The week in charts: IT woes, growth forecast, Zomato’s fundraising

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Every Friday, Plain Facts publishes a compilation of data-based insights, complete with easy-to-read charts, to help you delve deeper into the stories reported by Mint in the week gone by. The order books of India’s top information technology (IT) companies have shrunk in the first half, while the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has given the US a positive outlook.

Meanwhile, Zomato plans to raise funds. India's top four software service firms—Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, HCL Technologies, and Wipro—saw order books shrink in the first half of the current financial year compared to the same period last year. This has raised concerns despite positive revenue guidance and increased hiring.

TCS's total contract value (TCV) fell to $16.9 billion in April-September from $21.4 billion a year ago, while HCL's TCV dropped to $4.18 billion from $5.54 billion, Mint reported. TCS was hit by the absence of ‘mega deals’ worth more than $1 billion in H1FY25. Amid fears of a recession, the IMF has upgraded its gross domestic product (GDP) growth forecast for the US to 2.8% for 2024 from the 2.6% projection given in July, mainly on account of wage growth reflecting productivity gains.

This signals only a marginal slowdown from the 2.9% growth recorded last year. The IMF has kept India’s growth projection unchanged at 7.0% for 2024-25, but it was significantly lower than the 8.2% growth recorded in FY24. ₹8,500 crore: This is the proposed amount Zomato'sboard has approved for raising funds via a qualified institutional placement (QIP).