Wipro

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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June 23 (Reuters) - Wipro Ltd WIPR.NS:

• EXPANDS PARTNERSHIP WITH PALO ALTO NETWORKS TO OFFER AI-DRIVEN MDR SERVICES

Source text: ID:nBSE6KBS5g

Further company coverage: WIPR.NS

(([email protected];))

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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June 18 (Reuters) - Wipro Ltd WIPR.NS:

• WIPRO - COMPLETES MULTI-YEAR DATA CENTER MIGRATION FOR METRO AG

Source text: ID:nBSEc5RjCk

Further company coverage: WIPR.NS

(([email protected];))

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) - Wipro Ltd WIPR.NS:

• WIPRO - LAUNCHES APPLIED AI CENTER OF EXCELLENCE FOR CLAUDE MODELS POWERED BY ANTHROPIC

Source text: ID:nBSE9ZDcmv

Further company coverage: WIPR.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)

(([email protected]; +91 867-525-3569;))

** Wipro WIPR.NS falls as much as 6.19% to a three-year low of 186.01 rupees, making the software services company the top percentage loser on the Nifty 50 .NSEI and Nifty IT indexes .NIFTYIT, which are down 0.8% each

** Decline comes after the record date for its share buyback on Friday, likely prompting some short-term traders to exit positions, reducing overall buying interest, two analysts say

** A global technology rout also weighs on sentiment, alongside rising expectations of a U.S. Federal Reserve rate hike by year-end after a stronger-than-expected May jobs report

** Higher U.S. rates hurt Indian IT stocks by reducing appeal for foreign investors

** Financials and IT, which have relatively high foreign ownership, vulnerable to outflows

** Tighter U.S. policy could also slow client spending, a key revenue driver for software firms

** Wipro down 29.5% YTD, underperforming Nifty IT's 24% drop

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru)

(([email protected]; +91 9769003463;))

** India's Wipro WIPR.NS down 4% at 196.1 rupees

** Top loser on Nifty IT .NIFTYIT and benchmark Nifty 50 .NSEI indexes, which are up 0.1% and 0.2%, respectively

** Stock down as Friday marks record date for company's share buyback of up to 150 billion rupees ($1.57 billion)

** Investors selling shares n Friday will be eligible for buyback

** Co to buy back shares via tender offer route; dates yet to be announced

** Stock rated "hold" on average by 40 brokerages, median PT at 210 rupees, per data compiled by LSEG

** YTD, WIPR down 25.5%, while NIFTYIT down 22.7%

($1 = 95.6600 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M)

(([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)

(([email protected];))

June 1 (Reuters) - Wipro Ltd WIPR.NS:

• WIPRO - WILL ACQUIRE AN ADDITIONAL 20% STAKE IN AGGNE GLOBAL INC

• WIPRO - PURCHASE CONSIDERATION OF USD 28.5 MILLION

Source text: ID:nnAZN4SZURY

Further company coverage: WIPR.NS

(([email protected];))

Updates for morning trade

By Bharath Rajeswaran and Vivek Kumar M

May 29 (Reuters) - Indian shares edged higher on Friday as gains in IT stocks after Wipro expanded an artificial intelligence partnership offset caution over lingering Middle East tensions.

The benchmark Nifty 50 .NSEI rose 0.13% to 23,935.45, and the BSE Sensex .BSESN added 0.24% to 76,053.64, as of 10:17 a.m. IST.

The U.S. and Iran reached an agreement on Thursday to extend their ceasefire and lift restrictions on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, sources told Reuters, though U.S. President Donald Trump has yet to approve it, and Iranian state media said it had not been finalized.

Brent crude futures LCOc1 dropped to $93 per barrel, while Asian markets .MIAPJ0000PUS jumped 2% on optimism over the U.S.-Iran deal and AI rally. MKTS/GLOB

For the week, the Nifty and Sensex are up 0.9% and 0.8%, respectively.

"Markets are pausing as investors weigh the prospects for peace in the Middle East and the potential ripple effects for oil," said Hiren Dasani, chief investment officer for emerging markets at WhiteOak Capital.

