INFY

March 31 (Reuters) - Infosys Ltd INFY.NS:

• INFOSYS - EXPECTS CUMULATIVE TAX REFUND OF 17.45 BILLION RUPEES INCLUDING INTEREST

Source text: ID:nNSEc3vV50

Further company coverage: INFY.NS

((Reuters.Briefs@thomsonreuters.com;))

Adds HSBC, Meta March, Danske Bank, Atlassian

March 19 (Reuters) - Investors' and economists' concerns that artificial intelligence will upend established industries are deepening, with job losses already emerging in sectors most exposed to automation.

Goldman Sachs economists warned in February that AI was responsible for 5,000 to 10,000 monthly net job losses last year in the most exposed U.S. industries.

A survey by global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas linked AI to 7% of total U.S. planned layoffs announced in January.

Below is a table of AI-linked global layoffs announced since October from biggest to smallest. Entries with no specified number are placed at the bottom.

(Reporting by Romolo Tosiani, Philippe Leroy Beaulieu in Gdansk; Editing by Matt Scuffham and Milla Nissi-Prussak)

((Romolo.Tosiani@tr.com;))

March 10 (Reuters) - Infosys Ltd INFY.NS:

• INCORA AND INFOSYS COLLABORATE

• COLLABORATION FOR AI-ENABLED SUPPLY CHAIN OPERATIONS

Source text: ID:nBSE17X3DC

Further company coverage: INFY.NS

((Reuters.Briefs@thomsonreuters.com;;))

By Bharath Rajeswaran

March 6 (Reuters) - Foreign outflows from India's information technology stocks hit a seven-month high in February, on worries that artificial intelligence-led disruption could squeeze earnings.

Foreign portfolio investors sold IT stocks worth 169.49 billion rupees ($1.85 billion) for the month. That triggered a 19.5% drop in the IT index .NIFTYIT, its worst monthly performance since September 2008, when the global financial crisis upended equity markets, National Securities Depository (NSDL) data showed on Friday.

The 10 constituents of the index lost about $62.8 billion in market capitalisation in February after U.S. firms such as Anthropic and Palantir unveiled key updates in AI automation. Last year, FPIs offloaded a record 750 billion rupees ($8.18 billion) of IT stocks on weaker earnings and softer client spending.

"The IT sector is facing multiple headwinds, particularly from the rapid advancement of AI tools," said Piyush Gupta, fund manager at AlphaGrep Investment Management.

Constructive collaborations between Indian IT firms and global AI leaders, such as the strategic partnership between Infosys and Anthropic, and improvement in earnings in the sector will be crucial to restore FPI interest in the sector, according to three analysts.

Yet, February was not a one-way risk-off story. FPIs rotated aggressively into other pockets of the market, lifting overall inflows to 226.15 billion rupees, the highest in 17 months since September 2024.

The rebound in broader foreign appetite was fueled by improving corporate earnings and easing trade tensions after India sealed a key trade deal with the European Union and an interim framework for an agreement with the U.S.

Sectors such as capital goods, financials, metals, and energy drew strong foreign buying, supported by improving earnings despite a one-time hit from new labour codes.

AlphaGrep's Gupta said that while sturdier earnings and trade progress help the long game, the FPI comeback is likely to be gradual, highly sensitive to geopolitics and external shocks.

That fragility is already showing.

FPIs net sold 175.70 billion rupees of shares in just four sessions in March as the escalating U.S.-Israeli war with Iran spiked oil prices and squeezed global risk appetite.

($1 = 91.6750 indian rupees)

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair)

((bharath.rajeswaran@thomsonreuters.com; +91 9769003463;))

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.

By Una Galani

HONG KONG, March 4 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Is the global selloff in enterprise software and services stocks an overreaction? Maybe not in India. New tools released by Anthropic point towards increasing automation of work that "once required armies of consultants spending years mapping workflows", according to the owner of Claude large language models. The stakes are higher for the world's fourth-largest economy, where a reduction of IT services exports by Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS, Infosys INFY.NS, Wipro WIPR.NS and others or a cut in the size of foreign firms' global capability centres could upend the macroeconomic stability the country has enjoyed.

