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Indian citizens are by far the most active users of the U.S. H-1B program and made up 73% of the nearly 442,000 H-1B workers in fiscal year 2022. Plans for a pilot program were first reported by Bloomberg Law in February. Each year, the U.S. government makes 65,000 H-1B visas available to companies seeking skilled foreign workers, along with an additional 20,000 visas for workers with advanced degrees. The pilot program would also include some workers with L-1 visas, which are available to people transferring within a company to a position in the U.S., one of the sources said. India has long had concerns with the difficulty its citizens face in receiving visas to live in the United States, including technology industry workers.

Persons: Biden, Narendra Modi, Joe Biden, Trevor Hunnicutt, Ted Hesson, Heather Timmons, Lincoln Organizations: State Department, Bloomberg Law, Infosys, Tata Consultancy Services, Labor Department, Washington, Thomson Locations: United States, U.S, India, Washington, China . U.S

☆ India's TCS signs $1.1 bln contract with UK's Nest
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BENGALURU, June 21 (Reuters) - India's top IT services provider Tata Consultancy Services (TCS.NS) said on Wednesday that it has signed a new contract worth 840 million pounds ($1.1 billion) with British pension scheme Nest for an initial tenure of 10 years. The contract, to help Nest transform its administration services, if extended to the entirety of its 18-year tenure would be worth 1.5 billion pounds, TCS said in a statement. The deal comes at a time when Indian IT services companies are facing demand challenges in their key markets, the United States and Europe, where clients have cut spends amid worries about recession. TCS and Nest have been working together since 2011. Last week, TCS mutually terminated a $2 billion contract with insurance provider Transamerica, citing reasons that include a challenging macro environment.

Persons: Shailesh Organizations: Tata Consultancy Services, TCS, Indian, Investors, Sethuraman NR, Thomson Locations: BENGALURU, United States, Europe, Bengaluru

☆ India's TCS, Transamerica end $2 bln contract due to macro environment
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BENGALURU, June 16 (Reuters) - Indian information technology (IT) company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS.NS) said on Friday it has mutually agreed with insurance provider Transamerica to end a $2 billion contract, citing reasons including a challenging macro environment. The 10-year contract, signed in early 2018, involved TCS working with U.S.-based Transameria to enable the digitization of more than 10 million policies into a single integrated platform. Administration of those policies, including life insurance and retirement and investment solutions, will be moved to a new servicing model, which will take about 30 months, TCS said. "It's more of a sentimental negative rather than a big impact on the financials of TCS," said Siddhartha Khemka, head of retail research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services. "We don't see a big impact because of this.

Persons: Siddhartha Khemka, Khemka, Navamya Ganesh, Rashmi Aich, Sonia Cheema Organizations: Tata Consultancy Services, U.S, Administration, TCS, Motilal Oswal Financial Services, Indian, Thomson Locations: BENGALURU, United States, Europe, Bengaluru

☆ More women quit their jobs at India’s largest IT firm after it scrapped remote work
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( Sawdah Bhaimiya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Tata Consultancy Services, India's largest IT firm, saw more female employees quit the past year. The company said it felt this change was influenced by its decision to scrap remote work. India's largest IT firm faced an unexpected consequence after scrapping its remote working policies: seeing a higher level of female employees quit. There are over 220,000 women at the firm, making up about 35.7% of the company's workforce according to the report. A YouGov poll last year found that 57% of working women in the US said that remote working is important in a job, versus 44% of men.

Persons: Milind Lakkad, Lakkad Organizations: Tata Consultancy Services, Morning, TCS Locations: Mumbai

☆ India's outsourcing giants cut hiring; disheartening for economy, students
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-12 | by ( Navamya Ganesh Acharya | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

There are pockets of optimism elsewhere in the services sector - especially in accounting, where there is a surge in hiring. NLB sees a 20-25% drop in IT employee additions in the first half of the current financial year, while TeamLease Digital expects a 40% decrease for the entire year. Nasscom declined comment on the hiring slowdown. That has "surely left applicants concerned about future prospects", said staffing firm Xpheno's co-founder Kamal Karanth, who highlighted how current hiring activity was "under a third of what was recorded in the buoyant peak". Pai highlighted sectors such as financial services, consumer goods, specialised manufacturing, medicine, law, chartered accounting and other services as more viable options.

