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New Indian Express
5 days ago
- Business
- New Indian Express
Minister Sridhar Babu asks UAE investors to be partners Telangana's vision
HYDERABAD: Stating that the state government is committed to transforming Telangana into a $3 trillion economy by 2047, IT & Industries Minister Duddilla Sridhar Babu on Thursday urged the UAE industrialists to be partners in realising this vision. The minister was addressing the gathering after inaugurating the Investopia Global, an international investment summit, being jointly organised by the UAE and Telangana Government, at the HICC. 'Though geographically small, Telangana is a state with a grand ambition and strong implementation. In a short span, it has risen like a phoenix, and emerged as a model in development and welfare for other states. In 2024-25, Telangana recorded a GSDP growth of 8.2%, which is higher than the national average of 7.6%. Telangana's contribution to the national GDP has exceeded 5%,' he said. The minister noted that the state has devised plans to expand dry ports, multimodal logistics parks, and industrial corridors. 'Net-zero industrial parks, EV zones, green logistics hubs, the Regional Ring Road (RRR), and Metro Phase-2 will give further boost to industrial development. The Future City being developed to global standards will become a world hub for FinTech, Climate Tech, and Smart Mobility innovation. Telangana is witnessing rapid growth in data centers, Global Capability Centers (GCCs), AI labs, and aerospace clusters,' he added. 2.5 times increase in exports from Telangana to UAE Sridhar Babu further informed that over the past 18 months, Telangana attracted over Rs 3.2 lakh crore in fresh investments. 'In the financial year 2024-25, exports from Telangana to the UAE have increased 2.5 times. Pharma, aerospace, digital services, and food processing sectors have played a crucial role. Prominent UAE-based companies like Lulu Group, DP World, and NAFFCO have already made investments in the state,' he noted. He described the investment summit a reunion of old friends. Like the UAE, Telangana values time, trust, and transformation, he added. UAE Minister of Economy and Tourism Abdullah Bin Touq Al Marri, Telangana IT & Industries Special Chief Secretary Sanjay Kumar, TSIIC MD K Shashank, UAE Ministry of Investment Under Secretary Mohammed Al Wahaibi, UAE International Investors Council Secretary General Walid Hareb Al Falahi and Investopia CEO Jean Fares were among the attendees.
Hans India
5 days ago
- Business
- Hans India
Sridhar Babu seeks UAE industrialists' help in realising TG's $3 trillion GSDP dream
Hyderabad: The Minister for IT & Industries D Sridhar Babu urged UAE industrialists to partner and contribute in achieving the vision of achieving a $3 trillion economy for the State. He formally inaugurated the international investment summit titled 'Investopia Global,' jointly organized by the UAE and Telangana Government at HICC. The Minister noted that the state has devised plans to expand dry ports, multimodal logistics parks, and industrial corridors. Net-zero industrial parks, EV zones, green logistics hubs, the Regional Ring Road (RRR), and Metro Phase–2 will give further boost to industrial development. The Future City being developed to global standards will become a world hub for FinTech, Climate Tech, and Smart Mobility innovation. Telangana is witnessing rapid growth in data centers, Global Capability Centers (GCCs), AI labs, and aerospace clusters. 'Though geographically small, Telangana is a state with grand ambition and strong implementation. In a short span, it has risen like a phoenix and emerged as a model in development and welfare for other states. In 2024–25, Telangana recorded a GSDP growth of 8.2%, which is higher than the national average of 7.6%. Telangana's contribution to the national GDP has exceeded 5%,' he explained. Minister elaborated that over the past 18 months, Telangana attracted over Rs 3.2 lakh crore in fresh investments. In the financial year 2024–25, exports from Telangana to the UAE have increased 2.5 times. Pharma, aerospace, digital services, and food processing sectors have played a crucial role. Prominent UAE-based companies like Lulu Group, DP World, and NAFFCO have already made investments in the state. 'This is not just an investment summit—it is a reunion of old friends and a launchpad for the future. Like the UAE, Telangana values time, trust, and transformation. There are vast opportunities in Telangana across AI, emerging technologies, life sciences, green hydrogen, renewable energy, logistics, warehousing, trade infrastructure, food processing, agro exports, aerospace, defence manufacturing, electric vehicles, smart mobility, tourism, wellness, and medical sectors,' he emphasised. The Minister extended a fresh invitation to UAE industrialists to invest in Telangana. UAE Minister of Economy and Tourism Abdullah Bin Touq Al Marri, Telangana IT and Industries Special Chief Secretary Sanjay Kumar, TSIIC MD K Shashank, UAE Ministry of Investment Under Secretary Mohammed Al Wahaibi, UAE International Investors Council Secretary General Walid Hareb Al Falahi, and Investopia CEO Dr Jean Fares were present.
