More Stories

Informist, Tuesday, Jun. 9, 2026

 

By Shakshi Jain

 

NEW DELHI – The aggregate revenue of the 13 information technology services companies that are part of the Nifty 200 index was largely in line with analysts' consensus estimate for the March quarter but their cumulative adjusted net profit, which excludes exceptional items, one-time costs incurred on implementation of the new labour codes, and contribution from discontinued operations, surpassed the Street's expectation by a comfortable margin.

 

These companies surprised positively on the margins front, supported by operational efficiencies and the depreciation of the rupee against the dollar, a senior IT analyst from HDFC Securities said. "Margin front, there was surprise, in fact some (companies) had wage hikes also, but despite of that, because of rupee depreciation, some benefit they got...that is helping in terms of managing the margin but what they're doing is that the benefits of rupee are not totally passed on in terms of the margins but some of that benefit is given back to the client if they ask it, if they don't ask it then that is reinvested in growth."

 

The aggregate revenue of the 13 companies under review was 20 basis points higher than analysts' tally while their combined adjusted net profit outpaced analysts' forecast by 200 basis points. A closer look at the data showed eight of the 13 companies fell short of analysts' consensus estimate in terms of the adjusted net profit while the remaining five posted better-than-anticipated figures. On the revenue front, nine companies exceeded expectations while four missed the estimates.

 

Overall, the 13 firms collectively registered a sequential net profit growth of 26% for the March quarter. Their cumulative adjusted net profit declined sequentially by roughly 20 basis points against the expectation of a 2.2?ll. The aggregate revenue of these companies grew 3.6% sequentially for the reporting quarter, 20 bps higher than the expectation of a 3.4% upswing. Besides the slower sequential growth in total expenses compared with the rise in revenue, lower finance costs, too, helped the collective double-digit bottom-line growth of these companies for the March quarter. In the December quarter, one-time costs tied to the implementation of the new labour codes had dented the aggregate bottom line of these companies sequentially.

 

On a year-on-year basis, the combined net profit as well as adjusted net profit of these companies grew over 13% for the March quarter while their revenue logged a 12% increase.

 

Analysts attributed the improved March-quarter performance of IT services companies to broadly stable profitability, helped by the depreciation of the rupee against the dollar, high employee utilisation, and cost management initiatives. The aggregate net profit of the 13 companies reverted to sequential growth in the March quarter after a double-digit fall in the trailing quarter and their revenue growth was slightly better on a sequential basis in Jan-Mar. Incidentally, the paltry sequential decline in the combined adjusted net profit of these companies for the March quarter followed a high single-digit growth in the December quarter.

 

The average net profit margin of the 13 companies was 16.3% for the March quarter, roughly 290 basis points higher than the trailing quarter. Meanwhile, their adjusted net profit margin lagged the December quarter figure by about 60 basis points at 16.3% for Jan-Mar. Collectively, analysts had pegged a net profit margin of almost 16% for the 13 companies. 

 

All the 13 companies saw a sequential rise in their net profit as well as revenue for the March quarter. In contrast, the bottom line of each of these companies, with the exception of Oracle Financial Services Software Ltd., had declined on a sequential basis in the December quarter. In terms of the adjusted net profit, six companies–-HCL Technologies Ltd., Tata Consultancy Services Ltd., Tech Mahindra Ltd., LTM Ltd., KPIT Technologies Ltd., and Tata Technologies Ltd.–-saw a sequential decline in the March quarter as opposed to a growth across the board on this front in the December quarter.

 

In the broader picture, each of the 13 companies, on an individual basis, outperformed the larger group of 13 in terms of net profit and 10 firms performed better on sales in the March quarter. Meanwhile, seven companies pulled the adjusted net profit down for the sector in Jan-Mar.

 

When compared with the Nifty 50 group companies on a sequential basis, the 13 IT companies fared better in terms of net profit but failed to match or exceed the revenue and adjusted net profit growth for the March quarter. The Nifty 50 companies recorded a sequential net profit growth of nearly 15% for the reporting quarter alongside a revenue growth of over 9%. The aggregate adjusted net profit of the 50 companies rose almost 7% sequentially.

 

The sequential picture for the Nifty 200 companies differed materially. Companies in this larger cohort recorded a sequential net profit growth of nearly 34% along with a revenue growth of 9%. The cumulative adjusted net profit of these 200 firms grew 13% quarter-on-quarter for the three months. Among the 13 IT companies, five companies outperformed the 200 group companies in terms of net profit growth and two in terms of the adjusted net profit rise. On the sales front, only one IT company, Tata Technologies Ltd., outperformed the broader index for the March quarter.

 

CLOSER LOOK

The six large-cap companies in the group of 13 together recorded a sequential bottom line growth of nearly 24% for the March quarter along with an adjusted bottom line decline of 1.6%. Their sequential top line growth for Jan-Mar was 3.3%. 

 

Keeping up with a multi-quarter trend, mid-tier firms once again outshone their larger peers in the March quarter. Together, the seven firms–-Coforge Ltd., KPIT Technologies Ltd., Mphasis Ltd., Oracle Financial Services Software Ltd., Persistent Systems Ltd., Tata Elxsi Ltd., and Tata Technologies Ltd.–-registered a sequential net profit growth of almost 55% for the three months alongside an adjusted net profit growth of 18%. Their aggregate revenue rose nearly 7% on a sequential basis for the reporting quarter.