"If crude settles around $85-$90 over the next nine months, the impact on corporate earnings should remain manageable and markets need confirmation of that for any sustained upmove from here," Dasani said.

On the day, ten of the 16 major sectors logged losses.

IT index .NIFTYIT rose 2.7%. Wipro WIPR.NS gained 2.2% following a partnership with ServiceNow to implement agentic AI workflows. Peers TCS TCS.NS, Infosys INFY.NS and HCLTech HCLT.NS rose between 1.7% and 4.3%.

The broader small- .NIFSMCP100 rose 0.4% while mid-caps .NIFMDCP100 traded flat.

Among stocks, hospital chains operator Max Healthcare MAXE.NS fell 1.2%, dropping 10% in five sessions after subdued quarterly earnings.

Defence firm Bharat Dynamics BARA.NS lost 7% and footwear retailer Bata India BATA.NS fell 3.5% after reporting a fall in fourth-quarter profit.

Pharmaceuticals company Supriya Lifesciences SPRL.NS climbed 16.6% and jewellery maker PC Jeweller PCJE.NS jumped 14% after both companies posted higher March quarter profit.

(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M and Bharath Rajeswaran; Editing by Rashmi Aich)

(([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_ |;))

May 5 (Reuters) - CrowdStrike Holdings Inc CRWD.O:

• CROWDSTRIKE EXPANDS PROJECT QUILTWORKS, THE CYBERSECURITY COALITION FOR SECURING FRONTIER AI RISK

• CROWDSTRIKE - ARMADIN, COGNIZANT, HCLTECH, INFOSYS, KPMG, NTT DATA, TCS, WIPRO JOIN QUILTWORKS COALITION

• CROWDSTRIKE - INTEGRATES ANTHROPIC OPUS 4.7 AI INTO FALCON PLATFORM

Source text: ID:nBw1WDjhXa

Further company coverage: CRWD.O

(([email protected];))

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

By Ujjaini Dutta

BENGALURU, April 24 (Reuters Breakingviews) - "AI deflation" is the new popular shorthand for an uncomfortable truth: getting paid less for doing the same amount of work. Coding tools such as those made by Anthropic's Claude are eroding pricing power of India's top IT services companies far faster than expected. For the $315 billion industry, it heralds a reset toward outcomes rather than hours-based billing.

HCL Technologies HCLT.NS on Tuesday cut its revenue guidance in constant currency terms to 1%-4% for the year to March 2027, after missing its 4%-4.5% target. Its shares fell 11% the next day, wiping out $4.5 billion in market value. The plummeting growth is a far cry from the expectation that firms would unlock more work in the short-term as clients modernise legacy code and clean up data for AI infrastructure, even if it comes at a lower cost.

Indeed, deal wins and toplines show little sign of that support. U.S. dollar revenue at the $97 billion industry leader Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS shrank 0.5% year-on-year to $30 billion for the year ended March 2026 - its first decline since the company's initial public offering in 2004. Wipro's WIPR.NS annual IT services segment revenue contracted 0.3% as well.

It is getting harder to secure contracts too: HCLTech CEO C Vijayakumar admitted in the company's post-earnings investor call that the total contract value of deals in the quarter ended March remained largely flat but it took "25%-30% more effort to convert and get to the same number." There is also margin compression: HCLTech's net profit margin stood at 12.8% in the year to March, compared to 14.9% in the previous year.

So what happens when the models keep improving and more services fall under generative AI capabilities? Anthropic's latest model, Mythos, is deemed so powerful at finding software vulnerabilities that the company is, for now, holding back releasing it to the wider public.

It points to a heavy remodelling how Indian IT functions. Charging by hour is a dead end. One option is to guarantee outcomes and agree remuneration by way of a share of revenue or cost-savings achieved by a client. Some firms, including HCLTech, already do a little bit of this but the risks are harder to manage. Revenue and earnings could become much more volatile.

Shares of Tata Consultancy -- one of India's most important white-collar employers -- are down nearly 21% since Anthropic's coding tools were released in early 2025. The country's IT sector has lived through many technology transitions, but debugging its model in the AI era may prove harder than usual.

