Global business sentiment remains subdued amid persistent uncertainty and recent US tariff headwinds, Wipro’s executive chairman Rishad Premji said at the company’s annual general meeting on Wednesday.
“Overall, the environment remains uncertain. It has not gotten any worse, but not gotten significantly better at the moment,” said Premji. He added that customers are getting more acclimatised to living in a world that is more uncertain.
The Wipro management also noted that while discretionary spending dampened and focus shifted more to cost and vendor consolidation, the company saw the emergence of discretionary spending coming back in pockets in some industries.
“The recent tariff announcements have resulted in heightened uncertainty and has impacted the demand environment in certain sectors,” Wipro said in its annual report. “Considering this, we expect clients to take a more measured approach on their IT spends and continue to focus on cost optimisation. It may lead to more cost takeout and vendor consolidation deals. Although the underlying demand for tech reinvention remains strong.”
While the last fiscal had seen an uncertain business environment globally, it deepened in Q4 with new tariff-related headwinds. The management noted that business sentiment took a significant hit, especially in the consumer and manufacturing sectors.
Wipro’s first-quarter FY26 results are scheduled for Thursday, post market close. So far, IT companies have posted a tepid Q1 picture, calling out delayed decision-making by clients and overall pullback in discretionary spending.
The country’s largest IT services company, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), posted its weakest revenue growth in Q1 since the beginning of FY21. India’s third-largest IT firm, HCLTech, reported a sharp decline in Q1 net profit and operating margin, along with nearly flat revenue growth, as the quarter was hit by lower utilisation, higher investments in generative AI and go-to-market initiatives, and a one-time impact from a client.
Besides the larger peers, Tech Mahindra’s Q1 profit and revenue also came in slightly below Street expectations, and while L&T Technology Services managed to report profit slightly above expectations, revenue still fell short of analysts’ estimates.