 

Overall, analysts said deal wins in the March quarter were strong but lamented a weak revenue growth guidance for 2026-27 (Apr-Mar). "The TCV (total contract value) numbers were strong but TCV conversion to revenue was weak. Revenue growth was mostly in line but the guidances were not that encouraging in the sense that they were lower than what we expected by around 1.0-1.5%," the above quoted senior analyst from HDFC Securities said.

 

Piyush Pandey, senior vice-president and research analyst at Centrum Broking Ltd., said concerns regarding the deflationary impact of artificial intelligence deals continue. He expects companies in the sector to post a 0.5-1.0% sequential growth in constant currency revenue for the June quarter. 

 

The following table is the snapshot of IT sector and broader index performance for the March quarter:

 

Index/Sector	Number of companies	Jan-Mar PAT excluding exceptional items (% change)		Jan-Mar net sales (% change)		Total expense growth in %
		YoY	QoQ	YoY	QoQ	YoY	QoQ
Nifty 500	499	15.8	12.9	12.1	8.6	10.3	5.5
Nifty 200	200	15.2	12.8	12.2	8.9	10.8	6.1
Nifty 50	50	5.3	7	12.7	9.3	11.3	5.6
IT	13	13.2	(-) 0.2	12	3.6	11.3	3.2

 

The following table shows the March quarter performance of the 13 IT companies in the Nifty 200 index vis-a-vis the consensus estimate for each company as well as the consensus estimate for the sector and the Nifty 200:

 

Company	PAT beat analysts' estimate	Adjusted QoQ PAT growth %	Adjusted QoQ PAT growth estimate %	PAT beat QoQ sector estimate	PAT beat Nifty 200 QoQ estimate		Revenue beat analysts' estimate	Revenue QoQ growth %	Revenue QoQ growth estimate %	Revenue beat sector estimate	Revenue beat Nifty 200 QoQ estimate
Coforge Ltd.	YES	67.4	10.2	YES	YES		NO	5.2	5.3	YES	NO
HCL Technologies Ltd.	NO	(-)10.8	(-)6.1	YES	YES		NO	0.3	1.6	NO	NO
Infosys Ltd.	YES	7	(-)4.8	YES	YES		NO	2	2.4	NO	NO
LTM Ltd.	NO	(-)14.8	(-)9.3	YES	YES		YES	4.7	4.2	YES	NO
Mphasis Ltd.	YES	6.7	5.4	YES	YES		YES	6	5.6	YES	NO
Oracle Financial Services Software Ltd.	YES	31.7	6.3	YES	YES		YES	5.1	3.7	YES	NO
Persistent Systems Ltd.	NO	0.2	0.5	YES	YES		YES	7.4	5.9	YES	NO
Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.	NO	(-)2.4	(-)1.9	YES	YES		YES	5.4	4.1	YES	NO
Tech Mahindra Ltd.	NO	(-)2.9	7.5	YES	YES		YES	4.7	2.9	YES	NO
Wipro Ltd.	NO	1.5	2.6	YES	YES		NO	2.9	4.1	NO	NO
Tata Technologies Ltd.	YES	(-)13.2	10.3	YES	YES		YES	15.1	11.8	YES	YES
Tata Elxsi Ltd.	YES	7.7	(-)9.5	YES	YES		YES	4.22	4.18	YES	NO
KPIT Technologies Ltd.	NO	(-)15.5	1.9	YES	YES		YES	5.8	4.7	YES	NO

 

The following table shows the profit margins of the 13 IT companies that are part of the Nifty 200:

 

Company	Adj PAT Margin for Mar 26	Adj PAT Margin for Mar 25	Adj PAT Margin for Dec 25
Coforge	14.96	7.59	9.4
HCL Technologies	13.21	14.24	14.86
Infosys	18.32	17.19	17.47
KPIT Technologies	9.53	16.01	11.93
LTM	11.78	11.55	14.48
Mphasis	12.01	12.03	11.93
Oracle Financial Services Software	42.05	37.52	33.54
Persistent Systems	13.05	12.21	13.99
Tata Consultancy Services	19.40	18.96	20.94
Tata Elxsi	22.17	18.98	21.46
Tata Technologies	9.42	14.69	12.48
Tech Mahindra	8.98	8.72	9.69
Wipro	14.34	15.86	14.53
IT Sector	16.29	16.12	16.91

 

End

 

US$1 = INR 95.24

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

 

For users of real-time market data terminals, Informist news is available exclusively on the NSE Cogencis WorkStation.

 

Cogencis news is now Informist news. This follows the acquisition of Cogencis Information Services Ltd. by NSE Data & Analytics Ltd., a 100% subsidiary of the National Stock Exchange of India Ltd. As a part of the transaction, the news department of Cogencis has been sold to Informist Media Pvt. Ltd.

 

Informist Media Tel +91 (11) 4220-1000

Send comments to feedback@informistmedia.com

 

© Informist Media Pvt. Ltd. 2026. All rights reserved.