Another quarter, another AI sermon from Indian IT. Yet, as Wipro, TCS, and HCLTech continue championing their GenAI ambitions, with Infosys set to announce the same next week, the gap between grand narratives and actual numbers is only widening.
The big question is now whether Indian IT can ever catch up to AI before it’s too late. It has been two years of stagnant—in some cases sharply declining—revenues.
Wipro, to its credit, has shown signs of movement. The company doubled its large deal bookings to $2.7 billion in Q1 FY26, a 131% YoY jump. CEO Srini Pallia said the company is seeing a “clear shift towards AI investments”, claiming that AI is now central to client strategies. “AI is no longer just a niche,” he said during the earnings call.
Moreover, it helps that Wipro has built more than 200 enterprise AI agents, and the executive chairman, Rishad Premji, confirmed during the annual general meeting that the company is now transitioning from AI-augmented workflows to fully autonomous systems.
However, even this AI-heavy quarter couldn’t shield Wipro from weak topline performance. Revenues fell 2.3% YoY in constant currency. Sequentially, revenue declined 1.6% and net profit dropped by nearly 7%. The company’s Q2 guidance is equally soft, with sequential growth between -1% and +1%.
More Slides Than Substance
TCS, meanwhile, had a forgettable quarter. Revenues grew just 1.3% YoY, and fell 3.1% in constant currency. The total contract value (TCV) dropped from $12.2 billion to $9.4 billion. There was no sign of AI-led wins—only vague assurances about “scaling AI” and launching branded platforms like ‘DigiBOLT’.
Four quarters ago, TCS claimed a $1.5 billion GenAI pipeline. Now, that number has disappeared. COO Aarthi Subramanian insisted that “AI revenues have grown” and that agentic AI comes up in every discussion. Yet, there’s still no number to back it up.
What’s more concerning is the sharp drop in software and equipment expenses—from ₹2,748 crore last quarter to just ₹726 crore in Q1. That points to either aggressive internal AI automation or, more worryingly, a freeze on budget.
While HCLTech remains the most credible of the lot, it is still struggling to maintain its position. It was also the loudest voice on generative AI this quarter, announcing a new partnership with OpenAI, nine exclusive GenAI deals, integration with NVIDIA and agentic AI collaborations with Google Cloud and UiPath. It also claims to have trained 1,27,000 employees on AI.
Yet, profits fell nearly 10% YoY. Revenue barely moved. And its GenAI deal count actually declined from 12 to nine.
CEO C Vijayakumar said the company is seeing strong resonance from clients, adding that GenAI is reshaping delivery models. “We’re seeing new business models emerging—what we’re calling service-as-a-software,” Kalyan Kumar, CPO at HCLSoftware, said.
However, even HCLTech hasn’t been immune to the margin pressures and an increasing bench. Several large deals expected in Q1 have slipped into Q2. In short, the AI story may be compelling, but the P&L remains unmoved.
Tech Mahindra Continues to Remain the Outlier
Just like the last quarter, Tech Mahindra had the best quarter among the majors. Net profit jumped nearly 34% YoY. The company reported $809 million in new deals and deployed over 200 industrial-grade AI agents.
CEO Mohit Joshi said that the future of IT services lies in hybrid systems, where AI and human agents work together for scale and precision. Yet, even here, the revenue story remained subdued.
The company’s internal transformation effort, Project Fortius, seems to be helping margins, but AI has yet to shift the growth curve meaningfully.
Moreover, there’s Accenture—once again reminding Indian IT of what real AI adoption looks like—$1.5 billion in GenAI bookings this quarter, $4.1 billion over the last three. While Indian firms are running PoCs and training programs, Accenture is overhauling its business structure.
“Companies need resilience and results,” Accenture CEO Julie Sweet said. “We are laser-focused on delivering measurable value.”
This is what Indian IT is up against. Not the company next door, but a global rival already restructuring around AI while the local giants still debate slide decks.
Where are the AI Revenues?
Everyone says AI is “part of every deal”, but no one is ready to put a dollar figure on it.
Wipro closed 17 large deals last quarter that involved AI. Yet, revenue declined. TCS spoke of AI in every client conversation, but the TCV dropped regardless. HCLTech has the most promising AI stack. Still, profits are sliding.
All we have is another quarter, another promise, and the same old question. Meanwhile, Indian IT jobs, which involve maintenance, testing, and providing services, are already going through tough times.
The post Indian IT’s AI Talks Get Louder as Revenues Go Mute appeared first on Analytics India Magazine.
