Despite Looming Recession, TCS Bags Record Deals in UK
At a time when the UK’s economy is battling a looming recession, it is a moment of cheer for TCS who recently bagged a contract to build the UK government’s rail data marketplace. This comes at the heels of the company winning significant deals from Royal London, Department of Work and Pensions and Transport for London and Virgin Atlantic in 2022. The multi-year contract between the Rail Delivery Group and the Indian tech service giant will last for a period of six years with an opportunity for extension. In July 2022, industry analyst firm ‘TechMarketView’ ranked TCS first in terms of revenue—featuring the company amidst the top 30 suppliers of software and IT services in the UK market. TCS also ranked well in terms of consulting services along with revenue and services. The report highlights that the UK is a crucial market for the Indian tech services giant. Their focus on UK operations has helped them grow in all its critical sectors. “Over the past year, we began many new partnerships with UK corporations looking to modernize their technology stacks, while deepening our relationships with existing clients to become their innovation, growth and transformation partner,” said Amit Kapur, country head, TCS, UK and Ireland. Despite the challenges of recession coupled with surging inflation, Indian companies in the UK continue to boom. The India meets Britain Tracker 2022 developed by Grant Thorton, in collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry, revealed that Indian companies/Indian-owned companies operating in the UK have multiplied in the past year—rising from 850 companies in 2021 to 900 companies in 2022—with a corresponding hike in revenues and job creation figures. These companies employed 141,005 people, noting an increase from 116,046 in 2021. The combined revenues have also increased substantially—to 54.4 billion pounds from 50.8 billion pounds last year. Tech sector dominated the Tracker, accounting for 35% of those who qualified for inclusion in 2022. The Tracker also revealed the fastest growing Indian companies in the UK in terms of year-on-year revenue growth—Motherson Sumi Systems Limited (MSSL), a manufacturer and supplier of automotive parts; Prodapt, an IT services company; and Route Mobile, a cloud communications platform. MSSL revenues grew 248%, while Prodapt and Route Mobile grew by 114% and 98%, respectively. But it’s still a long way home While TCS is taking remarkable strides in the UK through its various cross-sector contracts, the company hasn’t been able to replicate a similar stellar performance back home. In 2022, TCS signed a handful of notable deals in India, including the deal with GOI for passport automation, currently pegged at $1 billion, along with the INR 550 crore deal with BSNL to set up 6,000 4G sites. It has also built and maintained the ERO for IRCTC. Indian firms and AI—Adopters but not innovators? According to PEAK’s State of AI 2022, 98% of companies in India are already using AI to automate business decisions. The report further highlights that 84% of businesses in India—nearly twice that of the UK (46%) and the US (68%)—are currently using AI in one form or another. Even though Indian businesses lead in AI adoption, they have a long way to go when it comes to creation and innovation. Recently, Analytics India Magazine spoke to a senior management professional from analytics firm ‘LatentView’. When asked why major companies don’t seem to be focusing on strengthening their operations in India, he said that they had kicked off with a small core team for India at the beginning of this year and further added that they were not focused on the Indian market in the past merely owing to bandwidth limitations among other challenges. However, given the IPO buzz and excitement, they will start looking at the Indian market.
UK remains an extremely important market for TCS, and this bullish approach has paid rich dividends, as it continued to grow across all its core sectors
UK remains an extremely important market for TCS, and this bullish approach has paid rich dividends, as it continued to grow across all its core sectors  
["recession", "TCS", "uk"]
["Replicate", "Go", "uk", "AI", "recession", "R", "innovation", "IPO", "programming_languages:R", "automation", "analytics", "GAN", "TCS"]
["AI", "analytics", "R", "Go", "GAN", "automation", "innovation", "IPO", "Replicate", "programming_languages:R"]
Aparna Iyer has covered various sectors spanning education, wildlife, culture and law for close to a decade. She now writes on technology and is keen to unearth its capability for public good.