HCLTECH

May 25 (Reuters) - HCL Technologies Ltd HCLT.NS:

• HCLTECH - ANNOUNCES EXPANDED COLLABORATION WITH PEGASYSTEMS TO ACCELERATE ENTERPRISE MODERNIZATION

• HCLTECH - COLLABORATION ENABLES TRANSFORMATION OF LEGACY SYSTEMS INTO AI-POWERED APPLICATIONS

Source text: ID:nBSE6rD8Jv

Further company coverage: HCLT.NS

(([email protected];))

May 14 (Reuters) - HCL Technologies Ltd HCLT.NS:

• HCLTECH COLLABORATES WITH RED HAT

• COLLABORATES WITH RED HAT TO DELIVER ENTERPRISE-GRADE AI INFRASTRUCTURE SOLUTIONS

Further company coverage: HCLT.NS

(([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];))

** India's HCLTech HCLT.NS and Infosys INFY.NS down ~9.8% and 5.4%, respectively, in April

** Stocks on track for their third straight monthly decline and biggest monthly fall since February

** During the month, Nifty IT .NIFTYIT index is up ~1.5%

** Losses after INFY and HCLT forecast weak FY27 revenue growth

** Analysts said revenue growth at country's top IT firms seen muted as AI benefits offset by cautious client spending

** Investor sentiment weakened on fears agentic AI could disrupt the $315 billion sector and cannibalize earnings

** Since fourth-quarter results, HCLT down ~16.1% and INFY down ~4.8%

** YTD, HCLTech down ~25.6%, Infosys down ~26.8% vs Nifty IT's decline of ~22.3%; benchmark Nifty 50 .NSEI index down ~8.3%

(Reporting by Bipasha Dey in Bengaluru)

(([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]))

April 22 (Reuters) - HCL Technologies Ltd HCLT.NS:

• HCLTECH - HCLTECH LAUNCHES GEMINI ENTERPRISE BUSINESS UNIT TO ACCELERATE AGENTIC AI ADOPTION

Source text: ID:nnAZN4SS3WB

Further company coverage: HCLT.NS

(([email protected];))

Adds analyst CEO quote in paragraph 3, analyst comments in paragraphs 5-6

By Sai Ishwarbharath B and Haripriya Suresh

BENGALURU, April 21 (Reuters) - India's HCLTech HCLT.NS forecast revenue growth of 1%-4% for fiscal 2027 on Tuesday, below analysts' expectations of 3%-5%, as clients kept a tight lid on discretionary spending.

Top companies in India's $315-billion IT industry have been beset by uncertainties from U.S. tariff and immigration policies to geopolitical turmoil in the Middle East, with clients now choosing to focus on optimising costs.

"The business environment remains highly fluid, making it difficult to form a definitive view of how the next 12 months will unfold," CEO C Vijayakumar said in a post-earnings call. He also called out specific project scaledowns from two clients in the Americas region, which could shave off about 0.5% of annual growth.

The U.S. accounts for more than half the company's overall revenue.

Anshul Jethi, analyst at LKP Securities, called the company's annual forecast and deal wins "disappointing", but said it was "more of an industry problem than an HCLTech problem as overall demand and discretionary spends have been hurt."

The forecast looks "conservative" but could be upgraded if discretionary spends return by end of first quarter, he added.

HCLTech's new bookings stood at $1.94 billion, its lowest level in three quarters. New bookings had come in at $3 billion both in the previous quarter and in the year-ago period.

Larger rival Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS had a quarterly earnings beat and strong deal wins, but logged a rare decline in annual revenue in dollar terms. Smaller rival Wipro WIPR.NS missed earnings estimates, flagging geopolitical and policy disruptions as well as client-specific issues.

EARNINGS MISS

HCLTech's consolidated revenue rose a smaller-than-expected 12.3% to 339.81 billion rupees ($3.63 billion) in the January-March quarter, with analysts expecting 342.36 billion rupees, including the rupee's depreciation.

Net profit rose 4.3% to 44.88 billion rupees, below analysts' average estimate of 46.57 billion rupees.

The estimates are as per data compiled by LSEG.

Performance in its Europe business fell 2.9%, and its telecom vertical slumped 8.6%.

However, advanced AI revenue—revenue it derives exclusively from providing services such as agentic AI and AI engineering to its clients—grew four-fold to $620 million on an annualised basis from $146 million in the third quarter.

Infosys INFY.NS and Tech Mahindra TEML.NS will report their numbers later this week.