Providing services to global companies including JPMorgan JPM.N, Goldman Sachs GS.N and Exxon Mobil XOM.N created massive wealth, spurred the rise of major cities like Hyderabad and Bengaluru and created a wall of money that has propelled the stock market, property prices and well-heeled Indians' spending power. Moreover, it also generates foreign exchange earnings that help slow the depreciation of the Indian rupee, which, in turn, keeps a check on imported inflation for the energy-hungry country.

An analysis of Reserve Bank of India data by Samiran Chakraborty, an economist at Citigroup, is sobering. It concludes growth in India's exports of software and other services has, in the recent past, more than offset the widening trade deficit in goods. With further support from remittances of Indians overseas, the current account deficit fell to 0.7% of GDP in the fiscal year to the end of March 2025.

In a scenario of no growth in software exports in fiscal year 2027, Chakraborty estimates most of India's projected surplus in services, roughly $20 billion, would be wiped out. That would weigh on an already weak rupee: in 2025, it declined 5% against the U.S. dollar and was the worst-performing major currency in Asia.

True, India's software services exports have grown 9.5% annually over the past decade – three times the rate of its goods exports – and Citi forecasts 8% for the year to March 2027. What's more, IT firms typically have contracts that last between three to seven years, and so AI disruption – in this case, clients renegotiating terms – ought to be gradual.

But there is widespread fear that automation tools like those from Anthropic could hollow out these industries faster. This fear is reflected in the 20% drop in India's benchmark Nifty IT index since the start of the year. Several executives at top global firms have also told Breakingviews they expect to have fewer people working in their India-based global capability centres in the coming years. Given India's heavy reliance on services in its external accounts, the software apocalypse spells trouble for returns on all rupee-denominated assets. That justifies selling the rumour and buying the fact.

Follow Una Galani on Linkedin and X.

CONTEXT NEWS

India’s Nifty IT Index has fallen 20% so far this year. The Indian rupee has declined 1.3% against the U.S. dollar over the same period.

(Editing by Robyn Mak; Production by Ujjaini Dutta)

((For previous columns by the author, Reuters customers can click on GALANI/ una.galani@thomsonreuters.com))

Corrects attribution of survey in paragraph 3 to Challenger, Gray & Christmas not Goldman Sachs

Feb 27 (Reuters) - Investors' and economists' concerns that artificial intelligence will upend established industries are deepening, as Goldman Sachs warned in February that accelerating AI adoption could push U.S. unemployment higher this year, with job losses already emerging in sectors most exposed to automation.

Goldman economists estimated in February that the technology was responsible for 5,000 to 10,000 monthly net job losses last year in the most exposed U.S. industries.

A survey by global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas linked AI to 7% of total U.S. planned layoffs announced in January .

Below is a table of AI-linked global layoffs announced since October from biggest to smallest. Entries with no specified number are placed at the bottom.

(Reporting by Romolo Tosiani, Philippe Leroy Beaulieu in Gdansk; Editing by Matt Scuffham and Milla Nissi-Prussak)

((Romolo.Tosiani@tr.com;))

Updates to add details on IT weightage in paragraph 3 and total FPI inflows in first half of February in paragraph 13

By Bharath Rajeswaran

Feb 25 (Reuters) - Indian shares have lagged their Asian and emerging market peers so far in February, pressured by a $68.6 billion rout in the market value of information technology stocks, as investors fretted over disruptions linked to artificial intelligence.

The Nifty 50 index .NSEI has risen 0.4% so far this month, while the Sensex .BSESN edged 0.1% lower, underperforming both the MSCI Asia ex-Japan and MSCI Emerging Markets indexes.

The pressure on the benchmark indexes has largely come from IT stocks, which carry roughly an 11% weightage in the blue-chip index, the second-highest sectoral weight.

The 10 Nifty IT constituents .NIFTYIT have lost a combined $68.6 billion in market capitalisation in February, as of the last close, with the index down 21% and on course for its worst monthly performance in nearly 23 years.

All 10 index members have fallen between 16.8% and 27% in February to date. Coforge COFO.NS is the steepest percentage decliner, down 26.8%, while Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS and Infosys INFY.NS have led the value erosion, losing about $21.9 billion and $16.3 billion in market value, respectively.

The selloff reflects growing concerns that rapidly advancing automation tools could compress project timelines and disrupt the labour-intensive delivery model underpinning India's roughly $300-billion IT services industry.

Investors have zeroed in on the AI-driven automation push from U.S. firms such as Anthropic and Palantir, heightening concerns over faster project execution, pricing pressure and reduced billable hours.

