysts believe the visa fee hike may eventually benefit India by increasing offshoring via global capability centres (GCC), used by foreign firms for a range of services from accounting to research, which have powered up the country's services exports in recent years.

The H-1B shock and increasing uncertainty "could accelerate GCC trajectory and lift GCC exports as a share of India’s total services exports over time," said Madhavi Arora, chief economist at Mumbai-headquartered Emkay Global Financial Services.

But this growth also could be short-circuited.

A bill known as the HIRE Act and introduced by U.S. Republican Senator Bernie Moreno has made the industry nervous. Any version of the bill, which proposes taxing companies that hire foreign workers over Americans, could limit the offshoring opportunity.

"If the repercussion of this (H-1B fee increase) is substantial offshoring, it might invite a reaction in terms of service tariffs or offshoring taxes," brokerage house Ambit Capital said in a note.

How will Trump's latest move impact India's tech sector and the broader economy? Write to me at [email protected].

MARKET MATTERS

India's central bank is likely to recommend maintaining the inflation target of 4% for another five years, Reuters reported.

The inflation targeting framework is up for review by March 2026.

The continuation of the target means predictability in the trajectory of interest rates but also leaves room for at least one more cut this year as headline inflation remains within the central bank's target while core inflation has been stickier.

The Reserve Bank of India had sought views on whether the target should be changed from headline inflation to core inflation and if the target band should be different from the current 2%-6%.

With most stakeholders backing the current framework, the central bank is likely to suggest its continuation to the government.

THIS WEEK'S MUST-READ

European Union nations are keeping a close watch on any wildlife export requests from India and, in particular, Vantara, a private zoo run by the philanthropic arm of a conglomerate controlled by Asia's richest family, the Ambanis.

Indian investigators cleared the sanctuary of any wrongdoing this week but its operations continue to draw global scrutiny.

Read here to know why the Spix's macaw, a vivid-blue parrot, found itself in the middle of controversy around Vantara.

(Reporting by Ira Dugal; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

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The authors are Reuters Breakingviews columnists. The opinions expressed are their own. Refiles to fix spacing in Context news.

By Una Galani and Shritama Bose

HONG KONG/MUMBAI, Sept 22 (Reuters Breakingviews) - What helps make some American companies exceptional is that they're able to hire the best talent in the world. Donald Trump's decision to slap a $100,000 fee on new applications for H-1B visas - used to bring highly skilled and talented workers into the country to work for Amazon.com AMZN.O, Microsoft MSFT.O, Meta Platforms META.O, Apple AAPL.O and others - poses a risk to that equation. But the U.S. president has allowed himself enough loopholes to avoid such an adverse outcome.

The war on H-1B visas opens a new front in Washington's anti-immigration push, but it is not a jolt from the blue. For years, Indian IT outsourcing companies operating in the U.S. have in particular come under fire for using the visas to hire lower-paid foreign technology engineers instead of hiring Americans. That has started to change, though. Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS, the second-largest user of the program this year, has 5,505 employees on the visas, half its 2021 peak. Yet while Indian nationals hold 71% of H-1Bs, U.S. companies dominate the top 10 sponsors.

The short-term financial impact will be limited, especially after the White House hastily clarified over the weekend that the fee only applies to new applications, not existing visas. Even if it were retroactive, the upfront cost for JPMorgan JPM.N, for example, would be equivalent to 0.4% of its full-year profit. Spread the cost over three to five years of an employee's term, and the $100,000 fee is a tolerable cost for hiring the best and brightest. For TCS, it would be up to 10%.

In practice, companies are likely to respond to Trump's order in two main ways. First, they will double down on offshoring work, where possible. Absent any move by Washington to tax outsourcing payments, India, the Philippines and Mexico could be top potential beneficiaries. Though companies need a minimum mass of talent in close proximity to their projects to execute them smoothly, there was a massive trend toward offshoring during the COVID-19 pandemic which busted myths about where people need to be to perform certain tasks.

Second, companies will aggressively pull forward their adoption of artificial intelligence to optimise their workforce requirements. If a company was using 10 people with H-1B visas on a project, they might hire five and use the latest innovations in AI to see if they can make up for the lack of availability of talent. That would be the opposite outcome to Washington's intention to prod employers to hire American science, technology, engineering and mathematics graduates to tackle domestic unemployment among this cohort.

