Infosys reshuffles top deck

The company also witnessed another top-level exit in the form of company veteran Anup Uppadhayay.

Infosys chief executive Vishal Sikka has reshuffled his top management team and asked to take up new roles such as mergers & acquisitions and large deals, according to reports.

The company also witnessed another top-level exit in the form of company veteran Anup Uppadhayay, reports said.

Anantha Radhakrishnan was appointed earlier this year as his replacement at the helm of the BPO business. 

The company has appointed company veteran Deepak Padaki as the new head of mergers and acquisitions, while former SAP executive Ritika Suri  has been tasked to oversee large deals, say reports.

Infosys Q1 FY17 results: 7 things to watch out for

Vishal Sikka-led IT bellwether Infosys will announce its financial results for the first quarter ended June 30, 2016 on July 15.

Vishal Sikka-led IT bellwether Infosys will announce its financial results for the first quarter ended June 30, 2016 on July 15. The top tech firm has been beating street estimates for four consecutive quarters and is expected to continue the momentum marching aggressively towards its vision to achieve $20 billion in revenue by 2020. The company, however, has issued a warning with regards to weaker spending in Q1.

Here are seven things to watch out for in Infosys Q1 results:

Weaker spending: Infosys Chief Operating Officer (COO) U B Pravin Rao recently issued a warning saying that the company would face volatility over the next few quarters, due to weaker spending from sectors such as energy and insurance.

Revenue and margin guidance: FY17 revenue guidance of the company stands at 11.5%-13.5% in constant currency terms and at 11.8-13.8% in dollar terms whereas the margin guidance band is 24-26%. UB Pravin Rao said despite the volatility the company is on track to meet the full-year constant currency revenue guidance. Analysts expect that the company might turn the revenue guidance downwards.

Headwinds and softness: The top IT firm has been experiencing headwinds in verticals such as energy, telecom, and retail, as well as softness in the insurance sector. Rao recently said that Infosys does not expect a recovery in spending from the energy sector before 2017. The company is also facing a slowdown in its enterprise resource planning (ERP) and business process outsourcing (BPO) businesses.

Deal wins: While announcing Q4 FY16 results, the company said that the deal pipeline looks healthy. “We expect to achieve a deal win rate of $1 bn in the next two to three quarters. We would focus on securing a large number of smaller deals,” said CEO Vishal Sikka.

Focus on innovation: Vishal Sikka, addressing the 35th AGM said, “Infosys is moving towards a model based on innovation and the company has laid out a strategy consisting of two parts. The 'Renew' and 'New' strategy has been key for growth.”

Impact of Brexit and currency depreciation: The company experienced a slight drop in revenues from its business in Europe due to currency depreciation in FY16. Brexit may further impact Europe revenues.

Wage hikes: Wage hikes are likely to impact revenues in first quarter of FY17. Vishal Sikka raked in $7.45 million as annual salary for financial year 2015-16. Sikka's new salary structure enabled company's top executives to take home multi-million dollar pay cheques. The company handed out an average wage hike of about 6-12% for all its offshore employees and 2% hike for on-site employees.

Infosys falls 3.4%; warns of weaker spending in Q1

Infosys chief operating officer (COO) UB Pravin Rao warned that the company would face volatility over the next few quarters, due to weaker spending from sectors such as energy and insurance.

Infosys fell 3.4% to Rs.1197 after the opening bell on Thursday. Infosys chief operating officer (COO) UB Pravin Rao warned that the company would face volatility over the next few quarters, due to weaker spending from sectors such as energy and insurance, according to reports.

UB Pravin Rao further said that the company was still on track to meet full-year constant currency revenue guidance of 11.5-13.5 per cent.

Rao told investors that Infosys does not expect a recovery in spending from energy sector before 2017, says report.

The scrip opened at Rs. 1228.9 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 1228.9 and Rs. 1192.5 respectively. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 284430.6 crore.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 5 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 1278 on 03-Jun-2016 and a 52 week low of Rs. 932.5 on 10-Jul-2015. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 1278 and Rs. 1236 respectively.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 12.7 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 57.6 % and 29 % respectively.

The stock is currently trading below its 50 DMA.

Infosys falls 2% after multiple block deal

Around 78 lakh shares were traded in a multiple block at Rs. 1150.75 on the BSE and NSE. 