($1 = 93.5000 Indian rupees)

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

(([email protected]))

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)

(([email protected]))

By Haripriya Suresh and Bharath Rajeswaran

BENGALURU, April 6 (Reuters) - Top Indian information technology firms are set to report another lacklustre quarter, with revenue and profit seen rising around 10% year-on-year largely on a weaker rupee rather than underlying growth, seven brokerages said.

Uncertainties due to wars, weak discretionary spending and concerns around artificial intelligence will keep weighing on client budgets, making the revenue forecast for the next fiscal year a key focus for investors, they added.

Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS, Infosys INFY.NS, HCLTech HCLT.NS and other software services exporters are due to report fourth quarter results starting April 9.

"We expect limited deal win surprises, patchy ex-BFSI growth and slow start to (the first half of 2027) on macro/gen AI uncertainty," Ambit Capital analysts said in a preview note.

The Indian rupee fell 4% against the U.S. dollar during the March quarter, and slid to record low levels.

Software services companies typically benefit as they bill in foreign currencies while incurring most costs in rupees, inflating profits when dollar revenues are converted.

The $315 billion sector, employing about 5.9 million people, last reported double-digit revenue growth in the March 2023 quarter. Since then, demand has softened as clients cut discretionary spending, deal cycles lengthened, and spending shifted towards cost optimisation and AI-led projects.

Infosys and HCLTech are likely to provide annual revenue forecasts of a rise between 2%-4% and 4%-6% respectively for the fiscal year 2027, the brokerages said.

Revenue for the top six firms -- TCS, Infosys, HCLTech, Wipro WIPR.NS, Tech Mahindra TEML.NS, and LTM LTIM.NS -- is expected to grow about 10.9% year-on-year in the March quarter, with net profit rising 10.3%.

On a constant currency basis, or stripping out exchange-rate effects, the top four IT firms are more likely to see revenue rise only 1.8% for the year, Ambit said.

Analysts at Yes Securities said performance was likely to be uneven, with relative resilience in banking and financial services, while retail, healthcare, and hi-tech segments could face pressure due to higher exposure to discretionary spending.

"Our recent interactions suggest that overall client budgets have not increased materially and discretionary spending remains at bay," analysts at Jefferies said in a preview note.

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

While the fears around the impact due to AI are "difficult to validate or falsify, the burden of proof now sits with IT companies. Re-rating, thus, depends on proof of surviving and thriving," said analysts at Motilal Oswal.

Shares of IT companies .NIFTYIT are down 20% so far this year, on investor worries that advanced AI tools launched by Anthropic and Palantir could disrupt IT's traditional business models and cannibalise business. The Nifty 50 .NSEI is down 13%.

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

(([email protected]))

March 31 (Reuters) - HCL Technologies Ltd HCLT.NS:

• HCLTECH - HCLTECH AND CROWDSTRIKE EXPAND STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP WITH LAUNCH OF CTEM SERVICES

Source text: ID:nBSE2lKwLH

Further company coverage: HCLT.NS

(([email protected];))

-- Source link: https://tinyurl.com/2aadj5cb

-- Note: Reuters has not verified this story and does not vouch for its accuracy

(([email protected]))

March 20 (Reuters) - HCL Technologies Ltd HCLT.NS:

• HCLTECH - HCL AMERICA INC FULLY REPAID USD 252.207 MILLION NOTES ON MARCH 10, 2026

Source text: ID:nBSE9TN25B

Further company coverage: HCLT.NS

(([email protected];;))

March 12 (Reuters) - HCL Technologies Ltd HCLT.NS:

• ANNOUNCES EXPANDED COLLABORATION WITH GOOGLE CLOUD

• HCLTECH ANNOUNCES EXPANDED COLLABORATION WITH GOOGLE CLOUD

Source text: ID:nBSE2Zp0bj

Further company coverage: HCLT.NS

(([email protected];;))

March 6 (Reuters) - HCL Technologies Ltd HCLT.NS:

• HCLTECH AND UWA DEEPEN STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP TO SHAPE NEXT-GEN TALENT ARCHITECTURE

Source text: ID:nBSE7Npc82

Further company coverage: HCLT.NS

(([email protected];;))

Feb 26 (Reuters) - HCL Technologies Ltd HCLT.NS:

• HCLTECH AND IIT KANPUR TO ADVANCE DEEP TECH INNOVATION FOR GCCS

Source text: ID:nBSE1YQDDY

Further company coverage: HCLT.NS

(([email protected];;))

Updates to add details on IT weightage in paragraph 3 and total FPI inflows in first half of February in paragraph 13

By Bharath Rajeswaran

Feb 25 (Reuters) - Indian shares have lagged their Asian and emerging market peers so far in February, pressured by a $68.6 billion rout in the market value of information technology stocks, as investors fretted over disruptions linked to artificial intelligence.