Persons: Rohit Azad, Azad, Rishad Premji, Sakshi Gupta, Sachin Alug, NLB, Nilanjan Roy, Nasscom, Gautam, Xpheno's, Kamal Karanth, LTIMindtree, Karanth, Siana, Siddharth Pai, Pai, Dhanya Skariachan, Raju Gopalakrishnan Organizations: New, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Wipro, HDFC, Apple, Citigroup, American Express, Europe's Credit Suisse, UBS, NLB Services, TeamLease, IT, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, Reuters Graphics, Sethuraman, Thomson Locations: BENGALURU, India, Punjab

☆ India cabinet approves $11 bln revival plan for state-owned BSNL
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-07 | by ( Rama Venkat | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A man speaks on his mobile phone as he walks past a Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) advertisement painted on a wall outside its office in Kolkata, India, August 24, 2017. REUTERS/Rupak De ChowdhuriBENGALURU, June 7 (Reuters) - India's cabinet on Wednesday approved an 890.47 billion rupee ($10.79 billion) revival package for loss-making Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) to help the state-owned telecom operator deploy 4G and 5G services in a market dominated by private players. "With this revival package, BSNL will emerge as a stable telecom service provider focused on providing connectivity to remotest parts of India," the cabinet said in a statement. Debt-laden BSNL, grappling with poor infrastructure, has been posting losses for the past 12 years. The losses narrowed to 69.82 billion rupees in the year ended March 2022 from 74.41 billion rupees a year ago.

Persons: Vivekanand Subbaraman, Sakshi Dayal, Rama Venkat, Krishna N, Dhanya Ann Thoppil Organizations: Nigam Ltd, REUTERS, Sanchar Nigam Ltd, BSNL, Tata Consultancy Services, 5G, Reliance Industries, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Das, Thomson Locations: Kolkata, India, Chowdhuri BENGALURU, New Delhi, Bengaluru

☆ India's TCS receives $1.83 bln-worth advance purchase order from BSNL
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

[1/2] A private security guard stands at the exit gate of the headquarters of Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in Mumbai, India October 13, 2016. REUTERS/Shailesh AndradeBENGALURU, May 22 (Reuters) - Tata Consultancy Services (TCS.NS) on Monday said it received an advance purchase order valued over 150 billion rupees ($1.83 billion) to deploy a 4G network across the country from Indian state-run telco Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL.NS). ($1 = 81.7800 Indian rupees)Reporting by Navamya Ganesh Acharya in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane VenkatramanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Vladyslav Vlasiuk, who advises President Volodymyr Zelenskiy's chief of staff, also urged allies not to fear that a tougher sanctions clampdown could drive some countries closer to Russia, describing such a worry as overblown. He was speaking in an interview from Kyiv as world leaders meet to discuss new sanctions measures and how to prevent Russia and companies in third countries from circumventing sanctions imposed after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine last year. “We are grateful for all the support we have received from our allies and we have seen some positive signals on the latest sanctions packages under consideration," Vlasiuk said. Tinkoff and Rosselkhozbank have already been excluded from the SWIFT global payments system, but other banks have been subjected to full blocking sanctions. “Russian banks who provide financial services to Russian soldiers fighting an unlawful war of aggression on Ukrainian soil should face the toughest possible sanctions from our allies," Vlasiuk said.