Brokerages warn the Indian IT sector could face further pressure if AI starts to eat into application services revenue, which typically accounts for 40% to 70% of total revenue for these companies.

"There are no easy answers to whether AI eventually renders IT services obsolete over the long term," said analysts led by Abhishek Pathak of Motilal Oswal.

"The narrative that AI is coming for not just IT but large swathes of the economy could be too strong to shake, at least in the short term," Motilal Oswal analysts said.

A slowdown or contraction in India's IT sector, whether through layoffs or reduced hiring, can have immediate consequences on both residential and commercial real estate demand. The Nifty Realty index .NIFTYREAL has risen roughly 2% in February, following a nearly 18% decline over the past three months.

Concerns over Indian IT companies have also accelerated foreign selling in the sector in 2026 so far.

While FPIs have turned buyers of Indian stocks in February on an overall basis, with inflows of 196.75 billion rupees, they pulled out about 110 billion rupees ($1.21 billion) from IT stocks in the first half of February, following a record 750 billion rupees of net selling in 2025.

($1 = 90.8980 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)

((bharath.rajeswaran@thomsonreuters.com; +91 9769003463;))

Feb 24 (Reuters) - Infosys Ltd INFY.NS:

• CSX MODERNIZES DATA PLATFORM WITH INFOSYS & MICROSOFT

Source text: ID:nBSEbXTlhX

Further company coverage: INFY.NS

((Reuters.Briefs@thomsonreuters.com;;))

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are his own.

By Shritama Bose and Ujjaini Dutta

NEW DELHI, Feb 23 (Reuters Breakingviews) - The dissonance surrounding India's artificial intelligence dreams came alive at the AI Impact Summit. The five-day confab in New Delhi last week hosted global A-listers from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to Alphabet's GOOGL.O Sundar Pichai and attracted investment pledges of over $250 billion, including from Reliance Industries RELI.NS and the Adani Group. But the euphoria barely concealed the country's simmering anxieties around the fast-moving technology.

The 500,000 visitors at the shindig focusing on "bridging the global AI divide" included delegates from 118 countries and swarms of college students attending sessions on everything from the creator economy to AI in agriculture and defence. On Saturday, 88 nations and international groupings endorsed the Delhi Declaration, which commits to democratising AI resources.

Yet even as crowds during the week cheered India’s homegrown government-backed answer to OpenAI and DeepSeek, Sarvam AI’s demonstrations of its "extremely frugal" large language models for Indic languages underscored the steep challenge facing most countries seeking to preserve AI sovereignty. Without powerful domestic alternatives, attendees warned, India risks becoming a digital colony of the United States and China.

Also lacking was substantial discussion on job losses from AI. India already struggles to create the 8 million roles it needs each year to absorb new entrants into the workforce. Its vast IT software services industry and role as the world's back office places it at the sharp end of disruption. V Anantha Nageswaran, India's chief economic advisor, at least hinted at the scale of the looming challenge, calling it "a stress test of our state capacity" - a remark that resonates in a country known for weak policy implementation.

The summit also failed to build consensus on who should shoulder the gargantuan task of reskilling a workforce whose future already fuels frequent primetime television debates. Prime Minister Narendra Modi said reskilling must become a mass movement. In private, executives cast it as the government’s problem. Past precedent suggests India Inc will ultimately be forced to share the burden.

The lack of urgency perhaps stems from knowledge that multi-year contracts with global firms will buy outsourcers like Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS, among India's largest employers, a few years to adapt. In time AI might create more jobs than it destroys, as Reliance's Chair Mukesh Ambani vowed to prove. But that's cold comfort for the swelling ranks of Indian workers caught up in the churn. For now, India has missed a chance to set the agenda for the Global South on this important topic. Hubris was poor cover.

Follow Shritama Bose on LinkedIn and X.

Follow Ujjaini Dutta on LinkedIn and X.

CONTEXT NEWS

The AI Impact Summit 2026 was held at New Delhi from February 16 to 20. The summit attracted 500,000 visitors, 20 heads of government and delegates from 118 countries, India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said on February 20.

