Infosys Technologies is being sued again by a former senior employee for discrimination on the basis of age, gender and ethnicity while hiring in the US. The suit filed by Jill Prejean, vice-president of talent acquisition, has alleged that the company discriminated and retaliated when she tried to point out the discriminatory actions. Infosys' motion to dismiss the claims made by Prejean was rejected by a judge from the United States District Court Southern District of New York.
The first quarter results (Q1FY25) of Indian IT services hint towards better fiscal growth than the preceding year, but as the management commentary said, "there is still some time for the industry to be firing on all cylinders." Among the majors-Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys, HCLTech, and Wipro-it is the Bengaluru-based Infosys that has performed better, which was also evident in its full-year revenue guidance.
IT major Infosys on Thursday announced an extension of its digital innovation partnership with the Australian Open (AO) until the end of 2026. The extended collaboration with Tennis Australia will introduce enhanced broadcast match statistics and new initiatives to make tennis more accessible for all, while continuing to develop innovative digital stakeholder experiences, a statement said. The expanded collaboration will see Infosys and Tennis Australia continue to harness Big Data and Analytics, Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality and Cloud technologies to elevate the AO experience for fans, players, coaches, partners and the media, it added.
The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed demand and clients understand that every work does not have to be done onsite, which is expected to open a lot more offshoring opportunities from large global markets going forward, according to a top Infosys' executive. The Bengaluru-based company, which logged a 23 per cent jump in its December 2021 quarter revenue, also said its portfolio of services and capabilities, especially on cloud and digital, are resonating well with clients and it sees a good pipeline for that. "In the long run, if you see, COVID-19, while it had a huge impact on demand, the entire ability for the supply side to deliver in a remote environment really will shine up, and that has opened up the eyes of many of our clients that every work does not have to be done onsite.
Amid a debate over 70-90-hour work week, the pre-Budget Economic Survey on Friday cited studies to state that spending over 60 hours a week on work could have adverse health effects. The survey noted that spending long hours at one's desk is detrimental to mental well-being and individuals who spend 12 or more hours (per day) at a desk have distressed or struggling levels of mental well-being.
The combined market valuation of eight of the top-10 most valued firms surged Rs 1,21,270.83 crore last week, with Reliance Industries becoming the biggest gainer, in line with an outstanding rally in benchmark equity indices. Last week, the BSE benchmark jumped 1,027.54 points or 1.21 per cent. The BSE Sensex hit its record high of 85,978.25 on Friday.
IT major Infosys and Microsoft have entered into a multi-year strategic engagement with Ausgrid to accelerate the cloud transformation of the largest electricity distributor on Australia's east coast. This programme will further Ausgrid's vision to connect communities and empower lives with a focus on affordability, reliability and sustainability, Infosys said in a regulatory filing on Monday. "With over 4 million Australians relying on our services every day, it is essential we are maintaining our high standard of reliability and connectivity, as well as delivering on the expectations of Australian communities," Nick Crowe, acting CIO at Ausgrid, said.
India's second-largest software services company Infosys on Wednesday posted 12 per cent year-on-year rise in consolidated net profit at Rs 5,686 crore for March quarter 2021-22. The Bengaluru-based company had registered a net profit (after minority interest) of Rs 5,076 crore in the corresponding period previous year, according to a regulatory filing. Infosys' revenue grew 22.7 per cent to Rs 32,276 crore in the quarter from Rs 26,311 crore in the year-ago period, it added.
The take by the Economic Survey 2024-25 on work hour week had come weeks after Larsen & Toubro Ltd Chairman and Managing Director SN Subrahmanyan sparked off a raging debate on social media when he said employees should work 90-hour a week, including on Sundays rather than sit at home.
In 2017, when Infosys announced that Salil Parekh would be its next chief executive officer (CEO) and managing director (MD), very few in the industry or the analyst community doubted his ability to bring the company back to a healthy growth trajectory, improve morale within the company and, more importantly, win the promoters' trust and investor confidence. There were reasons for this confidence. He was not only the deputy CEO of the Paris-headquartered IT services major Capgemini, but also one of the only non-European faces on the executive board of the company.
Trump's tariff threats spooks markets; Sensex down 106 points
The Income Tax Department on Tuesday said software services provider Infosys has been directed to look into the issue relating to malfunction of search option on the e-filing portal. After many users complained of issues while accessing the I-T portal and reported that it was hacked on Tuesday, which also happens to be the first launch anniversary of the portal, the department said Infosys is resolving the issue on priority. "Issue relating to the search functionality of the e-filing website has come to our notice.
