Tech Mahindra shares jumped 13.2% on Friday, their biggest intraday gain in nearly eight years, after India's No.5 IT company announced a turnaround plan that offered succour following declining revenue growth for the past three quarters. Including the day's move, Tech Mahindra is up 2% so far this year compared with a 4% fall in the IT index. Larger rival Infosys was down 6.8%, while Tata Consultancy Services was up 2.2%.
Tech Mahindra, India's fifth-largest software company, reported fourth-quarter revenue below analysts' estimates on Thursday and unveiled a three-year turnaround plan. Consolidated revenue fell 6.2% year-on-year to 128.71 billion rupees ($1.55 billion) in the January-March quarter. Analysts, on average, expected revenue of 129.55 billion rupees, as per LSEG data.
Indian engineer B. Ramachandran now prefers living in the smaller cities than the major tech hubs of Bengaluru and Chennai. Some are already finding it easier to hire staff in tier 2 cities, in contrast to before the pandemic when workers largely went from smaller cities into the country's major IT hubs for jobs. "The HR and I used to drive down to Bengaluru and Chennai to interview experienced talent and convince them to move to Madurai," said Selvaganesh M.P, founder of IT firm SMI that was bought by mid-cap IT company Happiest Minds in 2023.