(Editing by Una Galani; Production by Aditya Srivastav)

((For previous columns by the authors, Reuters customers can click on BOSE/ shritama.bose@thomsonreuters.com and DUTTA/ ujjaini.dutta@thomsonreuters.com))

** Indian IT stocks .NIFTYIT rise as much as 1.5%

** Industry leaders Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS and Infosys INFY.NS jump as much as 1.4% and 1.8%, respectively

** IT stocks currently up 0.7%, leading sectoral gains

** INFY on Tuesday said AI services could be a $300 billion-$400 billion market by 2030

** TCS' data centre unit signed up Microsoft MSFT.O-backed OpenAI as its first customer

** TD Cowen, which tracks INFY's ("Hold") U.S.-listed shares INFY.N, said in a note on Wednesday that co's AI-day earlier this week showed that it is "more friend than foe"

** Says INFY's projected revenue potential for the sector is bigger than previous digital and cloud cycles - TD Cowen

** However, says details lack concrete numbers, which would result in industry-wide fears persisting

** Cuts PT to $16 from $18, citing pressure in the software and services sector

** Analysts tracking INFY rate it "buy" on average, same as five other stocks on 10-member Nifty IT index - data compiled by LSEG

** INFY is down 14% this year, while IT index is down 13%

(Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru)

((Nandan.Mandayam@thomsonreuters.com; Mobile: +91 9591011727;))

Feb 17 (Reuters) - NVIDIA Corp NVDA.O:

• NVIDIA: TECH MAHINDRA DEPLOYING LARGE TELCO MODEL TO POWER AUTONOMOUS NETWORK OPERATIONS USING NVIDIA NIM

• NVIDIA: PERSISTENT ACCELERATES AI‑DRIVEN MOLECULAR DISCOVERY WITH NVIDIA BIONEMO AND NEMO AGENT TOOLKIT

• NVIDIA: INFOSYS BUILDS AN ENTERPRISE-GRADE CODING SMALL LANGUAGE MODEL WITH NVIDIA AI ENTERPRISE

• NVIDIA: RELIANCE NEW ENERGY EXPANDS COLLABORATION WITH CO & SIEMENS BY COMBINING SIEMENS’ DIGITAL TWIN TECHNOLOGY WITH CO'S OMNIVERSE LIBRARIES

• NVIDIA: COLLABORATING WITH NEXT‑GENERATION CLOUD PROVIDERS YOTTA, L&T AND E2E NETWORKS

• NVIDIA: DEVELOPERS BUILDING SOVEREIGN AI SYSTEMS CAN ACCESS NVIDIA NEMOTRON & NEMO TODAY

• NVIDIA: TATA CONSULTING ENGINEERS LAUNCHES COGNITIVE TWIN PLATFORM, BUILT ON NVIDIA OMNIVERSE

• NVIDIA: TO OFFER ANUSANDHAN NATIONAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION GRANTEE INSTITUTIONS COMPLIMENTARY ACCESS TO NVIDIA AI ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE

• NVIDIA: PARTNERING WITH VENTURE CAPITAL FIRMS INCLUDING PEAK XV, ELEVATION CAPITAL, ACCEL INDIA & OTHERS TO IDENTIFY & FUND AI STARTUPS

Source text: [ID:]

Further company coverage: NVDA.O

((Reuters.Briefs@thomsonreuters.com;))

** India's stock benchmarks Nifty 50 .NSEI and Sensex .BSESN rise about 0.3% each, led by IT stocks after Infosys INFY.NS announces a collaboration with AI-firm Anthropic

** Both benchmarks fell around 0.4% in early trade, before reversing gains

** IT index .NIFTYIT rises 2.7%, topping sectoral gains; all 10 constituents advance

** INFY gains 4.7% after the country's No. 2 software services exporter says it will collaborate with Anthropic to develop enterprise AI solutions for its clients across various sub-segments

** Rise in IT stocks overpowers a pullback in index heavyweight Reliance RELI.NS, which is down about 1% and the metal index .NIFTYMET which has shed 1.2% on the day on a firmer dollar

** Nine of the 16 major sectors advance; the broader small-caps .NIFSMCP100 and mid-caps .NIFMDCP100 gain 0.4% and 0.2%, respectively

** Among stocks, Cochin Shipyard COCH.NS climbs 4.3% after emerging as the lowest bidder for a 50-billion-rupee order from the Ministry of Defence

** Texmaco Rail TEXA.NS gains 5.6% after securing an order worth 609.5 million rupees from Mumbai Railway Vikas Corp for signalling equipment and gears for a proposed railway line in Mumbai Suburban

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru)

((bharath.rajeswaran@thomsonreuters.com; +91 9769003463;))

Feb 13 (Reuters) - Shares of India's software exporters fell 4.6% on Friday, dragged by a global tech sell-off, putting the stocks on track for their worst week since March 2020.

