TCS pips Accenture to become most-valued IT company globally

BENGALURU: India’s largest IT services exporter Tata Consultancy Services has edged out Accenture to become the world’s most-valued IT company with $144.7 billion ( Rs 10.57 trillion)  market capitalization on BSE, despite the stocks plunging by 0.5 per cent on Friday at Rs 2,811 per share. 

Accenture, which has been topping the list for sometime, isn’t far behind at $144.1 billion valuation on NASDAQ as on Friday US Tech giant IBM which announced splitting into two public companies to focus more on IT infrastructure like cloud and artificial intelligence has a market capitalization of $115.4 billion now. TCS is the second Indian company to cross Rs 10 lakh crore mark after Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries, whose market capitalization stood at Rs 14.7 lakh crore. 

Research notes from various brokerages observed that the stock price of TCS has surged by over 30 per cent during the first half of 2020 even as the IT service provider’s growth slipped during Q1 FY21( April-June quarter) as the pandemic impacted its businesses globally.

However, after a relatively strong quarter (Q2 FY21)  results during which the company revenues grew by 4 per cent sequentially to Rs 40,135 crore and $8.6 billion deal  pipeline, most of the IT stocks on BSE have seen their share prices surge, also indicative of growth returning back to the industry. 

Wipro’s stock price jumped by 4 per cent at Rs 375.2 per share by Friday close on stock exchanges whereas Infosys rallied 1.6 per cent at Rs 1,111 apiece on BSE. TCS also  announced a Rs 16,000 crore share buyback, which according to CEO Rajesh Gopinathan is consistent with the company’s capital return policy.