IT swings between hope & despair

Global IT giant Accenture's Q1FY25 results surprised with constant currency (CC) revenue growth of 8% year-on-year, beating its 2-6% guidance.

- Harsha Jethmalani

Growth was broad-based but led by the healthcare and public services vertical where Accenture has higher exposure than tier-I Indian peers. Consulting business revenue rose 6% year-on-year in CC terms.

Managed services (outsourcing)—where Accenture competes with tier-I IT companies—saw growth improve to 11%. Strong Q1 pushed Accenture, which follows a September-August fiscal, to raise its FY25 CC revenue growth guidance to 4-7% from 3-6% earlier.

Accenture's result is seen as an indicator for the performance of tier-I Indian IT firms. But despite its positives, investors' sentiment was muted. On Friday, the Nifty IT index was down 2.63%.