TCS is treading in rough waters

A crucial guage Value of TCS's deal wins was back to sub-$10 billion range in Q1FY26 after a robust show in Q4FY25.

- Harsha Jethmalani

Weaker-than-anticipated June quarter (Q1 FY26) result of Tata Consultancy Services Ltd has raised concerns about a delay in revenue revival. It has got investors wondering if the earnings downgrade cycle for the sector has bottomed out or if there is more pain ahead. Sequential constant-currency (CC) revenue fell 3.3% versus the Bloomberg consensus estimate of a 1.4% decline in Q1. The miss was driven by the ramp-down of the BSNL project and a sequential CC revenue drop in international markets.

Clients remain cautious, with cost optimization, vendor consolidation, and efficiency-led technology transformation as priorities, the management said. Discretionary IT spending remains under pressure. However, demand for GenAI, cloud adoption, and platform modernization was firm. Banking and financial services saw pockets of softness, especially in US insurance. Consumer-facing sectors, particularly retail and automotive, were hit by project deferrals and funding delays due to macro headwinds and delayed decision-making in markets like North America.