Tata Consultancy Services Limited: The Pioneer in the Indian IT Industry

Its success could be judged from its improving financials and from the fact that it continued its recruitment drive in the beginning of the new millennium when several other IT companies stopped new recruitment. For the fiscal 2003-04, TCS' revenues amounted to Rs. 59.395 bn, an 18.85% growth over the previous fiscal year. With exports of $ 1.2 bn in the fiscal 2003-04, TCS was ahead compared to its competitors - Infosys ($ 1 bn) and Wipro ($ 854 mn). Though most of India's leading software companies, including Infosys, Wipro and Satyam had a large clientele; TCS led the pack (Refer Table IV for the number of clients of top Indian IT companies). In June 2004, TCS formally announced its decision to launch its initial public offering (IPO)...

Analysts commented that TCS had witnessed high revenue growth in the late 1990s partly due to the depreciating Indian currency as compared to the US dollar. TCS was viewed by analysts as a company which was aggressive in pricing, but very slow in decision making. It was also considered to be conservative, especially in disclosing its future plans to the media and general public. TCS was described by media as 'India's best kept secret.' However, analysts felt that after the IPO, the company had to bring in more transparency in its operations. TCS had several issues to address. A serious challenge which the company faced was the business process outsourcing (BPO) backlash in the US. Several states in the US had been bringing legislations to ban outsourcing, primarily to protect the interests of local citizens...