India’s second-largest IT company Infosys is expected to report a modest performance when it announces fourth quarter (2013-14) results on Tuesday, but experts and analysts remain positive about the overall growth of other Indian IT firms such as TCS, Wipro and HCL Tech.
TCS will announce its results on April 16 while both Wipro and HCL Tech will announce their results on April 17.
The January-March quarter has traditionally been one that offers clarity on things to come in the next year as it is during these three months that client firms finalise their IT budgets and start offering projects from April onward. Dipen Shah, IT analyst at brokerage firm Kotak Securities, explained that growth momentum would be slightly subdued during the January-March quarter, "…but I expect the big four Indian IT firms (TCS, Infosys, Wipro and HCL Tech) to regain full momentum from the April-June quarter onwards."
“The management commentary from IT firms has been quite positive and with economic conditions in US and Europe stabilising fast, I expect growth momentum to continue,” said Ankita Somani, an IT analyst at Angel Broking.
However, it is the Infosys results that would be keenly watched by market analysts as the company has been going through a rough patch amid its recent announcement to actively scout for a successor of current chief executive SD Shibulal who has expressed his desire to step down.
“This (Shibulal’s impending exit) was known for quite some time and the markets had already factored in its effect… I do not expect any major affect on Infosys’s performance in the short or medium term,” said Shah.
The brokerage arm of Barclays expects the Infosys management to remain conservative on revenue traction for the first half of this fiscal and expects the company to give an 8% revenue growth guidance for 2014-15.
Citigroup said it expects some negative commentary from Infosys around the near term.
The brokerage arm of Barclays expects the Infosys management to remain conservative on revenue traction for the first half of this fiscal and expects the company to give an 8% revenue growth guidance for 2014-15.
Citigroup said it expects some negative commentary from Infosys around the near term.
“We believe revenue growth guidance of 6% to 8% year-on-year can be a starting point, given commentary on near-term headwinds, potential conservatism and relatively higher exposure to discretionary spends,” it said.