Top 20 IT cos gross $40bn, grow 19 p.c

NEW DELHI, INDIA: The Top 20 Indian hardware and software companies grew 18.7 per cent in rupee terms to report revenue of Rs.183,621 crore (USD 39.52 billion) in FY ’09 compared to Rs.149,250 crore in FY ’08, revealed a survey conducted by Dataquest, the flagship publication from the CyberMedia Group.

The 23rd annual survey found that 2008-09 was a mixed bag for the Top 20 IT companies, with IT Services companies - export and domestic - recording growth, while hardware taking the brunt of the economic slowdown, thirteen of the Top 20 companies reported revenues of over USD1 billion, led by TCS, Wipro, Infosys, HP, IBM.

Seven companies in the DQ Top 20 recorded single digit revenue growth including global multinationals Microsoft India (1 per cent growth to Rs 3,298 cr), HP India (2 per cent growth to Rs 15,763 cr ), Oracle (3 per cent growth to Rs 5,962 cr), and Cisco (4 per cent to Rs 6084 cr).

The other companies that recorded single digit growth included hardware distributors Redington India (5 per cent at Rs 6,576 cr), Ingram Micro (9 per cent to Rs 9,396 cr) and chipmaker Intel India (9 per cent at Rs 4,698 cr).

"What may look surprising is that export firms doing business in recession-affected developed markets did better than those focused on the Indian market," said Prasanto K Roy, President and Chief Editor, CyberMedia, publisher of Dataquest.

“That is because in a downturn, most users looked at outsourcing IT to keep costs flexible, which helped IT services firms. Within India's domestic market too, it is services companies like IBM and Wipro that did very well, while new computer buying spend was reduced drastically, hitting hardware and system software business,” adds Prasanto.

Eight fastest growing companies among Top 20

Despite the slowdown, which did create a negative sentiment in the market, eight companies clocked growth in the 20s.

The eight fastest growing companies among the Top20 list included MphasiS (Rs 3,173 cr 69 per cent), HCL Infosystems (Rs 8,089 cr 60 per cent), Cognizant Technologies (Rs 9,410 cr 49 per cent), Wipro (Rs 23,882 cr 41 per cent), HCL Technologies (Rs 8764 cr 41 per cent), SAP India (Rs 4,320 cr 33 per cent), Dell India (Rs 4,266 cr 32 per cent) and Infosys (Rs 20,392 cr 31 per cent).

India’s largest software firm TCS grew 22 per cent to clock revenues of Rs 25,895 cr, followed by IBM India (Rs 12,048 cr 19 per cent), Patni Computer Systems (Rs 3,011 cr 17 per cent), Accenture (Rs 4400 cr 16 per cent) and Tech Mahindra (Rs 4195 cr 15 per cent).

MphasiS grew 69 per cent to Rs 3,173 crore and jumped five ranks to enter the Top 20 club, while Patni Computers made a comeback after two years by growing its revenues by 17 per cent to Rs 3,011 crore. On the other hand, Satyam exited the Top20 for obvious reasons, while Lenovo too, moved out of the elite club by recording a de-growth of 18 per cent.