Trump has taken different sides on H-1B visas over the years, siding at times with his tech advisers or with his Make American Great Again political champions. His own uncertainty may explain why the president's order contains plenty of loopholes. He has allowed the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security to grant fee exemptions if it is in the national interest, and the restrictions only apply for 12 months, unless the programme is extended.

But the overarching threat remains. America has always relied on a mixture of local and overseas talent and will pay a heavy price if the anti-immigration push becomes permanent.

Follow Una Galani on LinkedIn and X.

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CONTEXT NEWS

U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order on September 19 that will impose a $100,000 fee on applications for H-1B visas to bring specialist skilled workers into the country. The restriction, absent an extension, will expire in 12 months. The order also gives the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security the right to grant exemptions to the fee if they are in the national interest.

(Additional reporting by Ujjaini Dutta; Editing by Antony Currie; Production by Aditya Srivastav)

((For previous columns by the authors, Reuters customers can click on [Galani/] BOSE/ mailto: [email protected]; [email protected]))

Sept 19 (Reuters) - Tata Consultancy Services Ltd TCS.NS:

• TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES LTD - TO POWER RETAILERS WITH NVIDIA ACCELERATED COMPUTING

• TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES LTD - EMBEDS NVIDIA AI SOFTWARE INTO RETAIL SOLUTIONS

Source text: ID:nBSE1mYznM

Further company coverage: TCS.NS

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The authors are Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are their own. Refiles to add correct topic code.

By Una Galani and Shritama Bose

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI, Sept 18 (Reuters Breakingviews) - In recent years, India has enjoyed a virtuous cycle. The fast growth and unusual stability of its $4 trillion economy has boosted the country’s confidence and standing in the world. But Donald Trump’s trade war and desire to bring jobs back to the United States could quickly undermine what Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called “India’s moment”.

The U.S. president’s decision to raise tariffs on imports of Indian goods to 50% puts the country at a competitive disadvantage to Asian peers and hurts its manufacturing ambitions. However, given that all overseas shipments generate just 11% of Indian GDP, the economy can absorb the blow. A greater threat is that deteriorating relations with the U.S. impact the country’s IT services industry which has played a leading role in India’s transformation over the past two decades.

Providing services to global companies including JPMorgan JPM.N, Goldman Sachs GS.N and Exxon Mobil XOM.N has created massive wealth, spurred the rise of major cities like Hyderabad and Bengaluru, and created the wall of money that has propelled the stock market, property prices, and the consumption of well-heeled Indians.

The two countries have resumed trade negotiations but New Delhi has limited bargaining chips. India is too poor for Modi to open its market to U.S. agricultural imports or to promise hundreds of billions of dollars of investment in the world’s biggest economy, as Japan has done. Meanwhile, India’s loose grip on supply chains means it cannot follow China’s lead by withholding exports of rare earths or other items.

Policymakers, industrialists and financiers in New Delhi and Mumbai are sympathetic to Modi’s position. They are also hopeful that Washington will quickly soften its stance to avoid pushing the South Asian country into the orbit of the People’s Republic. The alternative is too grim to contemplate.

A FINE BALANCE

Start with tariffs. If the 50% U.S. levy remains in place, it could wipe up to 0.6% off India’s GDP growth in the current financial year to the end of March, says V. Anantha Nageswaran, the nation’s chief economic adviser. Deduct this figure from the lower end of official forecasts and growth would shrink to 5.7%.

That’s unwelcome, but manageable. The tariff applies to only 13% of the $437 billion goods India shipped overseas last year, because pharmaceutical products and electronic items like Apple AAPL.O iPhones are exempt. Even so, Trump’s levy would lead to significant job losses because it makes goods from employment-intensive sectors like auto parts, gems, jewellery, and textiles unviable for export to the U.S.

A lower growth rate would leave India short of the minimum 6% annual pace New Delhi was targeting for the next decade, and well short of its potential of 8% or more. However, India could retain its status as the world’s fastest-growing large economy, ahead of China.

An attack on India’s services industry would be more severe. A sharp reduction of IT exports could lead to rocketing inflation and trigger a currency crisis because of the crucial balancing effect services exports have on India’s finances.

Services are an obvious if complicated target. Firms led by Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS, Infosys INFY.NS and Wipro WIPR.NS generate up to 60% of their revenue from North America. Meanwhile, one in five Fortune 2000 companies have global centres in India.