The Nifty IT index .NIFTYIT was the worst-performing sector on the day and remains the weakest so far this year, after sliding 12.6% in 2025 and a further 16.8% in 2026.

Indian IT stocks have been under pressure over the last few weeks amid fears of an AI-led disruption to the sector.

(Reporting by Nandan Mandayam in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)

((Nandan.Mandayam@thomsonreuters.com; Mobile: +91 9591011727;))

Feb 12 (Reuters) - Infosys Ltd INFY.NS:

• INFOSYS - INFOSYS COLLABORATES WITH EXXONMOBIL TO ADVANCE IMMERSION COOLING FOR SUSTAINABLE AI INFRASTRUCTURE

Further company coverage: INFY.NS

((Reuters.Briefs@thomsonreuters.com;))

India File is published every Tuesday. Think your friend or colleague should know about us? Forward this newsletter to them. They can also subscribe here.

Feb 10 - By Nidhi C Sai, Editor Online Production, with global Reuters staff

A global selloff in software stocks sparked by rapid advances in artificial intelligence has rippled to India's shores.

For its $283 billion IT industry built on labour-intensive outsourcing, the ramifications could be substantial. Is this just a bout of AI anxiety that will pass or does the industry need to evolve structurally? That's our focus this week.

Plus, India has scrapped proposed concessions for small cars in upcoming fuel-emissions rules to level the playing field. Scroll down for more on that.

THIS WEEK IN ASIA

China critic Jimmy Lai sentenced to 20 years in jail after landmark Hong Kong trial

As Japan's Takaichi creates election history, only markets stand in her way

China set to widen footprint in Bangladesh as India's ties decline

Thai PM Anutin's poll win calms turmoil but hard economic test awaits

Bangladesh votes in world's first Gen Z-inspired election

A 30-YEAR LEGACY UNDER PRESSURE

Indian IT stocks are facing a moment of reckoning. The launch of plug-ins for Anthropic's Claude Cowork agent, designed to automate tasks across legal, sales, marketing and data analysis, has rattled investors and triggered a sharp selloff last week in what has long been one of India's most reliable growth engines.

Indian software exporters lost $22.5 billion in market value last week, with the Nifty IT index .NIFTYIT falling about 7%, marking its steepest weekly fall in more than four months. The rout mirrored a brutal global selloff. Roughly $800 billion was wiped off the S&P 500 software and services index .SPLRCIS before a rebound, its worst performance against the broader market in 25 years, according to SocGen.

Some analysts warn that the IT sector, the flagship for India's exports since the 1990s, could be vulnerable to rapid advances in AI.

"The market fears (the AI tools) may replace IT services that are currently outsourced. What the real impact will be remains to be seen," said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Investments.

Jefferies struck a darker tone. "There is more pain ahead for Indian IT," it said, adding that Anthropic's and Palantir's PLTR.O claims highlight how AI could potentially erode application-service revenues. "With application services accounting for 40%–70% of revenues, firms face growth pressures, and consensus growth estimates do not fully reflect this, posing downside risks to valuations," Jefferies said.

Brokerage Motilal Oswal estimates that 9%-12% of industry revenues could be eliminated over the next four years due to AI-led disruption.

The timing is particularly relevant. India's IT industry is otherwise benefiting from geopolitical tailwinds, with trade deals struck with the United States and the European Union expected to support cross-border services exports and reinforce India's position as a trusted technology partner.

But those policy positives offer little insulation from technological shock. While trade deals can help expand the volume of outsourced work, AI-led automation threatens to compress project timelines and reduce billable hours, striking at the labour-intensive model that has underpinned India's IT boom for decades.

PANIC OR EARLY WARNING?

Not everyone feels this is an existential threat. Some analysts see a classic case of markets running ahead of fundamentals.

Centrum Broking's Piyush Pandey called the selloff a “knee-jerk” reaction. "AI tools have been in the works, and this is how the industry is now shaping up. However, they are not expected to materially disrupt the industry as of now," he said.