☆ India's Wipro forecasts weak Q1 IT services rev
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BENGALURU, April 27 (Reuters) - Indian IT services provider Wipro Ltd (WIPR.NS) said on Thursday revenue from its mainstay IT Services unit would fall in the current quarter, after posting a marginal dip in profit for the three months ended March. The Bengaluru-based company forecast revenue from IT Services business to fall between 1% and 3% on constant currency terms, in the range of $2,753 million to $2,811 million for the first quarter. Bigger rivals Tata Consultancy Services (TCS.NS) and Infosys (INFY.NS) have also reported lower than expected quarterly earnings and gave weak forecasts. Net profit for Wipro fell for fell 0.4% to 30.75 billion rupees for the quarter ending March, while revenue rose 11.2%. Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita BhattacharjeeOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ India's Wipro to consider share buyback at board meeting this week
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BENGALURU, April 23 (Reuters) - Indian IT services provider Wipro Ltd (WIPR.NS) said on Sunday it will consider a share buyback proposal at its board meeting on April 27. Wipro, which will report its fourth-quarter results on Thursday, last bought back shares in October 2020. That share buyback totalled 95 billion Indian rupees ($1.16 billion) worth of shares. Shares of Wipro are down 6.3% so far this year after falling more than 45% in 2022. ($1 = 82.0300 Indian rupees)Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Susan FentonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ India's HCLTech sees smaller-than expected FY revenue growth
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BENGALURU, April 20 (Reuters) - HCLTech (HCLT.NS), India's No.3 IT services exporter, on Thursday forecast lower-than-expected revenue growth for the current fiscal amid worries of recession in major markets like the United States and Europe and global banking turmoil. HCLTech said it expects revenue to increase 6%-8% in the financial year ending March 2024 on constant currency basis, missing average analysts' estimates of 10.42%, according to Refinitiv IBES data. HCLTech's weak outlook followed disappointing earnings from market leader Tata Consultancy Services (TCS.NS) and No.2 Infosys Ltd's (INFY.NS) forecast of single-digit revenue growth this financial year. European clients were delaying decisions, HCLTech had said back in January, well before the current turmoil. It expects EBIT margins of 18% and 19% for FY 2024.

April 19 (Reuters) - IBM Corp (IBM.N) missed Wall Street expectations for first-quarter revenue on Wednesday, hurt by shrinking corporate spending on IT services and a strong dollar. IBM cut its full-year consulting revenue growth forecast to 6%-8% from earlier expectations of high single-digit percentage growth. IBM, which receives over 75% of its revenue from its software and consulting business units, said its consulting revenue rose 8.2% at constant currency to $4.96 billion in the quarter ended March 31. Accenture signaled to a wider slowdown last month, when it decided to slash about 19,000 jobs and trimmed revenue growth and profit forecasts. Total revenue in the first quarter rose 4.4% at constant currency to $14.25 billion, compared with analysts' estimate of $14.35 billion.

☆ India's Infosys tumbles 15% on downbeat revenue outlook
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BENGALURU, April 17 (Reuters) - Infosys Ltd (INFY.NS) shares slumped nearly 15% on Monday and dragged stocks of peers, after the IT services exporter's dismal revenue outlook highlighted the impact of banking turmoil in major markets, the United States and Europe. Infosys' outlook followed a disappointing quarterly report from larger rival Tata Consultancy Services (TCS.NS), highlighting worries for the sector which earns more than 25% of its revenue from just the U.S. and European banking, financial, services and insurance sector. Infosys saw its biggest intraday percentage drop since October 2019, and dragged other IT stocks, with the Nifty IT index (.NIFTYIT) dropping as much as 7.6%. "Given the uncertain environment in the near term, growth can be back ended for Infosys, in our view," PhillipCapital said in a note. ($1 = 81.9020 Indian rupees)Reporting by Nishit Navin; editing by Eileen SorengOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ India's Infosys forecasts slower FY24 revenue growth of 4%-7%
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BENGALURU, April 13 (Reuters) - Infosys Ltd (INFY.NS) on Thursday forecast slower revenue growth for the current fiscal year compared with analysts' expectations, amid a turmoil in the U.S. banking sector that has prompted clients to tighten spending. India's second-largest IT services firm expects revenue growth of 4%-7% for the fiscal year ending March 2024. Analysts expected growth of 10.73% for the period, according to Refinitiv IBES data. Infosys won large deals worth $2.1 billion in the fourth quarter, down from $2.3 billion in the same period the previous year. Infosys' consolidated net profit rose 7.77% to 61.28 billion rupees ($749.10 million) in the three months ended March 31, while revenue rose 16% to 374.41 billion rupees.

