Accenture’s $1.5 Billion AI Wake-Up Call for Indian IT
Accenture just reported $1.5 billion in generative AI bookings for Q3FY25, and Indian IT should be paying very close attention—if they aren’t still busy “AI washing” their earnings calls. The global consulting giant beat Wall Street expectations with $17.7 billion in revenue—an 8% YoY rise—despite a weak bookings quarter. The reason is clients are paying real money for real AI. The firm saw $1.5 billion worth of bookings for generative AI-led transformation. This makes it $4.1 billion in total AI bookings over the last three quarters. Accenture’s message is loud and clear: AI is not a conversation. It’s a business. Accenture CEO Julie Sweet said that she is very happy with the Q3 results and with an increased focus on AI, including 30 clients, with quarterly booking greater than $100 million. “Companies need resilience and results, and we are laser-focused on delivering measurable value for our clients, which is fueling our growth and making a difference for us in the market,” Sweet added. Accenture Is Not Just “Experimenting” While Indian IT majors are still talking about pilots, workshops, and “infusing AI into every solution,” Accenture has begun restructuring its entire services model around AI. It combines its consulting, technology, operations, and even creative arms under one unit called “reinvention services,” led by Manish Sharma. In contrast, Indian IT continues to trot out generic “AI-first” talking points on earnings calls without offering a single number to back it up. TCS, Infosys, and Wipro repeatedly said AI is part of every deal, yet refused to share how much revenue was generated from it. That’s not a strategy. More is expected from Indian IT in the next quarter results starting to roll out from next week. Where Are the AI Bookings, Indian IT? TCS claimed a $1.5 billion GenAI pipeline in Q1 FY25. Now, three quarters in, we’re yet to see how much of that has converted into billable revenue. Infosys, Wipro, HCLTech—everyone says they are working on hundreds of AI projects. But none of them are putting a dollar figure next to those efforts. Meanwhile, Accenture booked $1.4 billion in GenAI last quarter, and $1.5 billion this one. That’s the level of transparency the market wants. That’s the bar Indian IT refuses to meet. Even HCLTech, the most open among them, talked about 500 GenAI engagements and 12 deals—but again, no revenue impact was disclosed. Tech Mahindra’s “AI Delivered Right” branding might be catchy, but it means little when growth is flat. For Wipro all 17 deals last quarter had AI in them, but the company is still forecasting a decline in Q1 FY26. Accenture has yet again sparked anxiety for Indian IT in another quarter. Accenture is already cashing in. Indian IT is still talking about PoCs Accenture grew its revenue 8% YoY and widened its operating margin to 16.8%. It increased its full-year guidance—for the second time. And most importantly, it’s adding thousands to its data and AI workforce, aiming for 80,000 AI-skilled employees by end-FY26. Indian IT, on the other hand, is shrinking. Infosys posted a 4.2% sequential drop in revenue. Wipro is looking at up to 3.5% decline next quarter. HCLTech is flat. Even TCS, the largest of them all, reported just 0.8% sequential growth. In the supposed “AI boom,” the firms most loudly championing AI in India are struggling to grow. Accenture has shown that clients are willing to pay for AI, but only when they see value—not vague intent. They don’t want frameworks and foresight decks. They want automation, agentic AI, and faster development cycles—things Accenture is already deploying. HCLTech CEO C Vijayakumar recently admitted it might be time to rethink the industry’s 30-year-old business model. Zoho’s Sridhar Vembu was more blunt, calling the entire Q4 performance of Indian IT a “total washout.” And he’s right. The window is narrowing. AI won’t wait for Indian IT to catch up. Clients certainly won’t. If Indian IT doesn’t catch up now, it may not get another chance. Meanwhile, Indian IT expects AI revenue to be still years away. Vijayakumar couldn’t have summed it up better during the last earnings call: “Don’t worry about the investments now. Look at the ROIs we can get on the back of it.” Translation: AI revenue is still in the pipeline. Read: ServiceNow’s $1 Billion AI Lesson for Indian IT Midcaps Move Faster—But Still Cautious Sonata Software, for instance, said AI is now part of all client conversations—but they’re only expecting a 20% revenue contribution from AI over the next three years. That’s a long time in a market that’s already moving fast. During Q4 earnings, Sonata reported a $34 million AI pipeline across 100+ clients, but also admitted it hasn’t influenced core offerings yet. The “next 6–12 months” will show the shift, said CEO Samir Dhir. We’ve heard that one before. Smaller firms are certainly showing more transparency. Happiest Minds disclosed that 2.1% of their revenue now comes from their GenAI Business Unit—something larger peers haven’t dared to reveal. It’s not a lot, but it’s honest. Persistent Systems is betting big on agentic AI and aiming for $2 billion in revenue by FY27. LTIMindtree, after its best quarterly growth in a sluggish industry, said it wants every single dollar of revenue to include a generative AI component eventually. Yet, it’s all positioned as “eventually.” LTIMindtree recently created a new AI business unit with over 300 AI agents. Coforge inked a massive $1.5 billion deal focused on AI with Sabre, which could finally put some real numbers behind the hype. Mphasis said 59% of its Q4 deal wins were AI-led. EXL was refreshingly bold: 53% of its revenue in Q1 FY25 came from data and AI-led services—growing at 16% YoY. These firms are starting to show signs of traction, but even then, it’s more future-facing than present-day impact. For the larger IT firms, it is just another year of heartbreak.
Accenture is already cashing in on generative AI. Indian IT is still talking about PoCs.
Accenture just reported $1.5 billion in generative AI bookings for the third quarter, and Indian IT should be paying very close attention.
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Mohit writes about AI in simple, explainable, and often funny words. He's especially passionate about chatting with those building AI for Bharat, with the occasional detour into AGI.