JPMorgan said it was "illogical to extrapolate the launch of some tools to an expectation that companies will replace every layer of mission-critical enterprise software," while Kotak Institutional Equities described the decline as "plenty of panic over a little flutter".

That view is echoed at the very top of the AI value chain. Nvidia NVDA.O CEO Jensen Huang dismissed fears that AI will replace software as "the most illogical thing in the world". "If you were a human or robot… would you use tools or reinvent tools? The answer, obviously, is to use tools," he said.

Still, others remain cautious. "Surely, there would be other tools in the making… we don't foresee the glory days of the IT sector… returning soon," CapGrow Capital's Arun Malhotra said.

It is not that India's IT behemoths - TCS TCS.NS, Infosys INFY.NS and Wipro WIPR.NS - are sitting quietly. Infosys is forming new AI-led partnerships, TCS is embedding AI more deeply into its services, and Wipro is saying AI now underpins many of the deals it is chasing globally.

But can they adapt fast enough, or is AI rewriting the rules of outsourcing? Write to me at nidhi.csai@thomsonreuters.com.

MARKET MATTERS

The U.S.–India trade deal has lifted the cloud over an unloved Indian rupee and may be enough to pause relentless foreign selling in stocks. But investors say a durable turnaround will require a rebound in earnings growth and stronger fundamentals.

The long-awaited agreement, announced first by President Donald Trump last week, sparked a market rally and the rupee's best gain in seven years, signalling improving diplomatic and trade ties with Washington.

Read this analysis on how India's markets are getting tariff relief but are not a buy yet, by Reuters journalists Jaspreet Kalra, Ankur Banerjee and Karin Strohecker.

Read more on how the India-U.S. trade deal is giving tariff-free access to Harley bikes, but no reprieve for Tesla TSLA.O.

THIS WEEK'S MUST READ

India has dropped a proposed fuel-efficiency concession for small cars after rival automakers argued it would disproportionately benefit market leader Maruti Suzuki MRTI.NS.

The revised draft tightens emissions rules across the board, removes weight-based leniency and introduces a steeper reduction pathway, increasing pressure on all car makers to accelerate electric and hybrid vehicle sales.

Read this exclusive report by Reuters journalist Aditi Shah.

(Reporting by Nidhi C Sai; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)

((Nidhi.CSai@thomsonreuters.com; +91 70456 55251))

Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of markets brought to you by Reuters reporters. You can share your thoughts with us at markets.research@thomsonreuters.com

AI LEARNS THE LAW, MARKETS LEARN TO WORRY

Anthropic's new legal tool for Claude AI not only rattled AI-bubble nerves but also cast a shadow over global economies heavily reliant on the export of telecommunications, computer, and information services (ICT), according to Standard Chartered.

For Ireland and India - economies particularly exposed to potential software export slowdown, even a 10% reduction in exports could lower their GDP growth by 1 percentage point each, Standard Chartered said in a note.

"Even a smaller share of the workforce in impacted sectors would translate into significant absolute layoffs for the more populous EM economies like India (where about 5.5 million people are employed in the ICT sector)," said Madhur Jha, global economist and head of thematic research at Standard Chartered.

Top software exporters Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS, Infosys INFY.NS, HCLTech HCLT.NS, and Tech Mahindra TEML.NS lost between 5.8% and 8.1% last week at the peak of the selloff.

U.S. AI developer Anthropic launched plug-ins for its Claude Cowork agent that would automate tasks across legal, sales, marketing and data analysis.

The launch revived fears that increasingly capable AI tools could dent demand for traditional software, compress margins and cost jobs, triggering a deep selloff in global software stocks.

The S&P 500 software and services index .SPLRCIS has fallen 7.5% as of last week and has seen around $1 trillion in market value evaporate since January 28.