Follow Ujjaini Dutta on LinkedIn and X.

CONTEXT NEWS

Shares of HCLTech fell nearly 11% on April 22 after the Indian IT services firm on the prior day slashed its full year revenue guidance to 1%-4% year-on-year growth in constant currency terms for the year to March 2027, down from 4%-4.5% guided for the previous financial year.

"The business environment remains highly fluid, ​making it difficult to form a definitive view of how the ​next 12 ⁠months will unfold," said CEO C Vijayakumar in a post-earnings call.

Wipro on April 16 reported IT services segment revenue of $10.5 billion, down 0.3% year-on-year. The company announced a record share buyback of up to 150 billion rupees ($1.61 billion) and said it expects June‑quarter revenue to range from a 2% sequential decline to flat growth.

Tata Consultancy Services on April 9 reported its U.S. dollar revenue fell 0.5% year-on-year to $30 billion for the year ended March 31. In constant currency terms, revenue fell 2.4%.

(Editing by Una Galani; Production by Aditya Srivastav)

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

Rewrites throughout and updates closing levels

By Urvi Dugar and Pranav Kashyap

April 22, BENGALURU - HCLTech HCLT.NS lost $4.5 billion in market capitalisation on Wednesday after it projected fiscal 2027 revenue growth below estimates, with restrained client spending raising fresh doubts over a recovery in India's $315 billion IT industry.

The weakness points to sector-wide challenges rather than a company-specific issue, Goldman Sachs analysts said, citing subdued discretionary spending, slower project ramp‑ups and ongoing macro pressures that suggest a meaningful demand recovery may remain elusive.

Top Indian IT companies have been beset by uncertainties over the last year from U.S. tariff and immigration policies as well as geopolitical turmoil in the Middle East, with clients choosing to focus on optimising costs.

HCLTech shares ended the session down 10.7% at 1,286 rupees, losing the most in a day in more than 10 years. Its fourth‑quarter earnings also missed analyst estimates.

The gloom spilled across the IT pack, dragging larger peers Infosys INFY.NS and Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS down 3.4% and 3%, respectively, and the sub-index .NIFTYIT down 3.9%.

HCLTech's trading volumes surged as panic selling gripped investors, with 33.06 million shares changing hands—the busiest session since November 2012, and nearly 10 times the 30-day average. Meanwhile, at least six brokerages cut their price target, with Jefferies also downgrading the stock to "Underperform" from "Hold".

NSE data for HCLTech's May 26 expiry contracts showed a jump in put-buying at the 1,200‑rupee strike, with open interest swelling to 6,863 contracts by market close, and heavy call writing at 1,300.

The former implies investors are betting on the stock falling further by around 7% while the latter suggests limited scope for a near‑term rebound.

"The business environment remains highly fluid, making it difficult to form a definitive view of how the next 12 months will unfold," said CEO C Vijayakumar in a post-earnings call.

He also called out specific project scaledowns from two clients in the Americas region, which could shave about 0.5% off annual growth.

Tech Mahindra TEML.NS staged a partial comeback to close 2.5% down, after sliding nearly 6%, following a fourth-quarter revenue beat.

(Reporting by Urvi Dugar and Pranav Kashyap in Bengaluru; Editing by Ronojoy Mazumdar and Janane Venkatraman)

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By Blaine Julian Rodrigues

Top Indian information technology firms are back in the spotlight as they report fourth-quarter earnings, with analysts predicting another lacklustre quarter.

War in the Middle East and weak discretionary spending by clients are expected to affect their earnings, which will be offset to a significant extent by a weaker rupee.

And that is before the sword of Damocles - concerns around artificial intelligence - is even mentioned.

Is the Indian IT sector in trouble or is there still reason to be optimistic? That is our main focus this week. Share your views at [email protected].

Plus, the instant home-help apps that are the newest consumer craze. Scroll down for more on that.

