Turnaround awaited

Demand environment remains challenging for IT

The third-quarter results of the big four information technology (IT) companies, read along with their respective management commentaries, indicate that the industry believes the worst of demand slowdown to be over. However, these companies remain notably cautious in their expectations of short-term demand revival. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), HCL Tech, Infosys and Wipro all met or exceeded the consensus revenue expectations. They also more or less met profit and margin expectations. Given the surprisingly strong performance of the US economy, which is the key market for Indian IT, investors were also expecting strongly optimistic guidance. However, while management commentaries are