☆ India's TCS beats Q4 profit view on strong deal momentum
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

The company's net profit rose 14.8% to 113.92 billion rupees ($1.39 billion) in the three months ended March 31, from 99.26 billion rupees a year earlier. Analysts on average had expected a profit of 110.13 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv IBES data. TCS said its order book for the Jan-March period stood at $10 billion, up 28% sequentially, with an "all-time high number of large deals." Revenue from operations rose about 17% to 591.62 billion rupees. ($1 = 82.0700 Indian rupees)Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane VenkatramanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ J.P.Morgan puts India's HCL on 'negative catalyst watch' ahead of Q4 results
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BENGALURU, April 4 (Reuters) - J.P.Morgan on Tuesday placed Indian IT services provider HCL Technologies Ltd (HCLT.NS) on "negative catalyst watch" ahead of the earnings season, citing the highest near-term risks for the company. The brokerage also expected Infosys to give "soft" guidance due to the uncertain macro environment and the departure of Mohit Joshi, its president and head of banking, financial services and insurance. TCS Chief Executive Officer Rajesh Gopinathan resigned last month, while Joshi was named CEO of Tech Mahindra (TEML.NS). Earlier, J.P.Morgan had said TCS and Infosys have the highest exposure to regional banks in the United States that are gripped by a financial turmoil. Reporting by Nallur Sethuraman in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja DesaiOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Accenture trims forecasts, to cut 19,000 jobs as IT spending slows
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Chavi Mehta | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] Accenture PLC logo is seen on a smartphone in front of displayed same logo in this illustration taken, December 1, 2021. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File PhotoMarch 23 (Reuters) - Accenture Plc lowered its annual revenue and profit forecasts and decided to cut about 2.5% of its workforce, or 19,000 jobs, the latest sign that the worsening global economic outlook was sapping corporate spending on IT services. More than half of the jobs to be cut will be in its non-billable corporate functions, Accenture said on Thursday, sending its shares up 6.4%. Accenture now expects annual revenue growth to be between 8% and 10%, compared with its previous projection of a 8% to 11% increase. A survey of more than 1,000 IT decision makers by U.S.-based Enterprise Technology Research said they plan to reduce their 2023 budget growth.

☆ India's TCS, Infosys have highest exposure to U.S. regional banks - J.P.Morgan
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] The Infosys logo is seen at the SIBOS banking and financial conference in Toronto, Ontario, Canada October 19, 2017. REUTERS/Chris HelgrenMarch 17 (Reuters) - Top Indian information technology firms Tata Consultancy Services (TCS.NS) and Infosys (INFY.NS) have the highest exposure to regional banks in the United States that are gripped by a financial turmoil, analysts at J.P.Morgan said on Friday. All three companies might need to set aside provisions in the fourth quarter due to their exposure to SVB, J.P. Morgan said in a note. Indian IT firms draw the bulk of their revenue from the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector. Within BFSI, their exposure to the U.S. banks is on average 62% and Europe 23%, J.P. Morgan said.

☆ Indian shares rise on easing global banking concerns
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Bharath Rajeswaran | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

BENGALURU, March 17 (Reuters) - Indian shares advanced on Friday, aided by financials, tracking a rebound in global equities after a slew of measures to support the global banking system eased worries about a crisis in the financial sector. While the developments eased immediate concerns of a crisis in the global banking system, some analysts remained cautious. "The Fed needs to manage a delicate balancing act between price stability (inflation) and financial stability (growth) in next week's meeting." Information technology stocks (.NIFTYIT) rose over 1% with all 10 constituents logging gains. ($1 = 82.5870 Indian rupees)Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil and Janane VenkatramanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ India's TCS CEO Gopinathan to step down, veteran Krithivasan to take over
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

BENGALURU, March 16 (Reuters) - India's largest IT services provider Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) (TCS.NS) said on Thursday Rajesh Gopinathan will resign as chief executive officer, just a year into his second five-year term at the helm of the company. The company said Gopinathan — who was re-appointed last year as the Indian IT behemoth's CEO till 2027 — will leave TCS to pursue other interests. Gopinathan has been with TCS since 2001 and has held multiple leadership positions, including that of chief financial officer. Under his leadership, TCS shares have nearly tripled, revenue has almost doubled and profit has risen about 60%, as of last quarter. TCS shares, which have lost about 2.2% so far this year, closed down 0.4% on Thursday.