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Business Standard
7 days ago
- Business
- Business Standard
MNCs prefer institutional office assets for setting up GCCs in India: C&W
Multi-national companies are preferring office space owned by REIT landlords for setting up their Global Capability Centers (GCCs) in India, according to Cushman & Wakefield. Property consultant Cushman & Wakefield in its report 'Asia REIT Market Insight 2024-25' highlighted that the three listed office REITs have delivered more than 15 per cent of capital appreciation in the last 12 months ended June. There are three office REITs in India -- Brookfield India Real Estate Trust, Embassy Office Parks REIT, Mindspace Business Parks REIT -- while the Nexus Select Trust is backed by retail real estate. As of June 2025, the Indian REIT market, comprising all four REITs, had an operational portfolio size of more than 105 million sq ft. "By the end of the calendar year 2025, a fourth office REIT is expected to make its listing debut on the bourse," the report said. Bengaluru-based Sattva Group and Blackstone-backed Knowledge Realty Trust (KRT) have already filed Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with the SEBI. "With 48 million sq ft of pan-India Grade A office space (37 million sq ft operational and 11 million sq ft under development), we expect to see KRT become one of the largest real estate investment trusts listed in India," the consultant said. The report highlighted that MNCs are preferring institutionally owned office assets. "At a Pan-India level, GCCs have accounted for 28-29 per cent of GLV (gross leasing volume) on average over the last four quarters up to Q1 (January-March) 2025," the report said. In contrast, the consultant said that REIT landlords were able to achieve 40-60 per cent of total leasing demand coming from GCC firms. In the 2024 calendar year, Cushman & Wakefield data showed that the gross leasing of office space stood at record 89 million square feet across seven major cities. The report also mentioned that India's office REIT stocks have outperformed the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) Realty Index significantly. During the 12-month period up to June 2025, all three office REIT stocks delivered more than 15 per cent capital appreciation. "The key driver has been the underlying strength of India's office real estate market, triggered by heightened demand from GCCs, engineering and manufacturing, and BFSI firms," the report said. The consultant noted that REIT landlords are also benefiting from growing preference for premium workspaces by corporates. (Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Mint
17-07-2025
- Business
- Mint
Mint Explainer: Will FY26 be a washout year for the IT services industry?
Early results from the first quarter point to a challenging and even unpredictable roadmap ahead for the $280 billion IT business, driven by cautious client spending, tariff-related headwinds, geopolitics and more. While companies are putting up a brave front, these could cast a long shadow on this fiscal year. Mint breaks it down. What can we deduce from the earnings seasons so far? The latest earnings season has laid bare the shifting contours in the global IT services industry. IT services bellwether Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), missed revenue estimates in Q1FY26, echoing a broader caution among clients amid tariff-related uncertainty and deferred discretionary spending. Global technology services and consulting major, Accenture, posted a third quarter (March-May 2025) revenue of $17.7 billion. Despite beating revenue expectations, the Dublin, Ireland-headquartered company saw a second consecutive drop in new bookings in its third quarter. HCL Tech posted revenue growth of 1.34% sequentially to $3.55 billion for the June quarter, but missed profit estimates, while Tech Mahindra surprised with profit growth and an uptick in deal wins. Together, these results paint a picture of an industry in flux — caught between changing technology needs of clients led by artificial intelligence (AI), slow decision-making in consumer-facing, tariff- impacted sectors like retail and auto, vendor consolidation, clients opting to grow captive units or Global Capability Centers (GCCs), besides geopolitical headwinds. Companies are putting up a brave front, but these could cast a long shadow on this fiscal year. What are the top honchos saying? K. Krithivasan, chief executive officer and managing director, TCS, said continued global macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainties caused a demand contraction. At Accenture's second quarter earnings call in June, Julie Sweet, CEO of Accenture, maintained that the company remains on track for strong growth, though the company's government business (accounting for 8% of its global revenue) has been impacted due to US federal policy changes. Accenture Federal Services contributes 8% to the company's global revenue ($64.9 billion in 2024). 