Infosys slipped 2% to Rs.1156 on BSE. Around 78 lakh shares were traded in a multiple block at Rs. 1150.75 on the BSE and NSE. The stock is top losers on NSE. Infosys shareholders to offer 7.5m shares at Rs. 1,149.0-1,178.5 each in a block deal. Selling Shareholders include names like S Gopalakrishnan (5mm shares), S D Shibulal (1mm shares), Kumari Shibulal (1mm shares), and Shruti Shibulal (0.5mm shares).

The scrip opened at Rs. 1164 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 1164.1 and Rs. 1147.5 respectively. So far 10583030(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 270694.93 crore.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 5 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 1219 on 12-Oct-2015 and a 52 week low of Rs. 932.55 on 10-Jul-2015. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 1192.9 and Rs. 1144 respectively.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 13.07 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 57.18 % and 12.48 % respectively.

The stock is currently trading below its 50 DMA.  

Infosys to collaborate with Microsoft Corp on analytics solutions

Infosys analytics healthcare solutions will enable healthcare professionals to unlock the potential of a wide range of datasets.

Infosys, a global leader in consulting, technology and next-generation services, today announced that it will collaborate with Microsoft Corp., a global leader in platform and productivity offerings, to deploy advanced analytics solutions to support healthcare organizations in their digital transformation.

The healthcare industry is undergoing a paradigm shift largely due to consumerization and increasing costs. With the advent of advanced analytics and cloud technologies, it is now possible to process, store and analyze large volumes of structured and unstructured datasets at a lower cost, which can yield tremendous benefits to various healthcare processes. Today, these processes are managed by custom solutions or through CRM platforms like Microsoft Dynamics. Infosys has developed healthcare analytics solutions to augment the current processes and make them more efficient using Microsoft Cortana Analytics Suite.

Infosys analytics healthcare solutions will enable healthcare professionals to unlock the potential of a wide range of datasets. Insights generated from this will help track population health trends, advance clinical effectiveness and enhance patient satisfaction. They will also help providers improve operational effectiveness and financial and administrative performance. These solutions use the common healthcare reference architecture that is built on Microsoft technology.

Through the use of different Microsoft analytics offerings such as Cortana Analytics Suite and SQL Server 2016, organizations will have a compelling and economical alternative to niche analytical products, without having to change their current enterprise storage solution. These solutions will give enterprises the ability to integrate databases and publish layers with enterprise-grade security.

One of the solutions focuses on making the actuarial planning process efficient. This helps payers to forecast the utilization and cost of care for better actuarial planning. Another solution focuses on supporting healthcare contact center processes implemented in Microsoft Dynamics to provide live decision support to contact agents. This reduces costs, increases the return on investment for existing tools and brings healthcare providers closer to a fully realized cloud infrastructure.

“This relationship will provide managed care organizations with the tools to improve clinical and operational effectiveness at a reasonable cost. It will also provide health-care call centers with contextualized customer support and self-service options to both consumers and healthcare workers,” said Manish Tandon, Executive Vice President, Global Head, Healthcare, Insurance and Life Sciences.

“Cortana Analytics is a fully managed Big Data and advanced analytics suite that enables customers to transform data into intelligent action,” said Joseph Sirosh, corporate vice president of the Data Group, Microsoft. “The technology we have today at Microsoft, and the deep collaboration with Infosys, will enable novel healthcare solutions that make smarter decisions, improve customer service, and uncover new possibilities to transform patient care faster than ever before.”

Wipro to hire 25,000 people in Karnataka: Azim Premji

“We will add 25,000 more IT jobs in Karnataka where we already employ over 55,000 people and are expanding each of our businesses,” Premji said.

Wipro Ltd. will hire 25,000 techies in Karnataka, especially Bengaluru, Chairman Azim Premji said on Wednesday at the state’s global investors meet.

“We will add 25,000 more IT jobs in Karnataka where we already employ over 55,000 people and are expanding each of our businesses,” Premji said.

“We are endorsing the fact that Karnataka is a very hospitable and a very progressive state to investors,” Premji said.

Admitting that Bengaluru had its constrains in terms of infrastructure, Premji said that the city was a source of best technical talent, nice weather, strong science background and cosmopolitan culture.

“I hope Karnataka continues to invest in infrastructure to be one of the fastest growing states in the country,” Premji added.