The Nifty 50 index .NSEI has risen 0.4% so far this month, while the Sensex .BSESN edged 0.1% lower, underperforming both the MSCI Asia ex-Japan and MSCI Emerging Markets indexes.

The pressure on the benchmark indexes has largely come from IT stocks, which carry roughly an 11% weightage in the blue-chip index, the second-highest sectoral weight.

The 10 Nifty IT constituents .NIFTYIT have lost a combined $68.6 billion in market capitalisation in February, as of the last close, with the index down 21% and on course for its worst monthly performance in nearly 23 years.

All 10 index members have fallen between 16.8% and 27% in February to date. Coforge COFO.NS is the steepest percentage decliner, down 26.8%, while Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS and Infosys INFY.NS have led the value erosion, losing about $21.9 billion and $16.3 billion in market value, respectively.

The selloff reflects growing concerns that rapidly advancing automation tools could compress project timelines and disrupt the labour-intensive delivery model underpinning India's roughly $300-billion IT services industry.

Investors have zeroed in on the AI-driven automation push from U.S. firms such as Anthropic and Palantir, heightening concerns over faster project execution, pricing pressure and reduced billable hours.

Brokerages warn the Indian IT sector could face further pressure if AI starts to eat into application services revenue, which typically accounts for 40% to 70% of total revenue for these companies.

"There are no easy answers to whether AI eventually renders IT services obsolete over the long term," said analysts led by Abhishek Pathak of Motilal Oswal.

"The narrative that AI is coming for not just IT but large swathes of the economy could be too strong to shake, at least in the short term," Motilal Oswal analysts said.

A slowdown or contraction in India's IT sector, whether through layoffs or reduced hiring, can have immediate consequences on both residential and commercial real estate demand. The Nifty Realty index .NIFTYREAL has risen roughly 2% in February, following a nearly 18% decline over the past three months.

Concerns over Indian IT companies have also accelerated foreign selling in the sector in 2026 so far.

While FPIs have turned buyers of Indian stocks in February on an overall basis, with inflows of 196.75 billion rupees, they pulled out about 110 billion rupees ($1.21 billion) from IT stocks in the first half of February, following a record 750 billion rupees of net selling in 2025.

($1 = 90.8980 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

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

Rewrites, adds details, background, quotes

By Haripriya Suresh and Sai Ishwarbharath B

MUMBAI, Feb 24 (Reuters) - India's information technology sector is forecast to surpass $300 billion in revenue for the first time in the current fiscal year, an industry body said on Tuesday, amid challenges and opportunities arising from artificial intelligence.

Indian IT stocks have slumped in recent weeks, tracking global peers as investors worry that advanced AI tools would disrupt the traditional business models of software firms, shaving billions off their market value.

Nasscom, the Indian IT industry body, expects the sector to grow 6.1% year-on-year to $315 billion in the fiscal ending on March 31, as global IT services pick up pace, driven by easing tariff and trade tensions and rising AI investments. Revenue growth will be similar in the next fiscal year, it said.

"AI is compressing traditional work but expanding other areas of work," said Srikanth Velamakanni, vice chairperson of Nasscom.

"The net balance is what you're seeing... There is not a single proposal in any tech company anywhere in the world that's going without AI in it. It is now an inevitable, fundamental part of every proposal in every company."

Nasscom projects fiscal 2026 AI revenue from services firms around $10 billion to $12 billion, but clarified that this does not include AI-specific revenues for all firms and revenues are set to rise "significantly" in the next few years.

India's leading IT service providers, including Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS, Infosys INFY.NS, and HCLTech HCLT.NS, are hopeful about better demand in the next fiscal year.

Overall, the country's IT industry is expected to add a net 135,000 jobs in the fiscal year, taking the total headcount to 5.95 million, Nasscom said.

(Reporting by Sai Ishwarbharath B and Haripriya Suresh; Writing by Kashish Tandon; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala)

((mailto: [email protected];))

Feb 20 (Reuters) - HCL Technologies Ltd HCLT.NS:

• HCLTECH - HCLSOFTWARE COMPLETES ACQUISITION OF AI DATA ANALYST AGENTS STARTUP WOBBY

Source text: ID:nBSE1XtpxN

Further company coverage: HCLT.NS

(([email protected];))

Feb 13 (Reuters) - Shares of India's software exporters fell 4.6% on Friday, dragged by a global tech sell-off, putting the stocks on track for their worst week since March 2020.

The Nifty IT index .NIFTYIT was the worst-performing sector on the day and remains the weakest so far this year, after sliding 12.6% in 2025 and a further 16.8% in 2026.