'What we've seen in recent weeks is an elevated level of uncertainty. There's a global conversation around tariffs, not just in the Americas but in Europe as well," Sweet said. Despite a better-than-expected performance, Mohit Joshi, CEO of Tech Mahindra, said the macro picture is still hazy. "Tariff-impacted sectors are not conducive to discretionary spending. Overall market is volatile, and there's a slowdown in auto and manufacturing. Banking is steady and hi-tech is volatile. We do see recovery in the second half." C. Vijayakumar, CEO & managing director, HCLTech, said that the company's operating margin was impacted by lower utilization and additional GenAI and GTM (go to market) investments. Meanwhile, a Redditor (posting on Reddit, a social news aggregation and discussion platform) said, 'The next decade won't look like the last. Those who pivot to AI, develop deep domain expertise, and automate delivery models will thrive. Others might fade." What is the outlook for the IT services business? The near-term outlook remains cautious. TCS's CEO flagged intensified delays in discretionary spending and project starts, with clients deferring decisions until there's more clarity on US tariffs and fiscal policy. Accenture's restructuring around AI signals a pivot toward reinvention, but even it is grappling with slower deal closures. TCS revenue increased just 1.3% YoY, with four of six verticals declining. International revenue dipped 0.5%. Accenture's revenue grew 8% YoY, but bookings fell 6%, indicating future demand softness. Noida-based HCLTech's revenue was up 8% YoY, but net profit down 10%, reflecting margin pressure. And Tech Mahindra's revenue increased 3% YoY and profit surged 34%, signaling operational discipline and deal momentum. The broad consensus? Tech services growth will likely be muted in the short term, with FY26 guidance reflecting low single-digit expansion across most players. Is there stress in tariff-impacted sectors? Yes, and it's becoming more pronounced. The uncertainty around US tariffs—especially in consumer-facing businesses such as automobiles and retail and others, including manufacturing and communications—has led to deferred projects and cautious spending. BFSI, which is the largest vertical for most companies and accounts for around 35% of the industry revenue, remains steady. TCS saw year-on-year (YoY) contraction between 3% to 9.6% in various verticals, including consumer, healthcare, manufacturing, communication and media. While BFSI, technology, energy and utilities saw 1% to 2.8% growth in the same period. For Tech Mahindra, the manufacturing business declined 4% and technology, media and entertainment fell 3.3%. Among geographies, Europe grew 11.7% YoY, but Americas, which accounts for around half of its business, saw a 5.9% YoY revenue drop. For HCL Tech, much of the incremental revenue came from banks and financial institutions, which make up around 20% of the company's business. The company narrowed its revenue guidance for the full year. It now expects revenue growth between 3% and 5% in constant currency terms, from 2% to 5% earlier. Is Agentic AI becoming part of conversations? The market is fast shifting to agentic AI (AI systems designed to operate with a high degree of autonomy), but most IT services companies remain in pilot project mode, unable to convert proof of concepts into large projects. Accenture leads in this space. It has also set up a new division focused on AI called `reinvention services', which involves merging strategy consulting, technology, and operations into a single unit. For Accenture, GenAI bookings for the quarter hit $1.5 billion with revenues exceeding $700 million. In the first nine months of its fiscal year Accenture has secured $4.1 billion in GenAI business and generated $1.8 billion in revenue. Indian IT services players do not report AI revenue separately, despite claiming that AI is part of every deal. How are the new deal bookings? Deal momentum is mixed, with signs of stress in closures despite healthy pipelines. TCS won deals worth $9.4 billion, up from $8.3 billion in the year-ago period, but down from $12.2 billion q-on-q. Accenture won $19.7 billion new deals, down 6% y-o-y. HCLTech won $1.81 billion worth of new deals in the quarter, while Tech Mahindra saw a 44% jump in new deal wins YoY at $809 million in Q1. Will IT services survive multiple disruptions, from AI to tariffs? The IT services industry is at a crossroads. Tariff uncertainty and cautious client behaviour are dampening near-term growth, but AI—especially agentic AI—is emerging as a strategic lever. Accenture's bold restructuring may set the tone, but TCS, HCLTech, Wipro, Infosys and others must move beyond pilots to monetization. Deal pipelines remain healthy, but execution delays are the new norm. Reditor pointed out that clients are more interested in AI solutions rather than digital transformation, a pivot that Indian IT should make quickly. The winners will be those who can translate AI into measurable outcomes. Will GCCs spoil the IT services party? According to a Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Global Capability Centre (GCC) report this week, India has established itself as the global hub for GCCs, hosting over 1,800 centres as of FY25. By 2030, India could have almost 5,000 GCCs with a direct employment of 4-5 million, the report noted. A ramp-up in GCCs will impact the work shipped to third-party providers, the IT services companies. Cognizant, for example, has raised concerns about potential risks stemming from GCCs operated by its clients in its 2024 annual report. Some IT services companies including Infosys, HCLTech, Wipro, Tech Mahindra are partnering with GCCs, helping them set up centers. But going forward, companies will have to compete not only with rival services providers but also with GCCs for business. A tough task in an already challenging business environment.