Stock markets closed lower for the second straight day on Friday amid relentless foreign fund outflows and losses in blue-chip stocks Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and State Bank of India. Benchmark BSE Sensex declined by 55.47 points or 0.07 per cent to settle at 79,486.32. During the day, it tanked 424.42 points or 0.53 per cent to 79,117.37.
From the 30-share pack, Infosys, Tech Mahindra, TCS, HDFC, HDFC Bank, Wipro and HCL Technologies were among the major laggards in early trade. Nifty tumbled 314.95 points to 17,160.70.
A video post on Reddit, which has since gone viral, shows the L&T chief saying, 'I regret that I am not able to make you work on Sundays, to be honest. If I can make you work on Sundays, I will be more happy because I work on Sundays also.'
Infosys on Thursday posted an 11 per cent year-on-year rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 6,021 crore for the September quarter and also announced a share buyback programme worth Rs 9,300 crore. The IT major will also pay an interim dividend totalling Rs 6,940 crore to the shareholders. The net profit of India's second largest IT services company stood at Rs 5,421 crore in the same period a year ago.
From the 30-share Sensex pack, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Steel, Adani Ports, JSW Steel, IndusInd Bank, Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank were the biggest laggards. Tata Motors, NTPC, Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paints and Infosys were the gainers.
Numeros Motors is also planning to come up with a passenger vehicle four-wheeler or a three-wheeler by 2027.
The finance ministry (FinMin) has asked Infosys to work on ways to extract and access taxpayers' real-time data faster and accurately as it is crucial for taking decisions on policy changes. While reviewing progress of the income tax portal 2.0, which had faced glitches, the officials also told the Infosys team to increase the scope of pre-filled data in the ITR forms. Senior officials in the ministry held a review meeting last month with the Infosys team and officials of the Central Processing Centre (CPC).
'We are getting to understand the mind of this generation.' 'Minor tweaks are being made to ease the process as we go along.'
The Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) on Sunday distanced itself from an article critical of Indian software major Infosys that was published in Panchjanya, a magazine associated with the saffron organisation.
Markets regulator Sebi has restrained an Infosys employee and his connected person, who is an employee of Wipro Ltd, from the securities market till further orders in a matter related to alleged insider trading in Infosys shares. The market regulator has also directed impounding of illegal proceeds of Rs 2.62 crore, according to a Sebi order dated September 27. The alert system of Sebi had generated insider trading alerts for Infosys' scrip around the corporate announcement about the strategic partnership of Infosys with Vanguard.
Tata Consultancy Services, India's largest software exporter, hired 100,000 freshers in the financial year 2021-22, more than in any other year. That means an average of 8,300 trainees joining the company every month. This is not merely a mathematical calculation: hiring of freshers at the top IT companies is no longer a compressed affair confined to the campus season.
Trading in the domestic equity market this week will be influenced by quarterly results from TCS and Infosys, besides inflation and industrial production data as well as global trends, analysts said. Movement of the rupee, which has slumped to record lows against the US dollar, will also be tracked by investors, they added. "This week, participants will be eyeing important macroeconomic data viz IIP, CPI and WPI... Besides, the week also marks the beginning of the earnings season with IT majors like TCS, Infosys, HCL Tech and Wipro announcing their numbers along with two other heavyweights Bajaj Auto and HDFC Bank," said Ajit Mishra, VP - Research, Religare Broking Ltd. Performance of the US markets, FIIs' trend, and movement in currency and crude will also remain on their radar, Mishra added.
Infosys on Tuesday said it has formed a long-term partnership with Daimler AG for a technology-driven IT infrastructure transformation. After the receipt of all regulatory approvals, Daimler AG will transform its IT operating model and infrastructure landscape across workplace services, service desk, data centre, networks and SAP Basis together with Infosys, a statement said. "As a part of this partnership, automotive IT infrastructure experts based out of Germany, wider Europe, the US and the APAC region will transition from Daimler AG to Infosys," it added. The companies, however, did not disclose the number of people who will transition as part of the deal.
'Skilled labour is different from immigration.' 'While any adverse immigration ruling will impact Indians, it may not necessarily affect the IT services industry.'