Indian IT stocks have been under pressure over the last few weeks amid fears of an AI-led disruption to the sector.

(Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)

(([email protected]; Mobile: +91 9591011727;))

Updates share levels throughout, stock milestone in headline and paragraph 1, analyst comment in paragraphs 6-7

By Nandan Mandayam

Feb 12 (Reuters) - Shares of Indian software exporters slid over 5% on Thursday, pushing the Nifty IT index to a near 10-month low, as persistent fears of AI-led disruption and fading hopes of a near-term Federal Reserve rate cut weighed on sentiment.

The 10-member .NIFTYIT index was the worst-performing sector on the day and remains the weakest so far this year, after sliding 12.6% in 2025 and a further 12.2% in 2026.

Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS, Infosys INFY.NS and HCLTech HCLT.NS fell 5.5%, 5.7%, and 4.1%, respectively, on the day.

The launch of Amazon AMZN.O and Google GOOGL.O-backed Anthropic's Claude Cowork AI tool to automate tasks, pressured tech stocks globally last week and stoked concerns over demand for labour-intensive Indian IT services.

Domestic IT stocks have shed 14% since February 4 when the selloff began, resulting in TCS - previously India's fourth-most valuable stock - sliding to sixth place.

"The sell-off we have seen in IT stocks due to the AI models that have been launched in recent weeks is overdone," said Systematix Group analyst Ambrish Shah.

"The models currently still require human intervention and regulated verticals such as banking, financial services, and insurance are likely to be more insulated from the AI disruption."

Indian tech stocks have been battered the most, while peers in Asia, Europe and North America have recovered slightly.

Adding to the pressure on Indian IT stocks, hopes of a Fed rate cut faded after U.S. job growth unexpectedly accelerated in January and the unemployment rate fell, bolstering bets that interest rates may stay higher for longer.

That weighed on IT shares, which derive a significant portion of revenue from the United States. Lower U.S. rates could lift demand for IT spending that has largely been muted for the last few years.

The slump in IT stocks also dragged India's benchmarks lower on Thursday, with the Nifty 50 .NSEI down 0.44% and BSE Sensex .BSESN down 0.5%.

(Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema and Nivedita Bhattacharjee)

(([email protected]; Mobile: +91 9591011727;))

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AI LEARNS THE LAW, MARKETS LEARN TO WORRY

Anthropic's new legal tool for Claude AI not only rattled AI-bubble nerves but also cast a shadow over global economies heavily reliant on the export of telecommunications, computer, and information services (ICT), according to Standard Chartered.

For Ireland and India - economies particularly exposed to potential software export slowdown, even a 10% reduction in exports could lower their GDP growth by 1 percentage point each, Standard Chartered said in a note.

"Even a smaller share of the workforce in impacted sectors would translate into significant absolute layoffs for the more populous EM economies like India (where about 5.5 million people are employed in the ICT sector)," said Madhur Jha, global economist and head of thematic research at Standard Chartered.

Top software exporters Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS, Infosys INFY.NS, HCLTech HCLT.NS, and Tech Mahindra TEML.NS lost between 5.8% and 8.1% last week at the peak of the selloff.

U.S. AI developer Anthropic launched plug-ins for its Claude Cowork agent that would automate tasks across legal, sales, marketing and data analysis.

The launch revived fears that increasingly capable AI tools could dent demand for traditional software, compress margins and cost jobs, triggering a deep selloff in global software stocks.

The S&P 500 software and services index .SPLRCIS has fallen 7.5% as of last week and has seen around $1 trillion in market value evaporate since January 28.

(Kanchana Chakravarty)

*****

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Feb 6 (Reuters) - HCL Technologies Ltd HCLT.NS:

• HCLTECH - CO PARTNERS WITH CIRCLES FOR CONNECTIVITY SOLUTIONS

Source text: ID:nNSE3kt9nf

Further company coverage: HCLT.NS

(([email protected];))

Updates levels, adds graphic after paragraph 11

Feb 5 (Reuters) - Rapid advances in artificial intelligence, triggered in part by Anthropic's latest automation push, could structurally erode the IT sector's high-margin application services revenues, creating downside risks to earnings and valuations, analysts warn.

Shares in India's software exporters .NIFTYIT settled 0.6% lower on Thursday, a day after plunging 6% in their worst session for nearly six years, as AI-driven automation from U.S.-based Anthropic and Palantir fuelled fears of compressed project timelines and disruption to the industry's labour-intensive business model.

The weakness has echoed across global IT stocks this week, extending a broader selloff in companies seen as most exposed to potential AI disruption.