Many multinational firms rely on Indians to handle their finance processes and deal with customer complaints. Though these hubs have evolved to include product engineering and innovation centres, including for artificial intelligence, the industry’s appeal remains rooted in its relatively low employment costs.

India’s services exports have grown at double the rate of the rest of the world between 2005 and 2023. Of the $341 billion India earned providing overseas services in the year ending March 2024, at least 30% or $103 billion came from the United States. That’s twice the value of goods exports targeted by Trump.

This model is now under attack from U.S. politicians eager to bring jobs back home. One symptom of the backlash is The Halting International Relocation of Employment Act, also known as the Hire Act, introduced this month by Ohio Senator Bernie Moreno. It proposes a 25% tax on outsourcing payments, defined as any money paid by a U.S. company or taxpayer to a foreign person whose work benefits U.S. consumers.

It’s unclear whether Trump supports the bill, and similar legislation has previously failed to win backing in Congress. But so long as Washington pursues an “America First” agenda, such threats will continue.

Reversing decades of outsourcing of services jobs would not be easy. A sudden move would leave global companies unable to file their accounts and support clients. Even a gradual shift could be fraught. The sheer number of English-speaking and numerically skilled workers in India cannot be found elsewhere.

Nevertheless, any sustained threat could be devastating, especially if AI also squeezes back-office headcounts. The crux of India’s recent economic stability is that it sells more services overseas than it buys from OpenAI, Perplexity, Alphabet’s GOOGL.O Google, and others. This helps contain the “twin deficits” in the country’s current account - a measure of its imports and exports – and in the government’s fiscal account.

Keeping a lid on these shortfalls prevents the rupee from depreciating too fast, curbs energy import costs, tames domestic inflation and reduces the need for politicians to spend borrowed money to support the large swathes of poor among the country’s 1.4 billion inhabitants. It has also helped to shrink the risk premium global investors assign to India.

When the twin deficits expand, India suffers. It experienced a sharp rupee depreciation and significant capital outflows during the 2013 “taper tantrum” when the U.S. Federal Reserve slowed down its bond purchases.

Modi has ways to offset the damage. His administration is doubling down on efforts to strike free trade agreements, including with the European Union. It is also waving through reforms to spur consumption and cut red tape. However, these steps are insufficient to replace lost American exports or truly unshackle Indian businesses.

Trump’s tariff war has shown the U.S. president is willing to inflict economic pain on his own country to try and achieve his aims. The risk for India is that what was a virtuous cycle for its economy turns into a vicious one.

Follow Una Galani on LinkedIn and X.

Follow Shritama Bose on LinkedIn and X.

(Editing by Peter Thal Larsen; Production by Aditya Srivastav)

((For previous columns by the authors, Reuters customers can click on GALANI/ [email protected];; [email protected] ))

Sept 15 (Reuters) - Warehouse Group Ltd WHS.NZ:

• PARTNERS WITH TATA CONSULTANCY SERVICES TO SUPPORT MANAGED SERVICES TRANSFORMATION

Further company coverage: WHS.NZ

(([email protected];))

Sept 12 (Reuters) - Tata Consultancy Services Ltd TCS.NS:

• TCS - SIGNS MOU WITH C-DAC TO STRENGTHEN INDIA’S SOVEREIGN CLOUD INFRASTRUCTURE

Further company coverage: TCS.NS

(([email protected];))

By Haripriya Suresh and Urvi Dugar

BENGALURU, Sept 11 (Reuters) - India's massive IT sector faces a lengthy period of uncertainty with customers delaying or re-negotiating contracts while the U.S. debates a proposed 25% tax on American firms using foreign outsourcing services, analysts and lawyers said.

The sector is likely to be on the receiving end of a bill which, though unlikely to pass in its nascent form, will initiate a gradual shift in how big-name firms in the world's largest outsourcing market buy IT services, they said.

Still, with U.S. firms having to pay the tax, those heavily reliant on overseas IT services are likely to push back, setting the stage for extensive lobbying and legal battles, analysts and lawyers said.

India's $283 billion information technology sector has thrived for more than three decades exporting software services, with prominent clients including Apple AAPL.O, American Express AXP.N, Cisco CSCO.O, Citigroup C.N, FedEx FDX.N and Home Depot HD.N. It has grown to make up over 7% of GDP.

