Big Tech in India, also known as the Indian IT Giants, are the largest companies in the Indian information technology industry. The definition primarily includes Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, HCLTech, and Wipro, and also often encompasses Cognizant and Tech Mahindra. They are referred to in the media as "Big Six" or "Big Five", [1] [2] and with acronyms such as TWITCH [3] and WITCH. [4] [5]
The companies are among the dominant players in the global delivery model, providing IT consulting, outsourcing and offshore software development to Fortune Global 500 corporations and government entities. All six companies feature among the 20 largest employers in India. Five of them are part of the NIFTY 50 benchmark index of most valuable publicly-listed companies, while the sixth, Cognizant, is part of the Nasdaq-100.
In the 2000s, Gartner coined the acronym SWITCH, to refer to the six largest Indian IT companies Satyam, Wipro, Infosys, TCS, Cognizant and HCL. This acronym and the term "Big Six" subsequently found wide usage in forecast reports of other analysts and news media. [6] [1] [7] [8] [9] [10] Following Satyam's liquidation and business transfer to Tech Mahindra, the acronym shortened to WITCH, [6] [11] [12] while several outlets started using TWITCH by replacing Satyam with Tech Mahindra. [13] [14] [15]
Even after Cognizant shifted its headquarters from India to the United States, analysts have continued to refer to it as an Indian-heritage company, as a large majority of its workforce (about three-fourths) remains in India like its India-based peers. [16] [17] [18] [19] Some definitions in the Indian stock market context omit Cognizant from the grouping because it is not listed on the Indian exchanges. [2] [20]
The table below lists companies that have been frequently included in the definition, sorted by market capitalization. [21]
| Rank | Company name | Market capitalization (October 2024) | Revenue (for fiscal year 2023–24) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tata Consultancy Services | ₹1,480,901 crore (US$177 billion) | ₹245,315 crore (US$29 billion) |
| 2 | Infosys | ₹774,894 crore (US$93 billion) | ₹158,381 crore (US$19 billion) |
| 3 | HCLTech | ₹509,070 crore (US$61 billion) | ₹111,408 crore (US$13 billion) |
| 4 | Cognizant | US$38 billion | US$19 billion |
| 5 | Wipro | ₹292,337 crore (US$35 billion) | ₹92,391 crore (US$11 billion) |
| 6 | Tech Mahindra | ₹166,725 crore (US$20 billion) | ₹52,912 crore (US$6.3 billion) |
Infosys Limited is an Indian multinational technology company that offers business consulting, information technology, and outsourcing services. Founded in Pune, the company is headquartered in Bangalore.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is an Indian multinational technology company specializing in information technology services and consulting. Headquartered in Mumbai, it is a part of the Tata Group and operates in 150 locations across 46 countries. It is the second-largest Indian company by market capitalization.
Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation is an American multinational information technology services and consulting company. It is headquartered in Teaneck, New Jersey, U.S. Cognizant is part of the NASDAQ-100 and trades under CTSH. It was founded in Chennai, India, as an in-house technology unit of Dun & Bradstreet in 1994, and started serving external clients in 1996. After a series of corporate reorganizations, there was an initial public offering in 1998. Ravi Kumar S has been the CEO of the company since January 2023, replacing Brian Humphries.
Mahindra Satyam was an Indian information technology (IT) services company based in Hyderabad, India, offering software development, system maintenance, packaged software integration and engineering design services. Satyam Computer Services was listed on the Pink Sheets, the National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange and provided services to a wide range of customers including 185 Fortune 500 companies.
National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM) is an Indian non-governmental trade association and advocacy group that primarily serves the Indian technology industry. Founded in 1988, NASSCOM operates as a nonprofit organization and serves as a key entity within the Indian technology sector.
Tech Mahindra is an Indian multinational information technology services and consulting company. It was formed in 1986 as a joint venture between BT Group and Mahindra & Mahindra. Part of the Mahindra Group, the company is headquartered in Pune and has its registered office in Mumbai.
