After Q3 beats, is Indian IT turning the corner?
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. BENGALURU: India’s IT bellwethers may have beaten Street expectations in the December quarter (Q3FY26), but the relief looks fleeting. Even as earnings surprises lifted sentiment in the October-December period, four of India’s five largest IT services companies are now heading into the final quarter of FY26 (January-March) with weaker full-year trajectories than last year, underscoring how weak demand visibility remains for the country’s biggest software exporters.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is at risk of a rare annual revenue decline, Infosys Ltd and HCL Technologies Ltd (HCLTech) are staring at slower growth than last year, and Wipro Ltd is bracing for a third consecutive year of contraction. Only Tech Mahindra Ltd is expected to buck the trend. Together, the outlook points to a third straight year of sluggish growth for India’s IT majors, even as automation, artificial intelligence (AI)-led pricing pressure and tariff uncertainty cloud demand visibility.
The disconnect between quarterly beats and full-year deterioration has begun to trouble analysts. Lacklustre guidance from the top four has prompted at least one brokerage to question whether the country’s largest IT service providers, together accounting for nearly a third of India’s $283 billion IT industry, are genuinely on the cusp of a recovery, despite cautious optimism from management teams. “FY27 is going to be better than FY26.
Modestly. Likely fourth year of slow revenue growth. Slow is the (old/new) normal," said Bank of Baroda Capital Markets analysts Girish Pai and Lopa Notaria, in a note dated 12 January.
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