THIS WEEK IN ASIA

*IMF warns of Asia's vulnerability to war-induced energy shock

*India fails to pass parliament expansion bill linked to quotas for women

*Iran war drives up costs, spoils the mood at China's largest trade fair

*China turns Taiwan’s own voices against it in information war

*North Korea fires ballistic missiles again, flexing muscle amid Iran war

REVENUE GROWTH UNDER STRAIN

Investors are trying to read the tea leaves of IT companies' fourth-quarter results. Brokerages predict that for the top six firms - TCS TCS.NS, Infosys INFY.NS, HCL Tech HCLT.NS, Wipro WIPR.NS, Tech Mahindra TEML.NS and LTM - revenue and profit will likely rise about 10% year-on-year but that would be based largely on a weaker rupee than on underlying growth factors.

The $315 billion sector is a major contributor to India's economic growth and a top driver of its export earnings. It

last reported double-digit revenue growth in the March 2023 quarter.

What will also interest investors is what the top firms forecast for the year.

Last week, Wipro forecast a weak current quarter citing muted demand as its U.S. banking and financial clients cut spending.

That forecast by India's fourth-largest IT firm overshadowed a record share buyback of up to $1.61 billion and wiped out $670 million in its market capitalisation.

Meanwhile, India's top software-services exporter TCS reported better-than-expected quarterly results including $12 billion in deal wins. However, analysts were disappointed with the 2.4% drop in full-year dollar revenue.

Jefferies analysts said ⁠the results offered limited evidence of any meaningful uptick in demand and that an uncertain growth outlook could drive underperformance in the stock.

You can read more in this analysis on how foreign investors have grown wary of India and the cascading effect it is having on earnings and equities.

THE AI QUESTION

If this were a gameshow the multibillion-dollar question would be - what is the impact of generative AI on the Indian IT sector?

Investor concerns about AI disrupting the Indian IT sector's traditional labour-heavy operating model wiped off about $68.6 billion in market value in February.

Comments from TCS management would seem to show no cause for concern at the moment. They said new artificial intelligence models and ​tools in the market did not hurt demand for its offerings.

TCS and Wipro have also sought to assure investors. In February TCS CEO K Krithivasan told a forum that they were encouraging employees to use AI and not to resist the change that it brings even if it cannibalises revenue.

TCS, which also provides AI services to its clients, said its annualised AI revenue crossed $2.3 billion ​in the fourth quarter, driven by accelerated deployments across industries, up from $1.8 billion in the third quarter.

Analysts, however, say that TCS still has some ground to cover on the AI front.

In February, Wipro also maintained that they expect rapid AI adoption to boost rather than shrink demand for software service providers.

Brokerages predict that Infosys and HCL Tech, which are reporting this week, are likely to provide revenue forecasts of a rise between 2%-4% and 4%-6%, respectively, for the fiscal year 2027.

HSBC analysts say that even a modest revenue forecast could support stock prices, noting valuations currently reflect only low-single-digit growth.

MARKET MATTERS

Equity investors have sold about $38 billion of Indian shares since the start of 2025. Foreign outflows stood at $12.7 billion in March alone.

The Iran war has hit earnings, adding fresh pressure on equities and has amplified concerns among equity investors.

Brokerages have begun cutting earnings forecasts with Goldman Sachs lowering its earnings forecast for India by a cumulative 9 percentage points over the next two years.

Nomura has cut its December 2026 target for the Nifty 50 by 15% to 24,600.

THIS WEEK'S MUST READ

India has a new obsession: a domestic helper at your door in minutes for just $1 an hour. Companies are training thousands of workers and fighting for a slice of a $9 billion market where customers are booking maids to peel potatoes and sort LEGO blocks by colour.

The catch? The startups fuelling the frenzy are losing $4 on every order, leaving both worker safety and profitability as problems no one has cracked yet.

Read here for more on that.

(Reporting By Blaine Julian Rodrigues; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

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Updates for markets open

April 17 (Reuters) - India's equity benchmarks opened little changed on Friday as a weak first-quarter forecast by IT company Wipro offset broader optimism over a potential peace deal to end the Iran war.

The Nifty 50 .NSEI fell 0.13% to 24,165.90 and the Sensex .BSESN shed 0.02% to 77,976.13 as of 9:15 a.m. IST.

Seven of the 16 major sectors declined at open. The broader small-caps .NIFSMCP100 and mid-caps .NIFMDCP100 added 0.3% and 0.2%, respectively.