All of Wipro group's businesses are headquartered in Karnataka, which include IT business, consumer care & lighting, aerospace and Wipro GE healthcare systems.

Mindtree jumps 4%; likely to issue bonus shares

The company informed BSE that a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company will be held on January 18, 2016, inter alia, to consider a Proposal for declaring / recommending issue of Bonus Shares.

Mindtree gained 4% at Rs. 1581.55 from its previous closing of Rs. 1520.6 on the BSE. The company informed BSE that a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Company will be held on January 18, 2016, inter alia, to consider a Proposal for declaring / recommending issue of Bonus Shares. The company will be announcing its Q3 results on January 18, 2016.

The scrip opened at Rs. 1539.9 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 1594.2 and Rs. 1538.1 respectively. So far 327385(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 12755.4 crore.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 10 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 1605 on 24-Sep-2015 and a 52 week low of Rs. 1154.4 on 27-Apr-2015. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 1541.95 and Rs. 1380 respectively.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 13.76 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 44.58 % and 41.67 % respectively.

The stock is currently trading below its 50 DMA.

BSE IT drops 1%; US notifies increase in Visa fees

US notified massive increase in fees in certain categories of the popular H-1B and L-1 visas. The Visa fees hike is expected to hit Indian IT industry.

BSE IT index dropped 1% at 10487.36 after US notified massive increase in fees in certain categories of the popular H-1B and L-1 visas. The Visa fees hike is expected to hit Indian IT industry.

The top five IT companies stocks are likely to suffer due to the increase in US Visa fees. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) hit a 52-week low of Rs. 2258 on Wednesday while Infosys traded flat at Rs. 1054.50 on the BSE ahead of its Q3 results.

Wipro dropped 1.28% to Rs. 542 after previous close of Rs. 549. Tech Mahindra fell 1.16% at Rs. 500.55 while traded flat at Rs. 809.50 on the BSE.

TCS gains 1%; no progress in buying Dell's Perot Systems

Talks with Dell to buy its information technology management business Perot Systems have not met with success.

Tata Consultancy Services stock was up by 1% at Rs. 2447. Report says that the talks failed with Dell to buy the latter's information technology management business Perot Systems.

Tata Consultancy Services Ltd is currently trading at Rs. 2447, up by Rs. 13.65 or 0.56% from its previous closing of Rs. 2433.35 on the BSE.

The scrip opened at Rs. 2422 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 2449 and Rs. 2422 respectively. So far 259437(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 476620.26 crore.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 1 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 2810 on 04-Mar-2015 and a 52 week low of Rs. 2316.65 on 07-Dec-2015. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 2448 and Rs. 2400.5 respectively.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 73.86 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 21.62 % and 4.52 % respectively.

The stock is currently trading below its 200 DMA.

Wipro to acquire Viteos Group for $130 mn cash consideration

The IT services industry is moving to an 'as-a-Service' model, and the future of BPS is going to be BPaaS (Business Process as-a-Service). Our strategy is to invest in industry vertical platforms which will provide platform-based services to our clients in transaction/outcome-based pricing models, Shaji Farooq, said.

 Wipro Ltd, a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Viteos Group, a BPaaS provider for the Alternative Investment Management Industry for a purchase consideration of USO 130 million.

Wipro currently is one of the leading providers of Business Process Services (BPS) to some of the global investment banks. The company specializes in Platform-led Transformation and Utility­ based Offerings in Reconciliation, KYC, Settlements, Middle Office, Asset Servicing, Syndicated Loans and Reference Data Solutions, with coverage across asset classes. These credentials of Wipro are primarily on the Sell-Side and this acquisition will add similar capabilities on the Buy­ Side.

Viteos was founded in 2003 and is headquartered in Somerset, New Jersey. The Viteos Group provides customized straight-through-processing and integrates post-trade operations across every asset class, currency, border or structure for the alternative investment management industry in the United States, Europe and Asia. It is a leader in shadow-accounti ng services and offers a full range of middle and back-office outsourcing through its 400+ employees.

Viteos licenses its proprietary platform which offer transformation and integration of post-trade operations. This platform can be leveraged to launch solutions across other segments of Capital markets. These technology-based solutions will bring in non-linear and higher revenue realization. Viteos will retain its identity to leverage its brand in the Buy-Side and expand its offerings into the larger asset management industry with the backing of Wipro's size and presence. The management team at Viteos will continue with the business and drive the platform based outsourcing business services.