However, it has also drawn criticism in customer countries over job loss to lower-cost workers in India.

Last week, U.S. Republican Senator Bernie Moreno introduced the HIRE Act which proposes taxing companies that hire foreign workers over Americans, with the tax revenue used for U.S. workforce development. The bill also seeks to bar firms from claiming outsourcing payments as tax-deductible expenses.

The bill could not have come at a worse time for India's IT sector, which is struggling with weak revenue growth in its mainstay U.S. market as clients defer non-essential tech spending amid inflationary pressure and tariff uncertainty.

"The HIRE Act proposes sweeping changes that could alter the economics of outsourcing and significantly increase the tax liability associated with international service contracts," EY India's compliance head Jignesh Thakkar said.

In some cases, combined federal, state and local taxes could push the levy on outsourced payments as high as 60%, Thakkar said.

"While its partisan proposal may seem initially attractive, it's ultimately an artificial cost which makes organisations less competitive and profitable globally," said Arun Prabhu, partner at Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas.

Even so, the idea is gaining traction. This month, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro reposted a call from far-right activist Jack Posobiec for tariffs on services, not just goods.

"When political noise turns into regulatory risk, clients quickly insert contingencies, reopen pricing and demand delivery flexibility," said HFS Research President Saurabh Gupta.

"Clients will simply take longer to sign, longer to renew, and longer to commit transformation dollars," Gupta said.

Industry body Nasscom and IT firms Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS, Infosys INFY.NS, HCLTech HCLT.NS, Tech Mahindra TEML.NS, Wipro WIPR.NS and LTIMindtree LTIM.NS did not respond to requests for comment on implications of the bill.

BACKLASH BECKONS

Companies are likely to lobby hard against the proposed bill and challenge it legally if passed, legal experts and industry watchers said.

"A bill like this would probably face a lot of backlash from U.S. companies that rely heavily on outsourcing, who would likely bring litigation to challenge various aspects of the bill, if it were ever to be passed into law," said Alcorn Immigration Law CEO Sophie Alcorn.

Sweeping restrictions are unlikely given the practical hurdles in enforcing the bill's provisions, experts said.

"More likely is a diluted version, with narrower provisions or delayed enforcement," said HFS Research CEO Phil Fersht.

The bill could also affect U.S. firms' global capability centres (GCCs), which have evolved from low-cost offshore back offices to high-value innovation hubs that support operations, finance, research and development.

"It will be hard to pull back from existing work, but new set-ups and expansion may get impacted," said Everest Group partner Yugal Joshi.

The proposed tax will impact the cost arbitrage advantage that is among the deciding factors when establishing a GCC, said Bharath Reddy, a partner at CAM.

"However, the lack of availability of appropriate human capital in the U.S. will continue as a problem, and which can be addressed in the near future only through outsourcing," he said.

(Reporting by Haripriya Suresh and Urvi Dugar in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Skariachan and Christopher Cushing)

(([email protected];))

Sept 5 (Reuters) - Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS:

• SELECTED TO BUILD AI-ENABLED FINANCIAL SYSTEM FOR ODISHA

Source text: ID:nBSEZ3T96

Further company coverage: TCS.NS

(([email protected];))

Sept 2 (Reuters) - Tata Consultancy Services Ltd TCS.NS:

• TCS PARTNERS WITH TRYG

• TCS PARTNERS WITH TRYG ON A €550M DEAL

• DEAL TO PROPEL GROWTH WITH COMPREHENSIVE DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OVER THE NEXT 7 YEARS

  
  

Further company coverage: TCS.NS

(([email protected];))

Sept 1 (Reuters) - Tata Consultancy Services Ltd TCS.NS:

• TCS COMPLETES POLICY MIGRATIONS FOR LLOYDS BANKING GROUP’S SCOTTISH WIDOWS

Source text: ID:nnAZN4G0PW4

Further company coverage: TCS.NS

(([email protected];;))

Adds more details on the unit, background including on Kapur in paragraphs 4-5, 8, analyst comments in paragraphs 9-10

By Sai Ishwarbharath B

BENGALURU, Aug 26 (Reuters) - India's largest IT firm Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS formed a new unit for artificial intelligence-based operations on Tuesday and named insider Amit Kapur as its chief, a company memo seen by Reuters showed.

The new AI and services transformation unit will house all of the company's existing capabilities in the technology with an aim to deepen its focus on AI domain solutions and accelerate innovation, the memo said.