Indian IT services firm Infosys and Rolls-Royce, an aerospace and defence technology major, on Wednesday announced signing a strategic partnership for sourcing engineering and R&D Services for the latter's Civil Aerospace business. As part of the overall partnership, Rolls-Royce will "transition a significant part of its engineering centre capabilities for civil aerospace in Bengaluru to Infosys", a statement said. However, the number of people who will move to Infosys was not disclosed.
India's second largest IT firm Infosys on Tuesday said it will initiate an internal investigation into an insider trading matter after markets regulator Sebi barred two of its employees from the securities market in the case. Sebi has banned eight entities, including two employees of Infosys, for indulging in insider trading activities in the shares of the company. The entities have traded in the scrip of Infosys while in possession of Unpublished Price Sensitive Information (UPSI) pertaining to Infosys' financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2020, Sebi said in an interim order passed on Monday.
Murty, daughter of Infosys co-founder Narayana Murthy, held 3.89 crore shares, or 0.93 per cent, of Infosys at the end of September, according to company filings with the stock exchanges.
The Indian government has sanctioned the creation of the first all-women Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) reserve battalion, consisting of over 1,000 personnel. This move addresses the increasing demands on the force at airports and other vital installations. The new unit will be formed from existing CISF personnel and will be led by a senior commandant-rank officer.
Unlike AI uses for consumers, the next generation technology for enterprises will unfold over several years and the biggest challenge is to unleash AI for next wave of productivity for businesses, Infosys chairman Nandan M Nilekani said on Wednesday. While speaking at 43rd annual general meeting (AGM) of Infosys, Nilekani said the initial AI doomerism has quietened down and people have accepted that, like any other general-purpose technology -- electricity, nuclear energy, the internet etc, gen AI (generative artificial intelligence) has enormous potential for good when advanced within the guardrails of responsibility.
India's second-largest information technology (IT) firm Infosys has decided to reduce the average variable payout of employees to 70 per cent due to falling operating margins in the first quarter (Q1) of 2022-23 (FY23), said people in the know. "The margin impact in the current quarter has reflected on the performance bonus for this cycle," the company told its employees over email. "While 70 per cent is the correct figure, an important point is we have been told that the company will not defer any variable payment. "It is being paid according to schedule," said a person.
Under fire for technical glitches plaguing the new income tax return filing portal, Infosys CEO Salil Parekh on Wednesday said the new portal developed by his company is seeing "steady progress" and already 1.9 crore returns have been filed. He further said that taxpayers' concerns are being "progressively addressed". "We are seeing a steady progress on the income tax system. As of yesterday we had over 1.9 crore returns that have been filed using the new system.
Stock investors have become richer by Rs 10.47 lakh crore in two straight days of gains in markets as benchmark Sensex jumped 2 per cent. At close on Wednesday, the market capitalisation of BSE-listed companies surged by Rs 10,47,565.48 crore to Rs 4,52,58,633.53 crore ($5.37 trillion) in two days of gains. "The feel good factor of Trump's win in the US election had a rub-off effect on world equity markets, including local indices as domestic investors resorted to value buying, especially in IT stocks, which pushed the benchmark Sensex above the 80k mark.
Infosys announced on Wednesday that it has been recognised as the fastest growing among the top ten IT services brands, by brand valuation firm 'Brand Finance', in its Global 500 2021 report.
From the 30-share Sensex pack, Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, NTPC, HCL Technologies, Axis Bank, Tech Mahindra, Bajaj Finserv, Sun Pharma, IndusInd Bank and Reliance Industries were the major laggards. Tata Steel, Hindustan Unilever, Mahindra & Mahindra, Nestle and State Bank of India were among the gainers.
As the results season kicks in, the quarterly earnings numbers of several blue-chip firms -- such as Infosys and Reliance Industries -- along with global trends and trading activity of foreign investors, will determine equity market movement in the holiday-shortened week ahead, according to analysts. The domestic WPI inflation data for June -- scheduled to be announced on Monday -- will also influence trading sentiments, traders said. Markets will remain closed on Wednesday for Muharram.
It designs microsurgical instruments, devices used in minimally invasive surgery, drug delivery devices for ophthalmic therapies and user-centric wearables.
UN General Assembly President Philemon Yang will visit India from February 4 to 8, his first official trip as President of the 79th session. Yang highlighted India's "remarkable transformation" over the past decade, particularly in digital and technological innovation, and plans to see how these advancements have reached the grassroots level during his visit. He also praised India's contributions to peacekeeping, humanitarian efforts, and its voice for the Global South.
The good news is that salary hikes are expected, though it is uncertain when they will be implemented.
