If growth reverts to the pre-Covid level, a lot of people may have to temper their rosy optimism, points out Debashis Basu.
IT services major Infosys on Wednesday posted a 22.7 per cent rise in net profit to Rs 5,195 crore for the April-June quarter of 2021-22, and raised its revenue growth outlook for the full fiscal. The Bengaluru-based company's net profit (after minority interest) was at Rs 4,233 crore in April-June 2020. Its revenue from operations grew 17.8 per cent to Rs 27,896 crore in the first quarter of FY22 from Rs 23,665 crore in the year-ago period, Infosys said in a regulatory filing.
The Bengaluru-based company had registered a net profit (after minority interest) of Rs 5,197 crore a year ago, a regulatory filing said. Infosys' revenue grew 22.9 per cent to Rs 31,867 crore in the quarter ended December 2021 from Rs 25,927 crore in the year-ago period, it added.
From the Sensex pack, Tata Motors, Sun Pharmaceutical, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finserv, ICICI Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra and JSW Steel were the gainers. Tech Mahindra, HCL Technologies, Asian Paints, Titan, Infosys, State Bank of India, Tata Consultancy Services and HDFC Bank were the laggards.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday conveyed to Infosys CEO Salil Parekh in no uncertain terms the government's "deep disappointment and concern" over the continuing glitches in the new income tax filing portal and set September 15 as the deadline for the software major to resolve all snags. As glitches continued to mar the functioning of the portal even after over two months of its launch, Sitharaman summoned Infosys MD & CEO Parekh at her office here to know the reasons for not resolving the snags in the portal. A statement issued by the Income Tax Department said that during the meeting the finance minister emphasised that there is a need for putting in more resources and efforts on the part of Infosys so that the much delayed delivery of agreed services is ensured.
Quarterly earnings of corporates, trading activity of foreign investors and inflation data are the key factors that are expected to drive the momentum in the equity markets this week, analysts said.
Infosys, in 2019, was given the contract to develop the new portal. It was launched in June last year and stakeholders had reported glitches and difficulties in the functioning of the portal. "On the I-T project, we are extremely proud that as of December 31, as was reported, 5.8 crore returns were filed through that timeframe.
The government paid Rs 164.5 crore to Infosys to build the new income tax e-filing portal between January 2019 and June 2021, Parliament was informed on Monday. "The contract for Integrated e-filing & Centralized Processing Centre (CPC 2.0) Project was awarded through an open tender published on Central Public Procurement Portal (CPPP) to Infosys Ltd, the Managed Service Provider on the lowest cost basis.
The fee of Rs 6 lakh consists Rs 1.5 lakh in respect of each application for each alleged offence by the company and Rs 25,000 by each of the current and former key managerial personnel for each alleged offence.
'No one manufactures intelligence at the moment.' 'This is a concept that your IT industry understands.' 'What you need is infrastructure. Everything else can then be taken care of.'
Among Sensex firms, Tata Consultancy Services, HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Mahindra & Mahindra and Tata Motors were the biggest gainers. UltraTech Cement, JSW Steel, Tata Steel, Adani Ports, Power Grid and Bajaj Finserv were among the laggards.
State-run Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has committed Rs 600 crore for its digital transformation journey, Sunder Krishnan, chief risk officer said on Wednesday. The insurance giant is also aiming to become completely "paperless" in two years. "We have hired a large system integrator for more than Rs 400 crore, a consultant for digital transformation for Rs 100 crore, and Rs 100 crore for agency transformation.
Among the 30 Sensex firms, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, IndusInd Bank, Sun Pharma, Tech Mahindra, Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Finance and JSW Steel were the biggest gainers. Asian Paints, Maruti, Nestle, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank and UltraTech Cement were among the laggards.
With the rush of growth after the pandemic slowing down, many leaders are moving to firms that may be smaller but are growing much faster and have the headroom to grow.
On October 24, the NSE sought clarification from the IT major on the whistleblowers' allegations and why the company had not disclosed the same to the exchanges.
While growth metrics for Infosys was skewed to a single vertical and it is struggling to get a handle on costs, TCS has been able to manage growth and keep cost inflation under control.
Reskill and Restart - powered by Infosys Wingspan - takes job seekers on a guided journey, beginning with aptitude and skills assessment, followed by curated job-specific skills training, and culminating in matching them with available positions.
Infosys on Tuesday said the US Securities and Exchange Commission has concluded the investigation into the whistleblower allegations made last year, and that it does not anticipate any further action by the regulator. In October last year, Infosys had informed stock exchanges of having received anonymous whistleblower complaints alleging certain unethical practices by the top management. It then started a probe into the matter and roped in external investigators.