"The IT services industry is moving to an 'as-a-Service' model, and the future of BPS is going to be BPaaS (Business Process as-a-Service). Our strategy is to invest in industry vertical platforms which will provide platform-based services to our clients in transaction/outcome-based pricing models. Viteos will further our strategy in the Capital markets domain," said Shaji Farooq, President  &  Chief  Executive,  Finance Solutions, Wipro  Limited.

"We welcome Viteos employees to the Wipro Family. We are excited to join hands with Viteos and expand our Capital markets portfolio in fund accounting services and enhance our Business Process Services capabilities," said Nagendra Bandaru, Senior Vice President and Head - Business Process Services, Wipro Limited. He added,  "Viteos brings with it experienced leadership, domain expertise and unique BPaaS capability. We believe we will be able to leverage synergies to offer platform-based transformational services to our customers and continue to dominate the Capital markets outsourcing space."

"Our search for a global partner who gives Viteos exceptional market reach in expanding our presence while preserving the entrepreneurial characteristics of Viteos culminated with this acquisition by Wipro. We are excited to be part of a trusted global leader and the transaction is a further recognition of our value and validation of our commitment to deliver excellence through our investments in people, process and technology. It gives me immense pleasure in continuing to be part of a growth story that can reach even greater heights," said Shankar Iyer, CEO & founder  of Viteos  Group.

The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals and will be completed in the quarter ending March 31, 2016.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG selects TCS for IT application testing services

The deal is part of Lufthansa's IT-transformation initiative to accelerate speed to market, improve customer experience and enable innovation and continuous improvement.

Tata Consultancy Services has partnered Deutsche Lufthansa AG, a leading global aviation group, to provide testing services and help improve the quality of services of their technology operations.

The deal is part of Lufthansa's IT-transformation initiative to accelerate speed to market, improve customer experience and enable innovation and continuous improvement. TCS will pioneer and manage the enterprise testing services by setting up a test factory model across Lufthansa to stream line and standardize their testing processes, reduce CAPEX and implement next gen services.

TCS has emerged as a clear partner of choice for leading airlines looking to reinvent themselves and transform their technology landscape to a digital estate. In 2015, the company has been awarded the "Leading Vendor Award" for Quality Assurance and Testing Services at TESTA and has also been recognized as a Leader in the Assurance and Testing space by leading research firms such as Everest Group, HfS Research, NelsonHall and Ovum.

Roland Schutz, CIO Lufthansa German Airlines said that he has always maintained that Lufthansa's success has been built on collaboration and key strategic partnerships. "We have a history in collaborating with global market experts, such as Tata Consultancy Services. TCS' deep domain knowledge in the aviation business as well as their ability to demonstrate thought leadership had a significant impact on our decision to team up with them. We look forward to further enable our business through TCS' innovative and intelligent solutions ."

"Simplification of processes and systems is crucial ·to meet the changing demands of customers in today's digital age. The ability to assure new digital-ready applications early and efficiently enhances the ability of a business to transform itself quickly and render superior end-customer experience. We are very pleased that Lufthansa selected TCS as a strategic partner towards this important initiative, further strengthening our relationship with one of our most valuable clients. We have been investing significantly in expanding our operations and talent base in Germany, and will bring our best capabilities to bear on this engagement,” said Sapthagiri Chapalapalli, Director Central Europe, TCS.

TCS flat after hitting 52-week low on Monday; IDFC Bank goes operational with TCS BaNCS

TCS stock has been trading on a 52-week low since Friday last week. The top IT firm of the country hit a new low value of Rs. 2316.65 on Monday.

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) started flat on Tuesday. Meanwhile, the company announced that IDFC Bank has gone operational with TCS BaNCS for core banking services. IDFC Bank started operations on October 1, 2015, with 23 branches, powered by TCS BaNCS.

TCS stock has been trading on a 52-week low since Friday last week. The top IT firm of the country hit a new low value of Rs. 2316.65 on Monday.

The scrip opened at Rs. 2323 on Tuesday and has touched a high and low of Rs. 2329 and Rs. 2318 respectively. So far 55057(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 455221.47 crore.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 1 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 2810 on 04-Mar-2015. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 2378.4 and Rs. 2316.65 respectively.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 73.86 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 21.62 % and 4.52 % respectively.

