AI Rewrites the IT Code

From services-led growth to Al-driven innovation, India's IT is reprogramming for an era where intelligent agents decide who scales, and who stalls

- BY PALAK AGARWAL

INDIA'S INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (IT) sector, long hailed as the "back office of the world," is at a crossroads. The industry, built on a service-driven model, is now under pressure as artificial intelligence (AI) upends its low-cost business model.

Yet, the sector remains one of the country's most profitable. In the BT500 list, it is ranked third in terms of consolidated profit after tax (PAT) at 1.34 lakh crore, with 9% growth year-on-year (YoY). However, this was slightly below the 11% average increase in PAT of the BT500 cohort.

Within the sector, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) remains the undisputed leader, clocking a PAT of 48,800 crore on gross sales of more than 2.5 lakh crore, both metrics seeing a 6% YoY increase. However, its average market capitalisation in the study period rose just 6.5%, the lowest in the IT pack.

Infosys comes a distant second with a PAT of *26,750 crore on gross sales of 1.63 lakh crore. While profit growth slowed to 2%, investor confidence remained high, with its market cap swelling nearly 19% YoY to 7.3 lakh crore.

HCL Technologies, the third on the list, saw an impressive 11% increase in PAT at 17,399 crore. Net sales rose 6.5% to 1.17 lakh crore, margins were 15%, while market cap surged 24% to 4.6 lakh crore.