"There is more pain ahead for Indian IT," Jefferies said, adding that Anthropic's and Palantir's claims highlight how AI could potentially erode application service revenues for IT firms.

"With application services accounting for 40–70% of revenues, firms face growth pressures, and consensus growth estimates do not fully reflect this, posing downside risks to valuations."

DISRUPTION

Indian IT firms have been ramping up AI investments and re-skilling efforts, even as weak global tech spending, delayed client decision-making and pricing pressure have weighed on the sector. Foreign investors offloaded a record $8.5 billion worth of Indian IT stocks in 2025.

However, some analysts said the sharp selloff may be overdone.

JPMorgan said that while concerns around AI disruption were not without merit, it was illogical to extrapolate the launch of some tools to an expectation that companies will replace every layer of mission-critical enterprise software.

Domestic brokerage Kotak Institutional Equities described the decline as a case of "plenty of panic over a little flutter".

Among large IT firms, Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS, Tech Mahindra TEML.NS and LTIMindtree LTIM.NS have higher exposure to application services, which account for about 55%–60% of revenues, while HCL Tech HCLT.NS has the lowest exposure at around 40%.

Their stocks fell between 4% and 7% % on Wednesday, and extended losses on Thursday.

Brokerage Motilal Oswal estimates that 9%-12% of industry revenues could be eliminated over the next four years due to AI-led disruption.

Jefferies expects AI to weigh on IT-sector revenue growth over the next one to two years, arguing that deflation in legacy service-line revenues will more than offset gains from AI-related opportunities.

The IT sub-index has lost 17% since the start of 2025, including Wednesday's selloff, and is on track for its worst week in over four months.

(Reporting by Kashish Tandon and Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Writing by Chandini Monnappa; Editing by Mark Potter and Louise Heavens)

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Jan 29 (Reuters) - HCL Technologies Ltd HCLT.NS:

• HCLTECH - HCLTECH AND GUARDIAN PARTNER

• HCLTECH - HCLTECH AND GUARDIAN SIGN MULTI-YEAR PARTNERSHIP

Source text: ID:nBSE17mm8P

Further company coverage: HCLT.NS

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Jan 27 (Reuters) - HCL Technologies Ltd HCLT.NS:

• WESTERN UNION AND HCLTECH EXPAND GLOBAL CAPABILITY CENTER TO HYDERABAD

• WESTERN UNION AND HCLTECH TO ACCELERATE ADVANCED AI AND PLATFORM OPERATING MODE

Source text: ID:nBSE3MHPwC

Further company coverage: HCLT.NS

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Jan 21 (Reuters) - HCL Technologies Ltd HCLT.NS:

• HCLTECH - TEAM GLOBAL EXPRESS EXPANDS PARTNERSHIP WITH HCLTECH FOR AI

Source text: ID:nBSE1ZJDBm

Further company coverage: HCLT.NS

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Jan 20 (Reuters) - HCL Technologies Ltd HCLT.NS:

• HCLTECH AND CARAHSOFT PARTNER

Source text: ID:nnAZN4S1IPQ

Further company coverage: HCLT.NS

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Adds details on deal wins in paragraph 5, analyst comment in paragraph 6

BENGALURU, Jan 19 (Reuters) - India's LTIMindtree LTIM.NS reported an 8.3% fall in third-quarter profit on Monday, hit by a one-off impact from newly enacted labour codes.

Net profit at the country's sixth-largest IT firm fell to 9.71 billion rupees ($106.76 million) in the three months ended December 31, mainly on account of charges of about 5.9 billion rupees linked to new labour regulations.

Implemented in November, the new codes - India's biggest overhaul of workers' laws in decades - have dragged the profit of firms in India's manpower-heavy IT sector, including that of Wipro WIPR.NS, TCS TCS.NS and HCLTech HCLT.NS.

LTIMindtree's revenue rose 11.6% to 107.81 billion rupees, in line with estimates of 107.31 billion

Its total order bookings stood at a record $1.69 billion, surpassing the year ago quarter's $1.68 billion. Reuters had reported that the company won its largest-ever deal , pegged at $580 million, in October.

"The numbers look good in terms of margins, revenue and hiring as well. The company has managed weakness from top-5 clients from growing in other areas and rest of the clients," said Karan Uppal, lead analyst at Phillip Capital.

Revenue in the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector, which accounts for about one-third of its overall revenue, grew 2.3%.

Its consumer unit rose 14.6%, the most among the five business segments.

Last week, larger rival Infosys signaled a healthy demand outlook, especially in the core financial services segment.

($1 = 90.9120 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Sai Ishwarbharath B; Editing by Janane Venkatraman)

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