TCS' formation of the new unit comes a month after the sector bellwether announced plans to cut 12,000 jobs, flaring up signals that India's $283 billion outsourcing sector could see more layoffs as the use of AI deepens.

Indian IT companies are racing to adopt and offer more AI products to attract client spending, which has been suppressed for many quarters due to global macro-economic uncertainties.

"Over the last few years, TCS has made major forays on the AI front by scaling our capabilities, reskilling our workforce and deepening our partnerships," the company said in the memo.

Kapur, who has been with the firm for two decades, takes charge of the unit from September. He last headed TCS' UK and Ireland business.

The company did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment seeking confirmation on Kapur's appointment and formation of the unit.

TCS is the first among Indian IT companies to dedicate a business catering solely to AI and allied technologies, and follows a similar move by U.S. rival Accenture ACN.N in June.

"IT firms have started to think that AI-led transformation is their only major lever now to accelerate growth amid tepid macros," said Pareekh Jain, founder of IT research firm
EIIR Trend.

"The change is also a reflection of extracting more AI-focussed projects from clients."

(Writing by Hritam Mukherjee; Editing by Sonia Cheema and Leroy Leo)

(([email protected]; X: @MukherjeeHritam;))

Aug 19 (Reuters) - Tata Consultancy Services Ltd TCS.NS:

• TCS - LAUNCHES NEW AI-ENHANCED OPERATIONS CENTER IN LATIN AMERICA

Source text: ID:nBSE3Zvpb6

Further company coverage: TCS.NS

(([email protected];))

By Sai Ishwarbharath B

Aug 14 - Cognizant CTSH.O will delay its annual wage hikes, with pay increases for about 80% of its global workforce now set to take effect on November 1, according to a company statement sent to Reuters in an email on Thursday.

India is a major hub for the IT firm with over two-thirds of its total employees, which are around 343,800. The annual wage hike was due in August but was delayed due to macroeconomic factors, CFO Jatin Dalal said last month, referring to tariff-related uncertainties. The employees were last awarded increments last August.

The Teaneck, New Jersey-headquartered firm's move comes a week after India's largest IT firm, Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS, announced its annual hike after a five-month delay.

"This (wage hike) aligns with its announcement during its second quarter earnings that it plans to award merit-based salary increases for the vast majority of employees during the second half of 2025," the company's email said.

The hikes will be delivered up to, and including, the senior associate levels, the company said, and will depend on individual performance ratings and countries.

The wage hike cycle for the remaining workforce has not been determined at this time, they said.

Last month, the company forecast third-quarter revenue above Wall Street expectations, owing to strong spending from customers looking to integrate artificial intelligence into their platforms.

The company forecast third-quarter revenue between $5.27 billion and $5.35 billion, compared with analysts' expectations of $5.27 billion, according to data compiled by LSEG.

(Reported by Sai Ishwarbharath B in Bengaluru; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair)

((<[email protected]>))

Adds reporters' bylines

By Sai Ishwarbharath B and Haripriya Suresh

BENGALURU, Aug 8 (Reuters) - Indian outsourcing giant Tata Consultancy Services' TCS.NS decision to cut over 12,000 jobs signals the start of a broader AI-fueled trend that could end up eliminating around half a million jobs over the next two to three years from the $283 billion sector, experts said.

While TCS pegged the move to shed 2% of its workforce to skill mismatches rather than AI-related productivity gains, experts viewed the largest-ever layoffs by India's top private employer as the beginning of things to come in the labour-intensive sector. Roughly 12,200 TCS middle and senior management jobs will be lost.

The industry, which has played a crucial role in creating a middle class in India, is increasingly seeing AI being used for everything from basic coding to manual testing and customer support.

The sector employed 5.67 million people as of March 2025 and accounted for over 7% of India's GDP. It has a huge multiplier effect due to the direct and indirect jobs it creates and the cars-to-homes consumption it drives in the world's fifth-largest economy.

It has historically absorbed a majority of India's engineers but that will change as rising AI use ekes out more efficiencies and demands newer skills that many current employees lack, according to half a dozen industry veterans, analysts, and staffing firms.

"We are in the midst of a massive transition that will transform white-collar work as we know it," said Silicon Valley-based Constellation Research founder and chairman Ray Wang, echoing other experts who warned that more layoffs are likely on the cards.