☆ Russia's Tinkoff cancels dollar Eurobond interest payment after EU sanctions
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Tinkoff, owned by TCS Group Holding (TCSq.L), was included in the EU's tenth package of sanctions against Russia outlined last week following Moscow's military campaign in Ukraine. It has already been forced to suspend some trading in euros and had its app removed from the App Store. The Eurobond issuer, TCS Finance D.A.S, which is also part of the TCS group, said it was notified on March 3 that Tinkoff had cancelled the payment of interest, due on March 15, accrued on a $300 million perpetual bond. The issuer said interest on March 15 would be automatically cancelled as a result. Reporting by Elena Fabrichnaya and Alexander Marrow; editing by Jan Harvey and Jason NeelyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Russia's Tinkoff banking app removed from App Store
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MOSCOW, March 2 (Reuters) - Sanctioned Russian digital lender Tinkoff Bank said on Thursday its mobile applications had been deleted from Apple's App Store, following the imposition of European Union sanctions last week. Tinkoff was forced to suspend trading in euros following the sanctions on Monday, and has now had its app removed from the App Store, it said. Tinkoff's brokerage app, used by millions of Russian retail investors, had also been deleted from the App store. As a branch-less digital-only bank, Tinkoff has millions of clients rely on its online services for their daily banking needs. Tinkoff said it was working on a solution to allow users to download their app again in the future.

REUTERS/Maxim ShemetovSummarySummary Companies This content was produced in Russia where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in UkraineMOSCOW, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Russian banks and politicians have played down the latest foreign sanctions on Russian lenders, promising speedy solutions to any problems with clients' foreign currency dealings. Those sanctioned last week have responded in a largely relaxed manner, with some saying disruption will be limited and others restricting foreign currency transactions or suspending euro trading on brokerage accounts. Russia's major banks have rallied after an initial hit from last year's Western sanctions and now jostle for business from the state, particularly a burgeoning defence budget, and big corporate accounts. Sanctions have mostly hurt Russians wanting to travel abroad or hold foreign currency. Alexander Shokhin, Russia's top business lobby chief, was more cautious, saying the situation could change rapidly, and that Russian banks needed to act pre-emptively.

☆ Russia's Tinkoff bank to suspend trading in euros from Feb 27
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 26 (Reuters) - Russian online bank Tinkoff, run by TCS Group Holding (TCSq.L), said on Sunday it would suspend trading in euros from Monday following the imposition of a further set of European Union sanctions. The package includes cutting off more banks, among them Tinkoff and the private Alfa-Bank, from the SWIFT global payments system. Euro trading will be suspended from Feb. 27, 2023," Tinkoff said in a statement, adding that trading in other currencies would not be affected. In a separate statement, Tinkoff said it had prepared counter-measures to the sanctions which would allow a transfer of assets to a new non-sanctioned company within three weeks. Tinkoff Bank was set up by entrepreneur Oleg Tinkov, who has become an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

☆ ChatGPT, other AI models to disrupt Indian IT firms - JPM
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Feb 10 (Reuters) - Generative AI models such as ChatGPT will slow down market share gains and deflate pricing for Indian IT companies in the short term, analysts at J.P.Morgan said on Friday. As generative AI is implemented more broadly, consulting firms like Accenture and Deloitte and will gain market share over Indian IT firms like Infosys Ltd (INFY.NS) and Wipro Ltd (WIPR.NS) in the near term, analysts at the brokerage said in a note to clients. Generative AI can be a "deflation driver" in the near term on legacy services as they compete on pricing, necessitate staff retraining and drive loss of competitiveness, they added. Since then, other large tech companies like Alphabet Inc (GOOGL.O) and China's Baidu Inc (9888.HK) have rushed to announce their own in-house developments of generative AI. JPM said that among Indian IT companies, Infosys and Tata Consultancy Services (TCS.NS) might retrain staff faster than smaller peers due to their better graduate hiring and training infrastructure.

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