The Indian Information Technology (IT) sector faced significant selling pressure on Wednesday, with the Nifty IT index dropping sharply. The overall tech downturn was primarily attributed to weak quarterly earnings reports and persistent geopolitical headwinds curbing client technology spending. The latest NSE data showed the Nifty IT index slumped 2.88 percent, settling at 30,816.10.
The sector saw notable declines among major IT players, reflecting investor caution ahead of crucial quarterly announcements.
HCL Tech Leads Selloff Amid Revenue Miss
HCL Tech was the worst-hit stock among major IT names, tumbling 8.90 percent to Rs 1,312.90. This steep slide followed the announcement of its quarterly results on Tuesday. HCLTech posted a smaller-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue and net profit, signaling client pullback due to global uncertainties.The IT services firm reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 4,488 crore for the quarter ending March 31, 2026, marking a 4 percent rise. This figure was below the analyst expectation of Rs 4,657 crore, while the company posted a consolidated revenue of Rs 33,981 crore, which increased 12.3 percent in the January-March quarter.
Persistent Systems and Core IT Players Decline
Persistent Systems also saw a significant decline, slipping 4.32 percent to Rs 5,099.80. The drop came after the company announced softer March quarter numbers that came in slightly below market expectations on key parameters.While Persistent noted that constant currency revenue growth stood at 3.4 percent (missing estimates of 3.5-4 percent), it remained optimistic. The firm expects to deliver industry-leading growth of 17.4 percent in FY26, alongside a 90 basis points expansion in margins.
Tech Mahindra slid 2.57 percent to Rs 1,462.30, trading ahead of its quarterly results announcement scheduled for April 22. Similarly, Coforge fell 2.61 percent to Rs 1,259.00, and LTIMindtree declined 1.79 percent to Rs 4,672.60.
IT Giants Navigate Earnings Jitters
Larger IT players generally registered declines as the market absorbed weak Q4 results. TCS declined 1.49 percent to Rs 2,571.70, while Mphasis slipped 1 percent to Rs 2,394.80. Wipro was nearly flat, dipping only 0.05 percent to Rs 204.91.Infosys was trading 2.54 percent lower at Rs 1,279.90, just before its earnings announcement on Thursday. The IT major is expected to post revenue growth of around 13.7 percent year-on-year, reaching Rs 46,567 crore. Analysts also project the net profit to rise 4 percent year-on-year to Rs 7,508.6 crore.
Mixed Guidance Amid Market Selloff
The performance of the sector highlighted a divergence between immediate revenue reports and long-term outlooks. While Tech Mahindra projects modest sequential revenue growth, estimated to rise 0.9 percent quarter-on-quarter to $1,624 million, Constant Currency revenue growth is expected to remain muted across the sector.The muted outlook reflects the normalization of one-off gains, including a European auto deal, alongside seasonal weakness in segments like BPS. Meanwhile, Oracle Financial Services bucked the negative trend, rising 0.73 percent to Rs 7,989.00.
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