The most vulnerable employees include pure people managers with minimal tech knowledge, those in charge of testing or identifying bugs and ensuring user-friendliness before delivering software to clients, and infrastructure management staff who provide basic tech support and ensure networks and servers are working well, experts said.

"About 400,000 to 500,000 professionals are at risk of being laid off over the next two to three years as their skills don't match client demands," tech market intelligence firm UnearthInsight's founder Gaurav Vasu said, adding that about 70% of those layoffs would impact workers with 4-12 years' experience.

"This (fear stemming from TCS layoffs) may hurt consumer demand for tourism, luxury shopping and even delay long-term investments such as real estate," Vasu said.

TCS and its peers Infosys INFY.NS, HCLTech HCLT.NS, Tech Mahindra TEML.NS, Wipro WIPR.NS, LTIMindtree LTIM.NS, and Cognizant CTSH.O collectively employ over 430,000 workers with 13 to 25 years of experience, according to staffing firm Xpheno.

"At the moment, they may appear like the big fat middle layer," Xpheno's co-founder Kamal Karanth said. None of the IT firms responded to Reuters queries seeking comment.

"With cost optimization being the key driver for new deal wins, clients are asking for productivity benefits - a trend which is also growing due to the rise in AI adoption. This requires IT firms to do more work with the same number of employees or the same work with fewer employees," Jefferies analyst Akshat Agarwal said in a research note.

ADAPT OR PERISH

TCS, which had more than 613,000 workers before the layoffs, said in its late July announcement it was gearing up to be "future-ready" by investing in new technologies, entering new markets, deploying AI at scale for its clients and itself, and realigning its workforce model. It did not answer Reuters queries on how many layoffs were tied to AI adoption and why it could not redeploy the affected employees.

"This is very devastating news," said a 45-year-old, Kolkata-based TCS employee affected by the latest layoffs. "It is very difficult for people my age to get new jobs."

Some others who are still at TCS fretted over its mediocre performance bonuses for senior employees in recent quarters, a new "bench policy" that limits the time somebody could be without a project regardless of personal circumstances or past performance, on-boarding delays, and the emotional turmoil caused by the layoffs.

"All these developments have tanked the morale of mid-career folks like me," a Pune-based TCS employee said.

The Indian outsourcing sector has been a key employment engine since the 1990s, offering upward mobility to millions of engineers. But revenue growth has weakened recently as its clients, stung by inflation and U.S. tariff uncertainty, defer discretionary spending and demand better cost management.

"The tech industry is at an inflection point, as AI and automation move to the very core of how businesses operate," industry body Nasscom said.

During past tech revolutions, disruption was felt at the organisational level.

"With AI, for the first time, the onus is on the individual to reinvent or re-skill themselves," former Tech Mahindra CEO CP Gurnani said.

(Reporting by Sai Ishwarbharath B and Haripriya Suresh; Editing by Dhanya Skariachan and Kim Coghill)

(([email protected]))

By Sai Ishwarbharath B

BENGALURU, Aug 7 (Reuters) - India's Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS will raise salaries for 80% of its workforce, according to an internal email reviewed by Reuters, weeks after announcing layoffs affecting more than 12,000 employees.

The annual wage hike, which was due in April, comes at a time when India's $283 billion IT industry is grappling with cautious client spending amid weak global demand, sticky inflation, and uncertainty around U.S. trade policy. TCS last month said clients delayed decisions and projects.

"We are pleased to announce compensation revision for all eligible associates in grades up to C3A (assistant consultant) and equivalent, covering 80% of workforce," according to the mail to employees from chief human resource officer Milind Lakkad and CHRO designate Sudeep K on Wednesday.

Employees, ranging from trainees with a few months of experience, to assistant consultants who have worked for more than a decade, will be eligible for the wage revision.

However, the mail did not share any details about the revisions for senior-level staff that form the rest 20% of the workforce.

"We can confirm that we will be issuing wage hikes to around 80% of our employees effective 1st September 2025," the Tata Group company said in an email to Reuters, but did not give other details.

The April annual hikes were delayed after the Mumbai-based company cited uncertain business environment. In June, the company's attrition level reaching a two-year high of 13.8%.

(Reporting by Sai Ishwarbharath B; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair)

(([email protected];))

Adds analyst comment in paragraphs 6-8

By Haripriya Suresh

BENGALURU, July 27 (Reuters) - India's largest IT services provider Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS will reduce its workforce by 2% in its 2026 financial year, primarily affecting middle and senior management, the company said on Sunday.