(Kanchana Chakravarty)

*****

EARLIER ON LIVE MARKETS:

S&P 500 BACK WITHIN STRIKING DISTANCE OF HIGHS, 7,000 MILESTONE CLICK HERE

POLICY UNCERTAINTY NOT CONFINED TO THE DOLLAR CLICK HERE

AI DIVERGENCE ACCELERATES IN EUROPE, SPOTLIGHT ON SECTOR WINNERS CLICK HERE

U.S. INVESTORS ARE LOOKING BEYOND WALL STREET CLICK HERE

CITI FLAGS CONSOLIDATION RISK AS DISPERSION SURGES CLICK HERE

STOXX EYES FRESH RECORD, M&A MOMENTUM PROVIDES LIFT CLICK HERE

EUROPE BEFORE THE BELL: FUTURES CATCH ASIA RALLY CLICK HERE

JAPAN MARKETS WELCOME CHANCE OF A LONG-STAY PM CLICK HERE

Recasts throughout; adds analyst and fund manager comments

By Kashish Tandon and Vivek Kumar M

BENGALURU, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Indian software exporters plunged another 2% on Friday and looked set to end a tumultuous week that has seen $22.5 billion in market value losses on growing fears that new AI tools could severely disrupt the country's IT outsourcing industry.

The selloff was part of a global rout in software and data services stocks, triggered by the launch of an AI tool from Anthropic that automates tasks across legal, sales, marketing and data analysis functions.

The IT index .NIFTYIT was the worst-performing sector on the day and was down about 7% for the week - its steepest weekly drop in more than four months.

Analysts said fast-advancing AI tools could upend India's $283‑billion IT sector, which is heavily reliant on a labour‑intensive delivery model.

"The market fears (the AI tools) may replace IT services that are currently outsourced. What the real impact will be remains to be seen," said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Investments.

The selloff comes as some IT firms have said they are gaining from clients showing more willingness to fund AI projects despite being careful about discretionary spending amid global economic uncertainty.

Top IT firms TCS TCS.NS, Infosys INFY.NS and Wipro WIPR.NS have secured AI-led deals and are rolling out domain-specific platforms across verticals such as BFSI and healthcare as clients accelerate adoption.

Still, the IT index has now shed nearly 18% since the start of 2025, including Wednesday's selloff, when it logged its biggest single‑day fall in six years. Foreign investors sold a record $8.5 billion worth of Indian IT stocks in 2025.

KNEE-JERK REACTION, SAY SOME ANALYSTS

Industry watchers were divided on their assessment of the situation.

Centrum Broking's Piyush Pandey called the selloff a "knee‑jerk" reaction.

"AI tools have been in the works and this is how the industry is now shaping up. However, they are not expected to materially disrupt the industry as of now," he said.

Others said the sector should brace for more pain down the road.

"Surely, there would be other tools in the making that will automate tasks and increase the competitive intensity in the IT industry," said Arun Malhotra, fund manager at CapGrow Capital.

Companies will likely take measures to address these challenges, including acquisitions, he added, but "we don't foresee the glory days of the IT sector, that has been missing for the last couple of years, returning soon."

All 10 constituents of the IT sub-index traded lower on Friday. Coforge COFO.NS was down 3.4%, while TCS and Infosys INFY.NS slipped nearly 2.1% and 1.4%, respectively.

The benchmark Nifty 50 .NSEI was down 0.3%.

($1 = 90.2350 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Kashish Tandon and Vivek Kumar M in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Skariachan, Mrigank Dhaniwala and Sonia Cheema)

((Kashish.Tandon@thomsonreuters.com; 8800437922;))

Updates levels, adds graphic after paragraph 11

Feb 5 (Reuters) - Rapid advances in artificial intelligence, triggered in part by Anthropic's latest automation push, could structurally erode the IT sector's high-margin application services revenues, creating downside risks to earnings and valuations, analysts warn.

Shares in India's software exporters .NIFTYIT settled 0.6% lower on Thursday, a day after plunging 6% in their worst session for nearly six years, as AI-driven automation from U.S.-based Anthropic and Palantir fuelled fears of compressed project timelines and disruption to the industry's labour-intensive business model.

The weakness has echoed across global IT stocks this week, extending a broader selloff in companies seen as most exposed to potential AI disruption.

"There is more pain ahead for Indian IT," Jefferies said, adding that Anthropic's and Palantir's claims highlight how AI could potentially erode application service revenues for IT firms.

"With application services accounting for 40–70% of revenues, firms face growth pressures, and consensus growth estimates do not fully reflect this, posing downside risks to valuations."

DISRUPTION

Indian IT firms have been ramping up AI investments and re-skilling efforts, even as weak global tech spending, delayed client decision-making and pricing pressure have weighed on the sector. Foreign investors offloaded a record $8.5 billion worth of Indian IT stocks in 2025.

However, some analysts said the sharp selloff may be overdone.

