Accenture Guidance Cut Triggers IT Selloff, Sensex Drops 786 Points

Indian benchmark indices ended a five-day winning streak on Friday as IT stocks collapsed after Accenture slashed its revenue growth forecast. The BSE Sensex fell 786.58 points to 76,624.90 in early trade, while the NSE Nifty dropped 210.95 points to 23,959.80.

Infosys dived more than 8%, Tata Consultancy Services tumbled 6%, Tech Mahindra lost 5%, and HCL Technologies shed 4.9%. HDFC Bank and Tata Steel also lagged. Bharti Airtel, NTPC, Trent, and Power Grid posted gains.

"Guidance cut by Accenture has triggered sell-off in Indian IT majors' ADRs," said VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist at Geojit Investments. Accenture lowered its fiscal-year revenue growth forecast to 5%–7% from 7%–10%, citing cautious client spending amid macro uncertainty. The move rattled investors in Indian IT stocks, which rely heavily on US and European enterprise budgets.

Foreign Institutional Investors sold equities worth ₹1,025.20 crore on Thursday, exchange data showed. Asian peers were mixed – South Korea's Kospi and Japan's Nikkei 225 edged higher – but the IT rout dominated Mumbai trading.

Accenture carries an Alpha Score of 47 on AlphaScala's proprietary framework, reflecting mixed fundamentals that the guidance cut now tilts negative. Infosys, with an Alpha Score of 57, faces a sharper test; its exposure to banking and financial services clients in North America amplifies the risk of further demand downgrades. HDFC Bank, a non-IT laggard on the day, holds a score of 43, partly a function of margin compression in its core lending business.

Brent crude traded at $79.11 per barrel, down 0.93%, as geopolitical risk premiums eased. The selloff in IT names also pulled the broader market lower on high volume, with market breadth negative on both exchanges.