The move will eliminate roughly 12,200 jobs from the company's workforce of more than 613,000 as TCS deploys AI and other technologies while entering new markets and contending with an uncertain demand outlook.

"This transition is being planned with due care to ensure there is no impact on service delivery to our clients," the company's statement said.

India's $283 billion IT sector has had to contend with clients holding back non-essential technology spending because of weak demand, persistent inflation and lingering uncertainty over U.S. trade policies.

TCS Chief Executive K Krithivasan said this month that there were delays in client decision-making and project starts.

Phil Fersht, CEO of IT advisory firm HFS Research, said that the impact of AI is eating into the people-heavy services model in the sector.

"(That model) is forcing large service providers such as TCS to rebalance their workforces to maintain profit margins and stay price-competitive in a cut-throat market where clients are demanding 20-30% price reductions," Fersht said.

The decision by TCS, considering its culture of being a stable place to work, highlights this sectoral trend, he added.

(Reporting by Haripriya Suresh
Editing by David Goodman)

(([email protected];))

BENGALURU, July 23 (Reuters) - India's Infosys INFY.NS narrowed its forecast for the current fiscal year on Wednesday, after posting bigger-than-expected first-quarter revenue on a boost from Europe market.

The Bengaluru-based firm changed its annual forecast to 1%-3% from the flat-to-up-3% range announced in the previous quarter.

Analysts were largely expecting the firm to lift the bottom end of the range to 1%.

The company's consolidated sales rose 7.5% year-on-year to 422.79 billion rupees ($4.89 billion) in the June quarter.

Analysts, on average, expected 418.06 billion rupees, as per data compiled by LSEG.

($1 = 86.3880 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Sai Ishwarbharath B ; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee )

(([email protected];))

Adds analysts comments in paragraph 7 and 8, stock details in paragraph 3

July 18 (Reuters) - India's Wipro WIPR.NS rose as much as 4% on Friday after the country's fourth-largest IT firm reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings, driven by improved client spending in segments of its Americas business.

At least six brokerages upgraded Wipro's stock after the company posted a 0.8% rise in first-quarter revenue and an 11% jump in net profit, both topping analysts' average estimates, according to LSEG data.

Data also showed that at least 10 brokerages raised their price targets on the stock, which was the top gainer on the benchmark Nifty 50 index and the IT index .NIFTYIT early on Friday. The blue-chip index and the IT index were both down 0.6% and 0.2%, respectively.

India's fourth-largest IT company said it expects revenue for the September quarter to be in the range of $2.56 billion and $2.61 billion, ranging between a drop of 1% and a rise of 1%, in line with what analysts were expecting.

Analysts at Morgan Stanley said strong large deal wins at Wipro "bode well" for growth in the second half of the fiscal year, while those at Investec said deal wins were the "big highlight of the quarter," and were the highest in more-than 13 quarters.

Wipro's deal wins rose to $5 billion in the quarter, up from $3.3 billion a year earlier.

"More importantly, these large deals are concentrated among Wipro's top clients, which implies greater wallet share," Morgan Stanley analysts said in a note.

Wipro's quarterly performance stood in contrast to rivals Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS and HCLTech HCLT.NS, which reported weaker revenue for the same period.

TCS and Infosys INFY.NS shares were up 0.1%, while HCLTech shares were down 0.8% on Friday.

(Reporting by Manvi Pant; Editing by Chandini Monnappa and Nivedita Bhattacharjee)

(([email protected]; +918447554364;))

BENGALURU, July 16 (Reuters) - India's Tech Mahindra TEML.NS reported a marginally lower-than-expected first-quarter revenue on Wednesday as clients tightened non-essential spending amid tariff-related uncertainty.

Consolidated sales at India's fifth largest IT services firm by revenue rose 2.7% year-on-year to 133.51 billion rupees ($1.55 billion) in the June quarter.

Analysts, on average, expected 133.83 billion rupees, as per data compiled by LSEG.

