Indian IT giants bet big on AI, rewire business DNAs for AI-driven future

New Delhi: Indian IT majors are aggressively repositioning themselves as AI-native firms, focusing on high-margin applications and integration over high-risk, capital-intensive foundational research.

A deep dive into the FY25 annual reports from the industry behemoths --- TCS, Infosys, Wipro, and Tech Mahindra -- indicates that in the global AI race, India's tech titans are not competing to invent foundational AI, they are positioning themselves to become premier integrators of it.

The shift from general digital transformation to a specific AI focus is captured in the very titles of their annual reports. TCS frames its strategy within "The Perpetually Adaptive Enterprise," driven by a stated "AI-First approach."

Infosys takes an even more direct path with its theme, "AI Your Enterprise," while Wipro focuses on its role as an enabler in "Helping Clients Build AI-Powered Future-Ready Businesses."

Tech Mahindra joins this chorus with "AI Delivered Right."

The IT firms are laying a greater focus on investing in human capital and upskilling their workforce.

TCS has reported that over 1 lakh of its employees have acquired "higher order skills in AI/ML and GenAI, while Infosys has said that over 2.70 lakh of its employees are now "AI-Aware".

Similar trends are observed in Wipro and Tech Mahindra as well.

"The advent of AI with all its possibilities and potential creates another arc of uncertainty. As enterprises look at applying AI to every aspect of the business, some long-standing challenges will become imperative and self-evident to firms," Infosys Chairman Nandan Nilekani said.

The need to modernise legacy systems and create a data architecture so that all the firm's data is consumable by AI, in a holistic manner, can no longer be put off, he said and urged enterprises to have an AI foundry and an AI factory to fuel innovation as well as scale.

"Let us think of AI as a gifted child prodigy born and brought up in a library. It has access to all the knowledge in the world. It absorbs everything -- information, fact, fiction, truth, untruth, every pattern of human behaviour. Used well, it can create extraordinary value, particularly for businesses like TechM," Mahindra Group Chairman Anand G Mahindra said.

The global AI market is projected to skyrocket, reaching an estimated USD 1.3 trillion over the next decade, according to industry estimates.

The IT firms are not building their own large language models (LLMs) to compete with OpenAI or Google. Instead, they are deepening partnerships with hyperscalers (Microsoft, Google, AWS) and chipmakers (Nvidia) to access the latest models and infrastructure.

Firms are creating dedicated spaces for co-innovation, TCS is establishing AI Centres of Excellence and AI Labs, while Infosys is building its AI foundry, allowing clients to experiment with AI in a controlled environment.

Their bet is that as AI becomes a utility, the most enduring value will be captured not by those who create it, but by those who can expertly wire it into every corner of the enterprise.

India's largest IT services company TCS believes that generative artificial intelligence (AI) is not just another tech cycle but a "civilisational shift" which will positively benefit every industry.

Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran, who also chairs the TCS board, said the USD 30 billion IT services company will create a "large pool" of AI agents to work alongside humans and deliver solutions in a "human AI" model in the future.

Wipro announced realignment within its Global Business Lines (GBLs) to better align with the changing needs of clients and to capitalise on opportunities in AI, cloud computing, and digital transformation.

"This evolution of our business lines will enable us to further sharpen our focus towards client needs with consulting-led and AI-powered solutions. This realignment will allow us to serve our clients better, enabling us to deliver tailored, high-impact transformation," Wipro CEO and MD Srini Pallia had said.