The stock is currently trading above its 200 DMA.

IT companies' hiring may touch 2.75 lakh this year: NASSCOM

The growth in IT industry's revenues is largely due to adoption of ‘disruptive’ technologies in terms of automation and knowledge-based workforce coming into the sector, Reddy said.

Hiring by the Information Technology (IT) companies would be about 2.75 lakh during the current fiscal year, while the overall industry may grow by USD 20 billion, according to NASSCOM.

“Business will grow by 12 per cent to 13 per cent. We are confident about that, depending on where the dollar and Rupee would go. In terms of people, it (hiring) is 2,75,000," NASSCOM Chairman BVR Mohan Reddy said on Thursday on the sidelines of a programme organised by IIT-Hyderabad.

In June, Reddy had indicated that IT sector hiring this year would be about 2.3 lakh.

“But if you compare it with the previous years, we will probably add about USD 20 billion extra revenue this year. Last year, we only added about USD 16 billion”, he added.

Reddy said on Thursday that the growth in IT industry's revenues is largely due to adoption of ‘disruptive’ technologies in terms of automation and knowledge-based workforce coming into the sector.

NASSCOM recently said that the Indian IT services industry is on track to reach its goal of USD 225 billion in revenues by 2020 and further to touch revenues of USD 350 billion by 2025.

Wipro marginally up; to acquire Cellent AG

The company entered into an agreement with Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg (LBBW) to acquire Cellent AG, a leading IT Consulting and Software Services company in Germany for Euro 73.5 million.

Wipro climbed marginally at Rs. 579.00 after the company entered into an agreement with Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg (LBBW) to acquire Cellent AG, a leading IT Consulting and Software Services company in Germany for Euro 73.5 million.

The scrip opened at Rs. 587 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 587 and Rs. 577.35 respectively. So far 383624(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 142719.25 crore.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 2 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 676.9 on 11-Mar-2015 and a 52 week low of Rs. 512.55 on 24-Apr-2015. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 587 and Rs. 562 respectively.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 73.36 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 15.29 % and 9.38 % respectively.

The stock is currently trading below its 200 DMA.

Infosys partners Europe's largest technology accelerator Level 39

The partnership will allow the Bengaluru-based firm to get involved with finance, cyber-securities, retail and smart cities technology startups.

A day after COO Pravin Rao’s announced the company's target of signing large deals per quarter, India's second largest IT firm, Infosys has, reportedly, partnered Europe's largest technology accelerator, Level 39.

The partnership will allow the Bengaluru-based firm to get involved with finance, cyber-securities, retail and smart cities technology startups.

Established by Canary Wharf Group, Level 39, is located on the 39th floor of the One Canada Square building in London. The technology accelerator house more than 100 startups. As per reports, Level 39 hosts technology, media and telecommunication companies including Citihub, Ricoh and Oracle Financial Services.

On partnering with Level 39, Infosys has also become a member of Innovate Finance, an industry association for the global fintech sector in the UK. 

Tech Mahindra stock down ahead of Q2 results

The IT Company is scheduled to announce its September quarter earnings today.

Shares of Tech Mahindra were trading lower 0.17% at Rs.554.60 on BSE. The IT Company is scheduled to announce its September quarter earnings today.

Tech Mahindra is expected to deliver healthy cc dollar revenue growth of 3.5‐4% qoq, IIFL says. Q2 FY16 would be a much better quarter with abatement of the seasonal issues faced in the previous quarter.

The scrip opened at Rs. 560 and has touched a high and low of Rs. 562.85 and Rs. 549.1 respectively. So far 541053(NSE+BSE) shares were traded on the counter. The current market cap of the company is Rs. 53676.87 crore.

The BSE group 'A' stock of face value Rs. 5 has touched a 52 week high of Rs. 749.5 on 02-Feb-2015 and a 52 week low of Rs. 458.7 on 06-Jul-2015. Last one week high and low of the scrip stood at Rs. 557 and Rs. 533.6 respectively.

The promoters holding in the company stood at 36.65 % while Institutions and Non-Institutions held 49.08 % and 14.27 % respectively.

The stock is currently trading below its 200 DMA.