($1 = 85.9340 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Sai Ishwarbharath B and Haripriya Suresh; Editing by Janane Venkatraman )

(([email protected];))

** India's information technology index .NIFTYIT is set to clock losses of about 4% this week, on track for worst in more than three months

** Index underperforms benchmark Nifty 50 .NSEI, which is down 1% for the week

** Weak Q1 earnings from bellwether Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS and U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs weigh on stocks

** J.P. Morgan says there could be negative takeaways for peers Infosys INFY.NS, HCL Technologies HCLT.NS and Wipro WIPR.NS from TCS earnings as the weakness was broad-based across industries and geographies likely due to trade uncertainties

** TCS and Tech Mahindra TEML.NS down about 4% each for the week, while HCLT slides 5%

** INFY and WIPR down 3.1% and 4.4% for the week, respectively

** YTD, NIFTYIT down 13% vs Nifty 50's 6.4% rise, falls 1.8% on Friday

(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M)

(([email protected];))

Recasts throughout; adds CEO, analyst comments

By Sai Ishwarbharath B and Haripriya Suresh

BENGALURU, July 10 (Reuters) - Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS, India's top software-services exporter, missed quarterly revenue estimates on Thursday as its clients stayed cautious about non-essential spending amid tariff-related uncertainty.

The revenue shortfall at TCS, the first Indian tech major to report results, raised concerns about future demand for the country's $283 billion IT sector and dragged down U.S. listed shares of rivals Infosys INFY.NS and Wipro WIPR.NS.

"The trend of delays in decision-making and project starts with respect to discretionary spends has continued and intensified in this quarter," CEO K Krithivasan said on a conference call.

While it is "too early" to predict when growth will resume, the passage of the U.S. spending bill could provide some clarity by the end of July or early August, Krithivasan said.

Consolidated sales in the first quarter rose 1.3% to 634.37 billion rupees ($7.40 billion), missing analysts' average estimate of 646.66 billion rupees, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Uncertainty around U.S. tariffs has quashed IT companies' hopes of a revival in client confidence and spending in its biggest market. A survey in May showed two in five tech executives had deferred discretionary projects.

TCS's revenue in four out of its six verticals fell compared to the same period last year, while banking and financial services' revenue grew 1% and tech services rose 1.8%.

Its total order bookings stood at $9.4 billion during the quarter, versus $12.2 billion in the previous quarter and $8.3 billion in the year-ago period.

"The weak topline numbers highlight cautiousness among clients," said Sagar Shetty, research analyst at StoxBox.

"This theme would likely spill over to (other) tier 1 companies as well. Drag in deal wins also undermines revenue visibility, which might warrant revision in upper end of guidance (for other companies)," Shetty said.

HCLTech HCLT.NS, Infosys and Wipro report results later in July. U.S.-listed shares of Infosys fell 3.3%, while those of Wipro were down 4.2% as of 1920 IST.

TCS's net profit rose 6% to 127.60 billion rupees, while analysts expected 122.16 billion rupees. The profit beat was largely tied to a wage hike delay and a jump in other income.

($1 = 85.6690 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Sai Ishwarbharath B and Haripriya Suresh; Editing by Dhanya Skariachan, Mrigank Dhaniwala and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)

(([email protected];))

BENGALURU, June 20 (Reuters) - Software services firm Cognizant Technology Solutions CTSH.O will invest 15.82 billion rupees ($182.76 million) to build a new campus in south Indian city of Vishakapatanam that will create about 8,000 jobs, the state government announced on Friday.

Commercial operations will begin in March 2029, an Andhra Pradesh government press release said.

Cognizant did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The announcement comes just months after India's top IT firm, Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS, unveiled plans for 13.70 billion rupee campus in the same city, and is expected generate 12,000 jobs.

The move aligns with Cognizant’s strategy to optimise real estate costs. In May 2023, Chief Executive Ravi Kumar S said the company would relinquish 11 million square feet of office space globally, mainly in India’s largest cities, while investing in tier-2 Indian cities.

Globally, IT companies, including those in India’s $283 billion sector, are taking cost-cutting measures such as monetising real estate assets and delaying wage increases amid demand uncertainty.

Last month, the Teaneck, New Jersey-based company raised its annual revenue forecast and beat first-quarter results driven by increased demand for AI-powered IT services.

Cognizant expects 2025 annual revenue between $20.5 billion and $21.0 billion, compared to previous outlook of the midpoint of $20.30 billion to $20.80 billion.

($1 = 86.5625 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Sai Ishwarbharath B and Haripriya Suresh; Editing by Tasim Zahid)

(([email protected];))