Chennai, formerly known as Madras, is the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. As of 2020 the GDP (PPP) of the Chennai metropolitan area is $219 billion with an urban population of 1.09 crore.
The information technology (I.T.) industry in India comprises information technology services and business process outsourcing. The share of the IT-BPM sector in the GDP of India is 7.4% in FY 2022. The IT and BPM industries' revenue is estimated at US$ 245 billion in FY 2023. The domestic revenue of the IT industry is estimated at $51 billion, and export revenue is estimated at $194 billion in FY 2023. The IT–BPM sector overall employs 5.4 million people as of March 2023. In December 2022, Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar, in a written reply to a question in Rajya Sabha informed that IT units registered with state-run Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) and Special Economic Zones have exported software worth Rs 11.59 lakh crore in 2021–22.
Wipro Limited is an Indian multinational technology company that provides information technology, consulting and business process services. It is one of the six leading Indian Big Tech companies. Wipro's capabilities range across cloud computing, computer security, digital transformation, artificial intelligence, robotics, data analytics, and other technologies, servicing customers in 167 countries.
The Lakshmi Narain College of Technology is a technology-oriented institute of higher education established by LNCT Group of Colleges.
The Satyam Computer Services scandal was India's largest corporate fraud until 2010. The founder and directors of India-based outsourcing company Satyam Computer Services, falsified the accounts, inflated the share price, and stole large sums from the company. Much of this was invested in property. The swindle was discovered in late 2008 when the Hyderabad property market collapsed, leaving a trail back to Satyam. The scandal was brought to light in 2009 when chairman Byrraju Ramalinga Raju confessed that the company's accounts had been falsified.
Madhura Sreedhar Reddy is an Indian film director, producer, and distributor who works in Telugu cinema. He started his film career by music label Madhura Audio and eventually turned as a director with the film Sneha Geetham in 2010.
Chennai is the third largest software exporter in India, next only to Bangalore and Hyderabad. India's largest IT park is housed at Chennai. Software exports from Tamil Nadu during 2017–2018 rose 8.8% per cent to touch 1,11,179 crore, involving a workforce of 780,000, and the city is the hub for deep tech startup companies. Many software and software services companies have development centres in Chennai, which contributed 14 percent of India's total software exports of ₹ 14,42,140 lakh during 2006–07, making it the third largest Indian city software exporter following Bangalore, Hyderabad and the city is the home for 7 top rated IT companies out of 15 in India. The Tidel Park in Chennai was billed as Asia's largest IT park when it was built. Major software companies have their offices set up here, with some of them making Chennai their largest base. Chennai is the largest hub for e-publishing, as there are 67 e-publishing units registered with the STPI and many Rs.8300-Cr data centers, digital hubs are in the process of development. A major reason for the growth of the Software industry are the top engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu, of which Chennai is a major contributor, have been a major recruiting hub for the IT firms. According to estimates, these engineering colleges and universities consistently generate about 50 per cent of the human resource requirements for the IT and ITES industry was being sourced from the state, particularly from Chennai. The total employment in the Tamil Nadu’s technology sector crossed the one million mark in the quarter ended June 2022.
Oriental Institute of Science & Technology (OIST) is a private engineering college located in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India, owned by the private group "Oriental Group of Institutes". It is affiliated with the Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidyalaya.
Chandrasekharpur is a commercial area in Odisha's capital city, Bhubaneswar.
Infosys Consulting is a management consulting, IT consulting practice within the larger Infosys organization which works in strategy, IT transformation, change management and business analytics. Infosys Consulting operates globally and currently has offices in 18 countries across the Americas, Asia Pacific and Europe. The firm was officially launched in 2004 as a fully owned subsidiary of Infosys chaired by N. R. Narayana Murthy, one of the co-founders of Infosys. For quarter-end March, 2016 Infosys Consulting and Package Implementation were reported as 33.2% of the whole of Infosys' revenue, contributing to the reported earnings of 23 cents a share on revenue of $2.4 billion that December for Infosys.