The development comes after the Karnataka government advised IT and other professionals working in air-conditioned places to work from home for time being, for about a week, to prevent the spread of the virus.
'If creative jobs can get disrupted, then left brain jobs like coding are easily disrupted. We are going through the journey of huge disruption.'
Experts said this would not only reduce Infosys' dependence on the H1B visa, which has seen increased restrictions under the current US administration. It will also help the company in building an employee pyramid for its future operations.
Infosys will ring the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Friday to commemorate its eighth anniversary of listing on the exchange. Infosys CEO Salil Parekh will ring the closing bell in a ceremony to celebrate the company's 2020 achievements, including its eight years of trading on the NYSE, rapid growth in the US, and its recently announced Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Vision for 2030, a regulatory filing said.
'India's top companies currently lack the organisational wherewithal to hire and train 2 million interns annually, given their current scale of operations and existing employee base.'
The whistleblower, claiming to be an employee working in the finance department, said he was submitting a 'whistleblower complaint' unanimously as the matter stated was 'volatile' and that he feared retaliation on disclosing the identity.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday asked Infosys and its chairman Nandan Nilekani to fix technical glitches being encountered on the income tax department's new e-filing website, after users flooded her Twitter timeline with complaints. Infosys was in 2019 awarded a contract to develop the next-generation income tax filing system to reduce processing time for returns from 63 days to one day and expedite refunds. The portal went live Monday evening.
Nandan Nilekani said the co-founders have served the company "selflessly" and remain committed to the long-term success of Infosys.
"The company has been in touch with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) regarding the anonymous whistleblower complaints (anonymous complaints) and has learnt that the SEC has initiated an investigation into this matter. The company will cooperate with the SEC's investigation," Infosys said in a statement.
The IT services giant is also slated to hold a board meeting on April 13 and 14, to approve of and take on record the consolidated financial results of the company for the quarter and year ended March 31, 2021. Indian IT majors will be announcing their fourth quarter (Q4) and 2020-21 results starting April 12. At the end of the Q3 FY21 Infosys had cash and investment of $4.5 billion.
Trifacta's investors include Accel, Greylock Partners, Ignition and Cathay Innovation
Infosys co-founder S D Shibulal has received little over four lakh shares of the company as a gift, taking the total number of shares owned by him to more than 21.6 lakh shares, according to a regulatory filing. Infosys, on Friday, informed the stock exchanges that "4,01,000 equity shares (representing 0.01 per cent) of Infosys Ltd by way of gift as off market transaction on November 12, 2020" were given to Shibulal. The filing did not mention who gifted these shares.
IT services major Infosys on Monday said it has bought back over 5.58 crore equity shares as part of its about Rs 9,200 crore buyback offer. The shares were bought back at a volume weighted average price of Rs 1,648.53 per equity share, according to a public notice. "The company bought back a total of 5,58,07,337 equity shares (1.31 per cent of the pre-buyback paid-up equity share capital of the company) and the total amount utilised towards the buyback is Rs 9199,99,99,599.80 (excluding transaction costs)," it said.
IT services giant Infosys will start construction of a proposed software development centre in the metropolis by July 2021, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Tuesday. The project will generate massive employment in the IT sector, she said after a cabinet meeting at the state secretariat.
The Infosys Foundation will provide a fund of Rs 16 crore, which will be spent for the next five years.
Takes a knock after RBS changes plan on Williams & Glyn; contract loss to impact 3,000 Infy staffers
The studio, covering 20,000 ft with capacity for 250 employees, has a wellness zone, a usability lab and a range of creative spaces.
Among the Sensex stocks, JSW Steel, Asian Paints, Maruti Suzuki India, NTPC, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone, Bharti Airtel, ITC and Tech Mahindra were the major gainers. Reliance Industries, Tata Motors, Infosys, Mahindra and Mahindra, Bajaj Finance and Axis Bank were the laggards.
Sanghrajka has spent 13 years in Infosys over two stints and has performed various leadership roles in the finance section.
Investors' wealth eroded by Rs 9.51 lakh crore on Monday morning, following a crash in equity markets where the benchmark Sensex tanked over 2,400 points, mirroring a sharp plunge in global peers. The 30-share BSE benchmark tanked 2,401.49 points to 78,580.46 in early trade. Following the sharp decline in equities, the market capitalisation of BSE-listed firms dropped by Rs 9,51,771.37 crore to Rs 4,47,65,174.76 crore ($5.35 trillion) during the morning trade.
Among Sensex shares, Hindustan Unilever, Bharti Airtel, Tech Mahindra, Infosys, Mahindra & Mahindra, ICICI Bank, ITC and Asian Paints were the biggest winners. On the other hand, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Reliance Industries, NTPC, UltraTech Cement and Power Grid were among the laggards.