IT index fell 0.5%, dragged by a 2.5% drop in Wipro WIPR.NS after it posted lackluster quarterly results and forecast muted demand for the first quarter, citing spending curbs by its U.S. banking and financial clients.

Asian markets .MIAPJ0000PUS fell 1% as fuel supply concerns and doubts over whether upcoming U.S.-Iran peace talks would help ease disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz weighed on risk sentiment. MKTS/GLOB

A 10-day ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel went into effect on Thursday and President Donald Trump said the next U.S.-Iran meeting may take place over the weekend.

(Reporting by Vivek Kumar M and Bharath Rajeswaran; Editing by Sonia Cheema and Mrigank Dhaniwala)

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April 16 (Reuters) - Wipro Ltd WIPR.NS:

• WIPRO Q4 CONSOL NET PROFIT 35.02 BILLION RUPEES; IBES EST. 35.07 BILLION RUPEES

• WIPRO Q4 CONSOL REV FROM OPS 242.36 BLN RUPEES; IBES EST. 243.63 BLN RUPEES

• APPROVES SHARE BUYBACK PRICE AT 250 RUPEES/SHR

  
  

Further company coverage: WIPR.NS

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April 15 (Reuters) - Wipro Ltd WIPR.NS:

• WIPRO - SIGNS DEFINITIVE AGREEMENT TO BUY ALPHA NET CONSULTING LLC CUSTOMER CONTRACTS

• WIPRO - PURCHASE CONSIDERATION UP TO $70.8 MILLION FOR ACQUISITION

Source text: ID:nBSE4th0Gh

Further company coverage: WIPR.NS

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Recasts throughout; adds CEO, COO and analyst comments

By Haripriya Suresh and Sai Ishwarbharath B

BENGALURU, April 9 (Reuters) - Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS reported better-than-expected quarterly results on Thursday and said that new artificial intelligence models and tools in the market did not hurt demand for its offerings.

The comments from India's top software-services exporter offered some relief to the $315 billion sector, which has been grappling with investor concerns that AI could disrupt its traditional, labour-intensive business model.

"FY26 was a pivotal year for enterprise AI adoption across industries. For the first time since the advent of generative AI in late 2022, the shift from experimentation to scaled AI deployment showed a marked improvement," TCS Chief Operating Officer Aarthi Subramanian said.

TCS, which also provides AI services to its clients, said its annualised AI revenue crossed $2.3 billion in the fourth quarter, driven by accelerated deployments across industries, up from $1.8 billion in the third quarter.

Some analysts were, however, not impressed with the number. "It is pretty minuscule," said Anshul Jethi, analyst at LKP Securities, comparing it to the size at which TCS is currently operating right now and its future AI plans. Others said TCS still had ground to cover on the AI front.

"TCS is not behind, but it is not yet leading. The next 12 to 24 months will depend on whether it can move from AI capability to AI-led business models that scale beyond pilots and into core client operations," said Phil Fersht, CEO of IT advisory firm HFS Research.

It is the first major Indian IT company to report fourth-quarter results. Rivals Infosys INFY.NS, Wipro WIPR.NS and HCLTech HCLT.NS are set to report later this month.

TCS reported a 9.7% rise in sales to 706.98 billion rupees ($7.63 billion), and a 12.2% jump in net profit to 137.18 billion rupees ($1.48 billion) in the quarter.

Analysts had expected sales of 694.94 billion rupees and a net profit of 136.46 billion rupees, according to data compiled by LSEG.

"Every revenue band saw a healthy addition this quarter after a gap of about two years. This speaks to the early signs of stability and growth returning to our mid-size and large accounts," TCS CEO K Krithivasan said.

Revenue from North America, which accounts for nearly half of TCS's revenue, grew 2.5% in the fourth quarter.

The company's quarterly order book stood at $12 billion, compared with $9.3 billion in the third quarter and $12.2 billion a year earlier.

($1 = 92.6575 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Haripriya Suresh and Sai Ishwarbharath B in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee, Dhanya Skariachan and Shinjini Ganguli)

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