Indian IT stocks rose following Accenture’s Q2 results and guidance upgrade, which pointed to a largely unchanged demand environment, with growth increasingly driven by AI-led transformation, ecosystem partnerships and a broader services scope.
In Q2 of FY26, Accenture reported new bookings of $22.1 billion, up 6 per cent in USD and 1 per cent in local currency. Revenue came in at $18.0 billion, at an 8 per cent increase in USD terms and 4 per cent growth in local currency. Of the total bookings, consulting accounted for $11.33 billion, while Managed Services contributed $10.78 billion. The company has revised its full-year revenue growth outlook to 3-5 per cent in local currency.
Following the announcement, the Nifty IT index closed at 29,199.60 on Friday, up 2.17 per cent. Shares of Indian IT firms gained across the board, with LTM up 3.73 per cent, Infosys – 2.88 per cent, TCS – 1.77 per cent and Wipro – 1.32 per cent.
An Emkay Global Financial Services report noted that Nifty IT has corrected by around 25 per cent in CY26TD and underperformed the broader markets by about 13 per cent due to potential risks to growth, including the advancement of AI and increased macro uncertainties, which led to lower terminal growth assumptions. Stable performance and a guidance upgrade may support valuations, but neither Accenture’s Q2 results nor its commentary signals a meaningful near-term growth rebound.
Critical support
“From a technical standpoint, CNX IT is nearing a critical support zone around 26,000 on a monthly closing basis. The sector has been under pressure for a while, so this move is more of a potential stabilisation rather than a confirmed trend reversal. While global cues like Accenture may influence short-term sentiment, the bigger structural question for Indian IT remains around AI. The key variables are not just demand, but how AI-led efficiencies, rising chip costs and evolving client spending patterns impact revenue visibility,” Tushar Badjate, Director of Badjate Stock & shares, explained.
He added that valuations have corrected meaningfully, and parts of the IT space are beginning to look attractive from a risk-reward perspective. The real question is whether this becomes a cyclical bounce or the start of a more sustainable re-rating.
“Accenture’s commentary suggests that the demand environment for IT Services is stable rather than sharply improving, with clients still prioritising large, strategic transformation programs while keeping overall spending patterns in CY26 broadly similar to those in CY25,” the Emkay report said.
The company indicated improvement in pricing in some of its business areas, though the business environment remains competitive. Over 60 per cent of Accenture’s revenue was driven by the top-10 ecosystem partners in Q2, with growth outpacing the company’s average. It remains on track to more than double bookings from partnerships with key emerging AI and data ecosystem partners in FY26 over FY25.
Services scope
For Indian IT Services, AI is widening the ‘services’ scope. Accenture is positioning itself as an enterprise orchestrator—guiding deployment, integration, and transformation rather than owning models. Delivery is shifting toward a mix of FTE and outcome-based models, while clients pursue end-to-end AI-led transformations, driving spillover demand in data, cloud and security.
As clients move from pilots to production, new workstreams are emerging across cybersecurity, core operations, and modernisation. However, limited quantitative disclosure on AI adoption and monetisation continues to constrain visibility on scalable, long-term growth.
A Motilal Oswal Financial Services report shared that while Accenture noted that foundational work in AI is picking up, it is insufficient to drive the acceleration in demand anticipated in earlier scenarios. On AI deflation, software engineering remains ground zero for AI invasion, but deploying AI in large, complex enterprises is proving to be difficult. From an IT services perspective, the firms may have to contend with a complex macro and geopolitical backdrop in the near term.
Key highlights from the management commentary include clients implementing foundational programs with ecosystem partners to capture the full AI opportunity, involving cloud, security and data modernisation, with operating model and talent transformation. AI is acting as a tailwind, enabling Accenture to win market share and create new growth opportunities. While early AI adoption is driven by efficiency use-cases, growth-oriented use-cases are emerging. AI-led productivity improvements reduce technical efforts, but expand the overall scope of transformation work.
Published on March 20, 2026