Indian Express
16-07-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
Contractual hiring in Q4FY25 hit by geopolitics, new banking rules and end of festive season, says Indian Staffing Federation
Temporary hirings by Indian companies increased at the slowest pace in four years in 2024-25 (FY25) as demand for short-term staffing was hit by geopolitical uncertainty. According to the Indian Staffing Federation (ISF), the industry body for over a hundred flexi-staffing companies, new contract hires rose by 9.7 per cent in the last fiscal to 1.39 lakh, with sectors such as Global Capability Centers (GCCs), e-commerce, logistics, manufacturing, and tourism and hospitality, among others, contributing to new formal employment generation. However, the increase in temporary staffing in FY25 was down from a 15.3 per cent rise in FY24. At 9.7 per cent, contractual staffing in FY25 was the lowest since a 3.6 per cent up-turn seen in the coronavirus pandemic-hit FY21. In total, ISF members' workforce stood at 18 lakh at the end of FY25, the industry body said on Wednesday. Temporary workers have become increasingly important for companies in sectors such as e-commerce, retail, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG), logistics, and hospitality, among others, as they help meet fluctuations in demand due to seasonal and other factors. According to the ISF, there are nearly 70 lakh contract workers at present in India, with the staffing industry as a whole contributing Rs 1.48 lakh crore towards salaries in FY25. The final quarter of FY25 was particularly bad for temporary workers as new jobs were 2.5 per cent lower compared to the third quarter that ended in December 2024. This was only the second time since April-June 2020 – when much of the country was forced to shut down to contain the spread of the coronavirus – that new temporary hirings fell on a quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) basis. Short-term hirings were up 8.7 per cent year-on-year in the final three months of FY25. Why companies turned cautious on hiring in Q4FY25 'The fourth quarter of FY25 saw a cautious market. Many organisations aimed to reorganise hiring to utilise better productivity, leading to a late-year lowering demand for the temporary workforce across industries,' the ISF said in a statement. 'This dip was particularly pronounced as economic conditions destabilised, prompting companies to pause expansion and headcount additions amidst trade wars.' Also adversely impacting demand for short-term workers was the end of the holiday and festival season and new banking policies, the ISF said. According to Suchita Dutta, executive director at the ISF, these new banking policies refer to directions from the Reserve Bank of India in late 2024 to banks on the use of third-party service providers for certain activities. This policy change, Dutta said, contributed to weaker demand for contract staff in the final quarter of the fiscal. Within the headline number for the fourth quarter, demand was lower for general staffing, which fell 2.6 per cent q-o-q but was up 9.8 per cent in FY25 as a whole – the lowest increase in five years. General staffing makes up for an overwhelming majority of overall temporary hirings and accounted for 1.36 lakh of the 1.39 lakh new jobs in FY25. Meanwhile, IT staffing rose 2.3 per cent q-o-q in the January-March quarter. Crucially, temporary IT hires rose 7.8 per cent in FY25 after falling by 7.7 per cent and 2.3 per cent in FY23 and FY24, respectively. 'IT staffing industry continued to witness new demands from new GCCs and also from steady growth in new employment as project ramp-ups in services sectors. The gradual new employment growth in Q4 FY25 is also aided by non–IT sectors, which significantly has started investing back with the tech adoption,' the ISF said. The contract jobs data from the ISF comes after the Statistics Ministry said on Tuesday that the all-India unemployment rate was unchanged in June at 5.6 per cent, although joblessness increased by 20 basis points (bps) in urban areas to 7.1 per cent among those aged 15 years and above. The Statistics Ministry does not make a distinction between temporary and permanent jobs, with the monthly labour market data based on the Current Weekly Status (CWS) approach. Under this approach, the activity status of a person is measured for the seven days preceding the date of survey. Monthly data from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation is not available for the final three months of FY25. Siddharth Upasani is a Deputy Associate Editor with The Indian Express. He reports primarily on data and the economy, looking for trends and changes in the former which paint a picture of the latter. Before The Indian Express, he worked at Moneycontrol and financial newswire Informist (previously called Cogencis). Outside of work, sports, fantasy football, and graphic novels keep him busy. ... Read More
