Indian mid-size IT companies look beyond US: Asia, Africa emerge as new growth hotspots

Three of India’s mid-sized IT companies—Persistent Systems Ltd, Hexaware Technologies Ltd and Firstsource Solutions Ltd—are looking to scale up their business and employ more people outside the US, which makes up more than three-fifths of their business. This mirrors the trend of their larger peers shifting their focus from the US to Europe and growth markets including Asia and South Africa.From acquisitions and large deals to strategic employee hubs, India, Australia, South Africa and West Asia are emerging as the key hotspots for these mid-sized IT services companies earning $1 billion to $5 billion in revenue as they look to insulate themselves from macroeconomic tensions and tap new growth markets.Persistent Systems, the country’s ninth-largest IT services company, got about 80% of its $1.41 billion revenue from North America.

About 8% came from Europe, whereas 1.7% came from the rest of the world.“Management highlighted high exposure to North America and is focused on diversifying through potential acquisitions in Europe (revenue range of $100-500mn) and Japan (revenue range of $10-15mn). The focus is on valuation, cultural fit and geo-diversification,” JM Financial analysts Rajiv Berlia, Nandan Arekal and Anushree Rustagi said in a note dated 25 March after speaking to Persistent Systems' chief financial officer Vinit Teredesai.Hexaware Technologies, the 10th-largest IT services company, landed its first client in New Zealand in the July-September 2025 period, after saying expansion to growth markets was one of its four key strategies.“The fourth (strategy) was to make our Middle East and India markets count more.