JPMorgan said that while concerns around AI disruption were not without merit, it was illogical to extrapolate the launch of some tools to an expectation that companies will replace every layer of mission-critical enterprise software.

Domestic brokerage Kotak Institutional Equities described the decline as a case of "plenty of panic over a little flutter".

Among large IT firms, Tata Consultancy Services TCS.NS, Tech Mahindra TEML.NS and LTIMindtree LTIM.NS have higher exposure to application services, which account for about 55%–60% of revenues, while HCL Tech HCLT.NS has the lowest exposure at around 40%.

Their stocks fell between 4% and 7% % on Wednesday, and extended losses on Thursday.

Brokerage Motilal Oswal estimates that 9%-12% of industry revenues could be eliminated over the next four years due to AI-led disruption.

Jefferies expects AI to weigh on IT-sector revenue growth over the next one to two years, arguing that deflation in legacy service-line revenues will more than offset gains from AI-related opportunities.

The IT sub-index has lost 17% since the start of 2025, including Wednesday's selloff, and is on track for its worst week in over four months.

(Reporting by Kashish Tandon and Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Writing by Chandini Monnappa; Editing by Mark Potter and Louise Heavens)

((Kashish.Tandon@thomsonreuters.com; 8800437922;))

Feb 4 (Reuters) - Shares of Indian IT exporters .NIFTYIT slumped 6% on Wednesday, tracking losses in global software stocks, after AI developer Anthropic launched new tools that heightened concerns over AI-driven disruption in the data and professional services industry.

Anthropic launched plug-ins for its Claude Cowork agent on Friday that would automate tasks across legal, sales, marketing and data analysis, triggering a significant selloff among U.S. and European data analytics, professional services and software companies.

The Indian IT sub-index joined the rout on Wednesday and was set for its worst day since May 2022. All 10 of its constituents were in losses, led by a 7% drop in software services exporter Persistent Systems PERS.NS.

Heavyweights TCS TCS.NS and Infosys INFY.NS were down 5.2% and 5.8%, respectively, while Wipro WIPR.NS fell nearly 4%.

(Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee)

((Kashish.Tandon@thomsonreuters.com; 8800437922;))

Feb 3 (Reuters) - Infosys Ltd INFY.NS:

• INFOSYS - INFOSYS COLLABORATES WITH CITIZENS ON AI-FIRST INNOVATION HUB

Source text: ID:nBSE1CknJg

Further company coverage: INFY.NS

((Reuters.Briefs@thomsonreuters.com;))

Adds segment details in paragraph 7 and background in paragraph 9

Jan 29 (Reuters) - Indian consumer goods conglomerate ITC ITC.NS reported a 10% fall in quarterly profit on Thursday, hurt by higher raw material costs and a one-time charge tied to the country's new labour codes.

The company, which also sells instant noodles and other food products, said its standalone quarterly profit fell to 50.89 billion rupees ($553.68 million) for the quarter ended December 31, from 56.38 billion rupees a year ago.

The company took a one-time charge of 2.74 billion rupees tied to the country's new labour codes.

India's new labour codes — the country's biggest overhaul of workers' laws in decades — have dragged profits of corporate firms across sectors, from Godrej Consumer Products GOCP.NS and Mahindra Holidays and Resorts India MAHH.NS to Wipro WIPR.NS and Infosys INFY.NS.

ITC's total expenses, too, rose 5% to 134.72 billion rupees due in part to higher prices of raw materials including edible oil, wheat and leaf tobacco.

Leaf tobacco prices have climbed in recent quarters at a time when export demand has picked up, weighing on ITC's profitability even as cigarette volumes have held up for India's market leader.

Revenue from the cigarettes business, ITC's largest segment, grew 8% in the third quarter. The company's consumer goods segment, which houses popular household brands such as Aashirvaad flour, Sunfeast biscuits and Yippee noodles, grew 11%.

Overall revenue rose 6% to 193.59 billion rupees.

However, ITC faces further pressure as India has imposed excise duty on cigarettes in addition to a 40% goods and services tax in a move that could increase prices of cigarettes for an estimated 100 million smokers in the country.

"Such a steep increase will provide further impetus to illicit trade," ITC said in a statement.

($1 = 91.9130 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Komal Salecha in Bengaluru and Praveen Paramasivam in Chennai; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Shailesh Kuber)

((Komal@thomsonreuters.com;))